industry & reform
Belltrees staff and students enjoy their school ‘ garden ’. Picture : Supplied .
Picture : Supplied .
Small school , big impact
Rural principal ’ s sustainability mission .
By Emilie Lauer
Atiny school of three students in NSW has taken sustainability to the next level thanks to a young principal and a supportive community who came together after a state-wide drought .
“ I wasn ’ t always big on sustainability ,” Belltrees school principal Shane Roberts told Education Review .
“ But I had a reality check coming into a community facing the significant hardships of drought .
“ It gave more of a perspective of what we should be and what we could do better .”
In 2018 , rural regions across Eastern Australia struggled with consistently high temperatures , record high evaporation and below-average rainfall .
The drought was recorded as one of the most significant in Australian history .
Shane remembers it as the “ worst drought in the last century ”, which impacted the community greatly and sparked the school to take on two cattle ’ s from a neighbouring farmer .
“ We didn ’ t have enough feed to last ; we might have lasted a month before we couldn ’ t do it anymore .”
He said a conversation with a local at the time pushed him to rethink how to prepare the next generation to deal with climate change and its challenges .
According to the rural principal , his students will likely follow their family members ’ footsteps and become farmers . “ Farming is a complex career ,” the 34 years-old principal said .
“ How do we prepare future farmers to deal with these different climatic conditions and the difficulties of farming ?
How do we help them understand the impact of weather events and more ?”
One of the first things Belltrees principal did was to refocus the school ’ s agricultural program and look at the “ bigger picture ” to ensure kids learn the skill sets to thrive in tomorrow ’ s agriculture from the get-go .
As the climate changes , farmers will face more severe droughts and floods over the years , shrinking biodiversity and declining soil fertility .
With the community ’ s help , the school turned towards regenerative agriculture , which improves soil quality and restores biodiversity while protecting water resources .
Regenerative agriculture is also an outcome-based food production system that sustainably enhances farm productivity and profitability .
The school farm has about six sheep and 15 chickens , a vegetable garden , an orchard with more than 50 trees and a series of ponds that provide a sustainable water source for farming and flood / drought protection .
All the farm production is used through a ‘ pad to plate ’ program where students and staff get together every fortnight for a meal .
Shane said the school sustainability journey started with farming before quickly evolving towards a ‘ net zero ’ goal embedded in students ’ learning .
The school has reduced its carbon footprints and water usage and installed solar panels and energy-efficient lights and air-conditioners - a “ constant working project ”, according to the principal .
“ Sustainability is a big part of the department ’ s curriculum , and we have this sort of unique playground that they can go on and explore and play while learning .
“ The kids identify the problems that they ’ re seeing , and then from the solutions
that we come up with , that often leads us into new challenges that we then start that journey again .”
For their effort to make Belltrees primary school sustainable , staff and students received multiple awards , including the Green Flag accreditation for their environmental practices , work with the community and sustainability curriculum .
Belltrees is the fifth school in Australia to receive this certification .
“ We love that our little small school was able to get some of that state-wide recognition and that , that ’ s exciting - we ’ re keen to show that small rural schools can have a really big impact ,” he said .
According to Shane , working in rural schools offers a plethora of opportunities for teachers and school leaders to make an impact , yet he recognises that Belltrees ’ sustainability journey was only possible with the school ’ s community engagement .
Still today , parents and local farmers continue to participate alongside kids in different workshops all around NSW to bring back new practices to implement at school .
While he acknowledges that he is very fortunate to have a beautiful landscape as an office , he said a strong focus on student learning is the most important aspect of rural schools .
“ In most classroom settings , you would have a child for 12 months before they move on to the next year ’ s grade . In my context , I have had children for six or seven years . You need to be creative .”
Shane said he likes to think ‘ innovatively ’, always tries to gamify learning to engage its three students during class , and keeps up to date with the latest technology and activities offered by the department .
“ We wanted to make sure that they didn ’ t miss out just because they are in a small school .”
“ We constantly are looking for opportunities to enhance and improve the learning environment , be it outdoors , indoors , or with just different relationships we build with different community groups .” ■
educationreview . com . au | 15