Bega Council has praised the St Patrick’s Primary School’s ‘Green Team’ for their sustainable STEM garden and outdoor learning area that utilises recycled materials and minimises waste.

Senior students recently presented the ongoing two year project to Mayor Kristy McBain at a Bega Valley Shire Council meeting highlighting hard work and positive outcomes.

Landscape artist Costa Georgiadis worked with St Patrick’s to create a ‘mud hub’ out of roof tiles, road base and discarded socks. Plants will now be grown in the middle of the mud hub and bamboo will be used as a tepee fence for beans to climb on that will eventually provide shaded shelter.

Students initially excavated the garden using sleepers from unused school benches to form the terraced steps and garden beds. Pallets were salvaged to build an outdoor sink and preparation area to allow students to wash produce and prepare soils.

Assistant Principal Mary-Ann Fraser said, “We now have a beautiful garden space in the middle of the school that students take responsibility to care for and use, to learn about gardening and sustainability.”

With the assistance of a Bega Valley South Coast Waste grant, the school was able to create a composting area using fruit scraps and other waste organic materials that would otherwise go to landfill.