General News
14 June, 2024
State award for St Pat’s
ST Patrick’s Primary School in Port Fairy is leading the way in sustainability.
The school has taken out a Sustainability Victoria award in the ‘Community Leadership School of the Year’ category.
According to year 5/6 teacher and sustainability leader Benson Steere, the state-wide awards were presented during a special ceremony at the MCG on Tuesday, June 4.
“We were thrilled to be named a finalist and even more so when announced the winner,” Mr Steere said.
“The award recognised a school that is excelling in showing leadership in the community; all things sustainable.”
St Patrick’s Port Fairy is a five-star sustainable school.
As part of its program, the school offers students weekly sustainability lessons which includes collecting recycled fabrics from local families.
A volunteer then sews the fabrics into upcycled ‘boomerang bags’ which are then donated to the local not-for-profit organisation, The Bandari Project (breaking the cycle of poverty through education).
Students also enjoy visits to Volcano Produce where they learn about spray-free farming practices and harvest food that is then distributed to people in need via the local Food Share.
“We are very proud of our programs and of how they are embraced by our students,” Mr Steere said.
“For the past seven years the school has also participated in the Port Fairy Coast Group’s beach monitoring program, where students collect data for Deakin University’s biologists.”
Year six student Kolo Sakate, a sustainability leader at the school, said he was thrilled with the award but even more proud of the school’s involvement with The Bandari Project.
“My dad Seif was a co-founder of the project,” Kolo said.
“He was born in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania, in a small village right at the foot of the Great Rift Valley.
“When he moved to Australia in 2012 he wanted to support the children from his village who are more disadvantaged than he was when growing up.”
Since then the group has built a school and continues to support more than 100 children.
As part of the project, students at St Patrick’s are now busy cutting pieces of donated material to be made into pencil cases for Tanzanian children.
“My mother-in-law, Jacinta Martin, currently sews up all the cases for the children but we’re hoping to perhaps also teach some of the older children how to sew and they can also be involved that way,” Mr Steere said.
“It’s a wonderful program and the students really enjoy helping others.”
