About our school

Bowraville Central School is a small rural school that has enrolments from Kindergarten to Year 12, serving a diverse community within the Nambucca Valley on the Mid-North Coast of NSW. With a long and proud history dating from 1875, the school's first ever Year 12 candidates completed their Higher School Certificate examinations in 2008. We now have 178 students with a 36.5% Indigenous enrolment.

For several years, the school has been a recipient of additional equity funding and these resources enable staff and community to work together to create innovative programs to support for students, regardless of their age or background, within a caring and supportive environment.

Our school has a strong agricultural program and being a central school, all students benefit from activities at our school farm, learning the value of growing and sustaining produce.

The Great Green Wall

Our local area (including many of our students and staff) suffered greatly in the bushfires of 2019, making awareness of the importance of reducing water waste and improving biodiversity paramount.

The school was granted permission to build a large deck adjacent to our Food Technology room (something which we saved towards for a long time). The Great Green Wall has been installed adjacent to the new deck, with the idea that it would also benefit food prep lessons as well as beautify the area. The original idea was suggested by our Construction teacher, with his students taking part in some of the construction of the wall, as they had previously built raised garden beds next to our canteen.

The development of this project plan was informed by observation of the amount of water that ‘goes down the drain’ that could be used for better purposes. The fact that a simple project like this could also save energy, water and reduce waste was clear.

How we did it

The green wall’s construction was project managed by our Construction teacher. He was assisted by Year 11 and 12 Construction students and Year 9 & 10 Metal and Wood Technics students.

Students were involved in designing and measuring out of the garden wall. Both staff and students were involved in planting over 300 shrubs and plants. The project was halted by COVID, but is now complete and is growing lusher every day.

Water conservation was the focus for the project. Water is re-used from the existing bubbler which has been diverted to the wall to keep the plants healthy and growing. This consequently saves water that would otherwise go down the drain.

We installed part of our school vision statement ‘Together We Grow’ above the garden – aptly named! Community members who have viewed it have all commented on its beauty.

Linking the project to the school curricula

The Great Green Wall specifically links to the syllabus by agricultural processes:

• planting, nurturing and harvesting produce
• environmental practices – using water responsibly, reducing carbon footprints and increasing biodiversity
• scientific lessons in biology
• equations regarding water and energy saving, calculating the number of plants needed and measuring the area for construction in mathematics
• planting bush tucker plants, with links to Australian history
• Food Technology and Hospitality students learn about the growth and use of plants in cooking
• Visual Art students were involved in the planting design and wall placement.

Benefits of the project

The project has met our brief of:

• cooling a western facing hot room (reducing energy costs from running air conditioning)
• recycling water from the bubblers that would otherwise go down the drain
• producing edible herbs/bush tucker used in the school canteen and by our Food Technology students
• beautifying and creating a visually pleasing and positive use of an unsightly area.

Once the flowering plants bloom on the garden wall, it will attract birds, insects and bees that will aid ecosystems.

The previously empty wall was also a temptation for passing students to bounce balls off, distracting those inside the classroom on the other side.

There may also be other unexpected benefits in the future, like drying out herbs for use later and providing a calming effect for students suffering long-term trauma.

Sharing our progress

An important part of our work is sharing and celebrating success with our school community. We advertised the project and provided progress updates via our well-supported Facebook page, as well as in our school newsletter. We have also shared the story with local media and with the department.

Other initiatives we have implemented

Our school recently installed a native beehive in our school grounds, thanks to the NSW Environmental Trust’s Eco School Grants Program. We also recently completed the installation of a ‘Frog Bog’ thanks to Woolworths’ Landcare grant. Both these initiatives involve and encourage students to increase knowledge of sustainability and biodiversity.

What’s next?

Compost tumblers and a greenhouse have been earmarked for some space next to our garden beds, which will be a great ‘sister’ project to the Great Green Wall.

What our school community says

The students loved engaging with such a fun, hands-on activity. Being outside was a huge plus. The most common quotes mentioned how beautiful it looked especially compared to how it was previously.

I'm going to drink more water, so the plants get watered.

I love looking at the plants, to see how well they're doing.

It's beautiful because I helped create it.

It helps nature grow.

A student/staff collaborative project with a tangible and visible result, which everyone in the school can enjoy for years to come. It looks amazing and as it grows, it is creating a beautiful and productive feature to an otherwise unsightly blank wall. Engagement by students to create something living and long-lasting was the highlight of the installation.