About our school

Situated within the Lake Macquarie region, Wiripaang Public School is a Kindergarten to Year 6 school, located on extensive grounds. Wiripaang Public School is only 7 years young, opening as a result of a successful community-based amalgamation of two neighbouring schools.

Our school currently has 208 enrolments with one third of our students identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. We have a strong sporting focus and positive connections with Hunter Sports High School, which is located next to our school.

Our journey to sustainability

The ‘Bee Real about sustainability’ initiative

Our school reviewed a range of projects undertaken by nearby schools including:

• vegetables gardens
• chicken homes
• bee yards
• worm farms
• recycling initiatives and much more.

Our school decided to implement the ‘Bee Real about sustainability’ project, which aimed to highlight the important role bees play in our environment and give students hands-on experience of looking after bees.

In consultation with students, the community and the Aboriginal Education committee, this project evolved to focus on developing a student’s sense of belonging and increasing student knowledge and empathy for our environment through sustainability.

How we did it

We transformed an under-used part of the school into our very own bee yard, which includes 300m2 bee-friendly gardens, such as citrus, fruiting bays and an orchard. The showpiece is a flow hive, which is a European honeybee house. The flow hive arrived flat packed for the students to assemble and decorate.

In their new bee yard, students learned about:

• countless facts and processes of being an apiarist and junior beekeeper
• bee-friendly variety of flowers and plants
• where to position flowers and plants in the yard for them to nourish and flourish through optimal sun and wind protection.

A key highlight for the students was to learn the many roles that bees undertake within the hive and how they go about their day-to-day duties. They were astounded that the 3 types of bees in the hive did so much more than pollinate flowers. The first time the hive was opened, the students were ecstatic and blown away at just how many bees there were.

More than just a flow hive

The flow hive was only one part of our Bee Real project.

The project also introduced a bush tucker garden built by staff members. Students took part in the planting process and learned about the various bush tucker plants, their profiles and how Indigenous communities use the produce from the plant in various ways.

The final part of the project consisted in encouraging our students to come up with solutions to address the school’s waste, which the Students Representative Council identified as a major issue.

Each class is now equipped with a junior size yellow recycling bin and small compost bin. Teachers have set up class duties to take control of emptying and monitoring both bins. We estimate to have diverted approximately 1,000kg from landfill over the course of the project. This has amplified the conversation around reduce, reuse, recycle and has led to many other activities we did not envisage.

What we learned

Bee Real about Sustainability specifically links to the curriculum in:

• Science: It relates to the continuum of learning associated with Living Things.
• PDHPE (Personal Development, Health and Physical Education): Relating to the content strands of health, wellbeing and relationships, movement skill and performance, plus healthy, safe and active lifestyles.
• English and Maths: The project provided shared experience for all students within our school to enhance learning across the English and Mathematics syllabus.
• Research, writing and communications: Students were able to develop knowledge through research and use the project as writing stimulus for fiction and non-fiction pieces, gathering data and generating presentations using a range of digital technologies.

What our teachers say

Student awareness and understanding (of sustainability) is at an all-time high and the schools grounds are looking a lot more respectable. The Sustainable Schools Grants project was a truly wonderful experience for all involved.
Bee Real project lead and teacher Peter Thompson.