The students in the Year 3/4 Sustainable Elective have enthusiastically continued developing their knowledge about honeybees and the important role they have in our environment as food and plant pollinators. They are using specific scientific language with understanding with confidence. Although it has not been a very good year for honey production, the bees have still been pollinating our school fruit and vegetable gardens. Last week, our students experienced beekeeping practices, wearing their bee suits to check the hive and demonstrate honey comb building. This was a wonderful opportunity to get up close with our honeybees and appreciate how they are connected to our environment.  They also enjoyed making yummy food with honey.  We see honey as a bonus to us as pollination is our number one reason for having a beehive at school.

The Backyard Garden Group have been very busy, no matter what the weather has been.   They have been harvesting food for our Community Table and for their own food preparation.  High Energy Beetroot salad was a big success.  Apples were also preserved for use later in the year when apples are not readily available.  In the garden, students and helpers planted out our winter vegetables. It is great to share life skills and teamwork opportunities that students can draw on in the future.

Students in the Year 5/6 Sustainable elective have willing taken on the challenge to continue the great work students had begun in the term 4, 2017, when they chose to continue to explore and research how and what an outside kitchen space would look like. In 2016, students reviewed the Living Room wish list and voted to take on the challenge of planning for this food preparation area so that students at our school could harvest food from our kitchen garden and prepare and cook it in our environment. Over the last few years, students have found problems and challenges when cooking in different seasons without a dedicated covered in area.  Our PTA have very generously offered $20,000 dollars towards our goal as they value projects that benefit our students.  We feel lucky and honoured to continue on with this legacy and to be led by three students from the previous elective.