Chatham Primary school held its very successful biennial School Fair on Saturday, 28th February 2015. This Fair is our School’s pre-eminent fund raiser and not only brings past and present students and their families together, it brings the whole neighbourhood and community together. On offer at this year’s Fair was the biggest selection yet of food stalls, arts and crafts, jams and preserves, baked goods, kids games and activities, amusement park rides, pre-loved trash and treasure, second hand books, and plants, as well as a bar, cafe, and live entertainment (including our students who performed their own compositions as well as covering well-known songs, followed by a live cover band, “The Renditions” from 7 til 9).
One of the things of which we are particularly proud as a School is our commitment to the environment. Chatham is a 5-star School under Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic framework – only 1 of 20 or so Victorian schools to have achieved this status. Chatham PS has also received a number of Sustainability-related awards, including gold in the ‘Green Team’ category of the City of Boroondara’s Sustainability Awards for Schools in 2013 (see http://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/our-city/environmental-sustainability/sustainable-schools-and-kinders/school-case-studies/chatham-primary-school ).
In 2012, our Year 5s were invited to visit children’s books author, Paul Jennings, at his Warrnambool property to learn about the art of writing, as well as to help him plant native grasses as part of a reforestation project. The School is also regularly invited to participate in Greening Australia initiatives, such as the 2 Million Trees project, see http://www.awardsvic.org.au/stories/tree-planting-greening-australia/. We also offer our families and local community a printer cartridge, batteries and mobile phone collection service.
Our commitment to the environment is demonstrated on a daily basis, and a great example of this was the use of the Sustainable Living Foundation’s ‘Wash Against Waste” trailer at our School Fair. The ‘Wash Against Waste’ trailer – specially designed to hygienically and sustainably wash crockery and cutlery – was used by 8 food stalls for the duration of the Fair. Using solar power, reduced amounts of water and a whole lot of elbow grease, a small troupe of willing volunteers collected dirty plates, bowls and cutlery, washed them and returned them to the food stalls for re-use, again and again and again over a period of 9 hours – therefore preventing a significant amount of rubbish going to landfill and adding to the strong sense of community spirit at the event.
After our Fair, we were asked, and readily agreed, to transport the trailer into the CBD for a Sustainable Living Festival event the next day – another demonstration of Chatham’s willingness to do its bit for the environment and the broader community.
