Solutions for schools

• Organise regular school clean-up events and report on drains regularly

• Promote plastic-free school lunch days

• Are school bins in the best location where people gather and eat?

• Appoint River Rubbish Control Monitors to regularly inspect the playground for litter

• Work closely with the school canteen to identify which single-use plastic items can be removed altogether or replaced with alternatives. For example, could single tomato or soy sauce serves be replaced with several bottles?

Too much organic litter in your drains?

Leaves, soil and other organic debris pollute and overwhelm the river with too many nutrients as they begin to break down in the water.

• Use rocks, mulch or other materials to create barriers that prevent soil and plant material from moving towards a drain

• Appoint River Water Quality Monitors to regularly inspect organic debris in the playground. This will be especially important in Autumn when trees are dropping their leaves in big volumes.

• Organise clean-ups just before a big rain event is forecast.

• Where can you plant more natives in the school grounds? Organise a school planting bee to refill a garden area or add in potted plants.

• Mulch areas where soil is dry and hard to protect it and restore its ability to absorb water.

• Can rainwater be redirected or collected and reused?

Dulwich Hill Public School, Raingarden and Frog Pond Regeneration June 2021

A group of year 6 students with guidance from Georges River Environment Centre re planted the raingarden and frog pond with native plants.

The site had become degraded due student foot traffic, so the first action was to have the school GA construct a timber fence to protect the site.

The students selected the plant location with sedges and rushes along the creek line and the flowering shrubs along the drier embankment. Water plants and sedges were then planted into the frog pond with pebble stones used to anchor the plants.

The group worked hard and the site is now a beautiful habitat corridor that filters flood waters that drains off the the school yard and into the Cooks River.

Teacher David Hillman seen teaching the students to care for country and acknowledge Aboriginal perspectives.

As part of the project students also wrote a letter to the light rail authority next door to ask them to manage a weed infestation that had blocked sunlight from the site. This has also made a huge difference to regenerate the health of the sites ecosystem.

Bexley Public School, Raingarden Construction June 2021

We went to Bexley Public School in 2020 and conducted a school wide stormwater drain audit with a class of Stage 3 students.

A drain was discovered along the edge of the playing field that had been blocked with soil and plastic rubbish for many years and needed a solution.

After students had learnt about water sensitive urban design solutions, they decided on a priority action to construct a sandstone based raingarden over the drain site.

The drain was fully cleaned out, then silt matting was laid down to stop silt from entering the drain. Nepean river stones were used as aggregate and a steel edging was pegged into the ground. Three beautiful sandstone blocks were then craned in to form an edge that can be used as seating.

The raingardens purpose is to trap rubbish and sediment and filter pollutants. Native rushes were planted then to complete the garden.

The location is perfect for a raingarden, underneath a majestic old Port Jackson Fig and adjacent to the schools food garden.

Campsie Public School, Raingarden Construction.

June 2021.

A green team of students from Campsie conducted a stormwater drain audit and discovered a few drains that were polluted with rubbish and needed solutions.

A large double drain site in the lower end of the school in the food garden area was chosen as a site for a raingarden to be constructed.

Students engaged with the landscapers and learnt all about water sensitive urban design concepts.

This raingarden has added filtration to the schools stormwater drain system as well as added valuable habitat and green amenity to the school.

Undercliffe Public School, Garden Lowering and Regeneration.

June 2021.

Undercliffe public school had a problem garden that was built with a soil level too high to the pathway.

This was causing the garden to erode during flood rains. Soil and mulch was washing into nearby stormwater drains causing flooding of the school.

So the solution was to have a landscaper come and scrape out the old garden soil to lower the garden level to prevent the erosion.

The old garden soil was also very leached and nutrient poor due to the erosion and loss of top soil, so the most of the existing plants were not looking healthy.

As part of the garden regeneration, fresh soil was brought in and native wood chip as mulch. New native plants were then planted rejuvenating the garden which is along the front of the office at the entry to the school so it has given the school a facelift.

Al Hikma College, Raised Garden Bed Construction.

June 2021.

We conducted a stormwater drain audit in 2020 and discovered no green space at all in the school grounds due to being completely covered by concrete.

A solution was to construct two raised garden beds on pallets so they area movable within the school to suit the season.

This added garden space to the school and some stormwater filtration. One garden bed was planted with native bush tucker plants and the other was planted by students with food plants and will be farmed ongoing.

This has prompted a new outlook for Al Hikma College who were very engaged with the program and want to improve their stormwater management and increase green space in the school.