Chewton Primary School
Resource Smart Awards application 2026
Teacher of the Year: Serena Everill
March 2026
Embedded Files
Chewton Primary School is on Djaara Country!
We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people, the custodians and caretakers of the land. We thank them for the care they have taken and continue to take of Country: the rivers, mountains, sky, trees and animals.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
We follow Bunjil's teachings: Care for self , Care for others, Care for Country
We commit to Be Brave and Make Change. We will be a voice for generations.
Now, more than ever.
Iuk season (Kulin seasons)
Serena Everill, Sustainability teacher, Chewton Primary School
Serena Everill, Sustainability teacher, Chewton Primary School
Serena is a passionate, powerful advocate for building sustainable practice across our school. She makes connections with all staff and students, involves parents and community members in the day to day life of Chewton Primary. She empowers students to take action to make our world a better place for all.
Serena is a powerhouse who has made a powerful impact on our school community.
Serena is a powerhouse who has made a powerful impact on our school community.
First Nation connections
First Nation connections
Serena has undertaken First Nations World views and pedagogies training with Nalderun as well as completing a Bush Tucker/ Microcredentials course about local Indigenous plants and care for Country. Serena plans with Kath Coff, CEO from Nalderun Aboriginal Education Corporation to embed First Nations perspectives in all our sustainability work. Kath also teaches First Nation Ways: Country and Place as a specialist subject at Chewton.
Serena worked with Murnong Mummas and Nalderun Bush tucker farm to build Indigenous food plants into the centre of our new veggie garden. Serena took two classes to visit the Murnong Mummas farm at Harcourt to learn about traditional plants and their use. Ira and Melinda came back to the school and worked with the students on plant identification cards and cooked using traditional plants.
At the beginning of each lesson, Serena looks at the First Nations seasonal calendar with students. This circular representation shows the Kulin seasons, the Dja Dja Wurrung (Nelson clan local to our area) seasons and the Djaara seasons. Students are invited to share their noticings about what they have seen on Country, building awareness of the area they live in, developing scientific observations skills and linking these to caring for Country.
Healthy Waterways Day
Healthy Waterways Day
Serena coordinated our first Healthy Waterways day in 2024. Over 270 grade 3-4 students from local schools joined Chewton Primary students at the river flat by Leanganook Walking track to learn about how to keep our waterways healthy. Our grade 2-6 students ran workshops to assist students in identifying water bugs, showed how to test water, taught students about the importance of picking up dog poo near the waterway. Serena worked with the students to support them to showcase their learning and their expertise.
Serena coordinated our first Healthy Waterways day in 2024. Over 270 grade 3-4 students from local schools joined Chewton Primary students at the river flat by Leanganook Walking track to learn about how to keep our waterways healthy. Our grade 2-6 students ran workshops to assist students in identifying water bugs, showed how to test water, taught students about the importance of picking up dog poo near the waterway. Serena worked with the students to support them to showcase their learning and their expertise.
Serena worked with a range of stakeholders to run learning activities at the river flat by the Leanganook Walking Track for a day of learning how to keep our waterways healthy. Students and staff gave postive feedback and the event is now being held biannually, with preparations underway for the 2026 Healthy Waterways day.
Serena worked with a range of stakeholders to run learning activities at the river flat by the Leanganook Walking Track for a day of learning how to keep our waterways healthy. Students and staff gave postive feedback and the event is now being held biannually, with preparations underway for the 2026 Healthy Waterways day.
(Nalderun, Landcare, Coliban Water, River Detectives, Post Office Hill Action Group, Parks Victoria, North Central Catchment Management Authority, Environmental Protection Authority, Resource Smart and Chewton Primary Students all contributed and ran activity stations on the day)
(Nalderun, Landcare, Coliban Water, River Detectives, Post Office Hill Action Group, Parks Victoria, North Central Catchment Management Authority, Environmental Protection Authority, Resource Smart and Chewton Primary Students all contributed and ran activity stations on the day)
School Cook ups
School Cook ups
Serena organises whole school cook ups each term. Students plan the menu according to seasonal garden produce and cook with parents. They are a favourite! Our students are learning about soil this term, and Serena has organised a soil scientist to come and speak to students. We have been busy using high quality digital microscoes to find bugs in soil samples. Serena and the students are working with YIMBY
Serena organises whole school cook ups each term. Students plan the menu according to seasonal garden produce and cook with parents. They are a favourite! Our students are learning about soil this term, and Serena has organised a soil scientist to come and speak to students. We have been busy using high quality digital microscoes to find bugs in soil samples. Serena and the students are working with YIMBY
Working with Connecting Country and Post Office Hill Action Group
Working with Connecting Country and Post Office Hill Action Group
Planting and watering in on the bush block behind our school. This has been done as part of our Friday sustainability lessons.
Planting and watering in on the bush block behind our school. This has been done as part of our Friday sustainability lessons.
Chewton Primary has built strong connections with local community groups. Serena coordinates tree planting, watering, bird watching and is currently working with Connecting Country to trial some learning materials with our 3-6 students that have been developed by Connecting Country and Nalderun Aboriginal Educaton corporation.
Chewton Primary has built strong connections with local community groups. Serena coordinates tree planting, watering, bird watching and is currently working with Connecting Country to trial some learning materials with our 3-6 students that have been developed by Connecting Country and Nalderun Aboriginal Educaton corporation.
YIMBY compost
YIMBY compost
Serena and the Chewton Primary Students are partnering with YIMBY on a hot compost! Compost buckets are collected from YIMBY (several of our families are part of this project) and Serena is teaching the students the Continuous Hot Composting method.
YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) is a community-scale composting initiative with three main aims:
To reduce methane emissions by diverting organics from landfill
To build community resilience by connecting people in neighbourhoods
To grow the regenerative capacity of our soils and grow local food
YIMBY are a team of people who are trained to compost and collect food scraps from our neighbours who do not wish to compost.
Student Led projects that change the world
Student Led projects that change the world
The empowerment of students to follow an area of interest and to drive learning through doing is a key feature of Serena's work at Chewton. She organises local speakers to come in and share their knowledge with students and staff. Serena works with teachers to build their capability and to plan how these projects can be incorporated into other subjects in the curriculum.
The Dog Poop Project 2024-2025
The Dog Poop Project 2024-2025
Supporting students to bring the Dog Poop project to fruition: supporting research, linking in with Parks Victoria, the local community and media.
Supporting students to bring the Dog Poop project to fruition: supporting research, linking in with Parks Victoria, the local community and media.
In 2024 students were getting water from our local creek, Forest Creek and noticed how much dog poo there was. Serena challenged them to investigate what effect dog poo has on water and students took to the task with relish. They were shocked at the level of pollution and the effect on waterways. With Serena's support they set off to do something about it. They designed posters, contacted Parks Victoria to see about signage and made badges to raise funds through the local community to purchase compostable doog poo bags. The level of empowerment of students was incredible to see. They were deservedly proud of their achievements. In 2025 a new group of students took over the project, putting signage further afield in Guildford and investigating where to put more signs for increased impact along Leanganook Walking Track. In 2025 Serena took two groups of children to present at MaineFM radio show, Wild, to talk about the River Detectives program and how important it is to look after our waterways.
The Happy Tree Whole school performance 2025
The Happy Tree Whole school performance 2025
A focus on kindness and sustainability, with the grade 5-6 class showcasing the joys of recycled fashion in their Fashion Show!
Uncle Ron
Uncle Ron
Wemba Wemba elder Uncle Ron came and shared the Platypus teaching. The students illustrated this which will be produced as a book for the Castlemaine State Festival.
Serena linked in platypus learning with Kath in the Healthy Waterways day.
Saving our Kangaroos Project 2025-2026
Saving our Kangaroos Project 2025-2026
Supporting students to learn about kangaroos and the impact of human activity. Challenging students to think of a project to teach the wider community and make a positive impact for kangaroo safety.
Supporting students to learn about kangaroos and the impact of human activity. Challenging students to think of a project to teach the wider community and make a positive impact for kangaroo safety.
With an extended dry period creating drought conditions, combined with growth in housing due to population growth, kangaroos in our local area have been more often seen foraging by the roadways to graze. The Midland Highway runs through the Chewton township, and the road is very windy and narrow, a legagy of the goldrush days. Trucks as well as cars use the road day and night. Kangaroos cross the road and there has been an increase in kangaroo fatalities. This is also evident in the country roads around the township. Understandably, our whole community is distressed and there has been much talk in the local print and social media about the issue. With Serena's support, our grade 5-6 students decided to do something about it. Serena invited a representative from the Mt Alexander Wildlife Watch to talk to the children and they learnt about the dangers kangaroos face: fences, phalaris grass and cars. Students then designed posters and handpainted signs. These were places along the highway on fences to alert drivers to slow down. The students were in the local newspaper with information for motorists on what to do if they injured or saw an injured kangaroo.
Kerrie Allen from Wildlife Victoria has been monitoring kangaroo injuries and fatalities and says in the two months the signs have been up there has been one kangaroo fatality. The project will monitor over the next four months to see if the signs are having an impact as well as to interview locals to find out if the signs have changed their driving behaviour.
From Kerrie:
"Serena's drive and commitment was exemplary in getting this project up and running. The children were thoroughly engaged and appeared to be really enjoying learning about risks to local native wildlife, and how to help it. Since the childrens' signs went up in Chewton, local wildlife rescuers have noticed a reduction in wildlife collisions. This has been a project well done and we look forward to seeing it rolled out more widely. Thank you to Serena and the children!"
Press Release
Press Release
Let’s Take Care of wildlife.
The Grade 5/6 from Chewton Primary school in collaboration with Mt Alexander Wildlife Watch have been working on a project to protect local wildlife in Chewton, with a particular focus on reducing kangaroo deaths on Forrest St.
As part of this project, children have been making posters to express their concern about the impact of vehicles on Forest St.
On Friday 12th December, the children will be holding up their posters at 11.30 am outside the Chewton pool for motorists to see.
Then on Saturday morning 13th December, they will be interviewed on MaineFM “Wild Conversations’ at 10 am.
The children have been working on this project as part of their sustainability subject.
“We care about kangaroos in the area because we love having them in our backyards, in the bush behind our school and along the creek. We see so many dead kangaroos on the side of the road and we feel sad that they have been left to die as if they don’t matter. People would respond differently if it was a pet. They wouldn’t drive past and leave an injured dog on the side of the road.”
“Also as part of our First Nations learning, we have learnt that kangaroos are important for culture because some people connect to them as their totem which means that they are part of their family.”
“We think that many of these kangaroo deaths and injuries are occurring in the evening and nighttime when trucks are travelling over the speed limit along Forest St.
Kerrie Allen from Wildlife Victoria suggests:
“Carry a wildlife kit in your car containing a Hi-Viz jacket, a torch, pillow case and the number for wildlife Victoria. Ph 8400 7300. If you do see an injured kangaroo, please stop. Pull over safely to the side of the road. If it’s safe, check to see if it has a pouch that might contain a baby joey. If in doubt, call wildlife Victoria 84007300”.
“We have also learnt that fences are a real hazard to kangaroos when the height and materials are not considered. It is good to attach white fabric onto the top of the fence, so the kangaroo can see the height at night and not get caught on the wire.
Super high fences with barbed wire tops are incredibly dangerous for kangaroos”.
“We have learnt that kangaroos cannot process adrenaline, this means that when they are frightened, there is always a possibility that they will have an overload of this hormone and might die of a heart attack.”
“There is also a problem, mostly in winter with the kangaroos eating Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica), also known as canary grass. When the kangaroos eat this, it can cause a neurological condition called phalaris staggers, which is characterized by a "wobbly" movements. Most kangaroos die from this condition or need to be euthanased by Wildlife carers.”
We want to request that drivers slow down and drive at or even below the speed limit, that people think about wild animal crossing when they are building fences and that they look out for wildlife because they are an important part of our world AND THEY WERE HERE BEFORE US.
Waste Reduction
Waste Reduction
Serena is all about reducing our waste! Chewton primary only has two landfill bins in the whole school- one in the art room and one in the staff room. Serena is commonly seen in the staff room going through the landfill bin on a Friday and letting staff know which bin things go into. Serena has run professional learning for staff so they build their capacity to sort items correctly! We have a soft plastic, paper, compost, worm farm and general recycling bin in the staffroom.In 2025 Serena contacted Foodbank Victoria- our breakfast program is our highest area of landfill with over packaging and use of non recylcable materials. Foodbank are unable to reduce their packaging but this is a work in progress for Serena and the students.They are currently investigating how to get our tetra pack milk cartons to a recycling facility as they are a significant waste product at our school.Each year Serena undertakes a Waste audit, investigating what things can be recycled, reused and what to avoid. There is significant confusion on food packaging that looks like plastic but may be combined with foil. Serena sourced posters and videos to show us what things are made of.In 2024-2025 Serena worked with the Green group to sell home made muesli slices to reduce the amount of soft plastic brought to school in lunchboxes. The parents running Brekkie club are looking at how they can keep this project going!Currently, the grade 1-2 class have placed some textiles around the school to investigate how they decompose. Serena connects in with the Good Opp shop who run a sustainable fashion show with local students each year to encourage students to buy second hand, rather than be part of fast fashion.In 2025 our grade 5-6 students had a sustainable fashion show as an act in our school performance. This was a highlight for the students who sourced all their glamour for the occasion second hand! The performance was called The Happy Tree and explored how to follow Bunjil's teaching- Care for self, Care for others, Care for Country, with key connections between sustainability and First Nations teachings and how important it is to be kind to each other and to Country.The Good Opp shop is donating funds for binoculars for our parent led birdwatching club.
Veggie garden redevelopment
Veggie garden redevelopment
Bringing parents together to rebuild our veggie garden
Bringing parents together to rebuild our veggie garden
Serena takes the time to build positive relationships with our school community. She has developed a parents gardening group who come together each Friday morning to spend time in the garden. Through the long hot summers they water and weed. Parents also come in to harvest the food, cooking with the students and selling excess at the local market along with jams and preserves.
The orignal veggie garden used wooden sleepers which were slowly rotting, making water and soil retention an ongoing problem. Serena worked with students to design a new veggie garden, with Indigenous foods as the centrepiece, so that they are incorporated into the daily work of children, parents and teachers. Serena worked with local Indigenous businesses to source plants, took students on excursions to see the nursery in action and learn about traditional uses of the plants, secured grant funding so that the project could be fully costed and implemented.
Serena coordinated working bees where parents built a series of wicking beds. This was a significant project which took a lot of time and energy, on top of the usual teaching load Serena has. Serena's dedication to getting the best for our students shines through the finished product and the strong community connections built with parents through the project.
Chewton Primary. Garden copy.pdfShowcasing our 2024 school of the Year award work to the Minister for the environment,
Showcasing our 2024 school of the Year award work to the Minister for the environment,
local member and VIP guests.
local member and VIP guests.
School fete veggie stall
School fete veggie stall
Students growing veggies from seed, selling seedlings and yummy silverbeet! Our parents sell our garden produce once a term at the local market. Serena and the students plant seeds and sell the seedlings at the local coffee stall at the Chewton post office. Proceeds go towards our garden!
Students growing veggies from seed, selling seedlings and yummy silverbeet! Our parents sell our garden produce once a term at the local market. Serena and the students plant seeds and sell the seedlings at the local coffee stall at the Chewton post office. Proceeds go towards our garden!
Connecting with the community
Connecting with the community
Parents come and work with Serena in our garden each week. Serena has harnessed a large volunteer workforce to build our new wicking and winter garden beds. Serena organises guest speakers to come and visit to share their expertise and to challenge the students to be involved in projects that bring about positive change in our local community.
Parents come and work with Serena in our garden each week. Serena has harnessed a large volunteer workforce to build our new wicking and winter garden beds. Serena organises guest speakers to come and visit to share their expertise and to challenge the students to be involved in projects that bring about positive change in our local community.
Serena liaises with Connecting Country, POHAG (Post Office Hill Action Group -local landcare) on planting and monitoring regeneration. She
liaises with businesses to get the best deal and generous donations for our sustainability program. Serena writes grants and got all the money needed to replace our old leaking garden beds, then got all the parents together to build new wicking beds!
Serena supported our DPP students to approach the local post office and pub to place donation tins for the biodegradable dog poo bags.
Our students went on the Wild Radio show on our local community radio station with Serena and presented information about the River Detectives program and how important it is to monitor the quality of our local waterways and to keep our waterways healthy!
The students were presenting to their class and members of the Resource Smart 5 star program.
From our school captains Quincy & Teyo.
From our school captains Quincy & Teyo.
Quincy and Teyo interviewed students from across the school to find out
what students love about Sustainability with Serena, and why we think
Serena should win
Sustainability teacher of the year
We think that Serena should be the sustainability teacher of the year. Because she has done so many helpful things for the school and the garden. We did lots of work on posters to prevent kangaroos from getting hit by cars in Chewton and after we put those up we think that there has been less kangaroos on the side of the road. We also have done lots of projects to try to save water and resources. Sometimes we do water testing to check if our local creek Forest creek is healthy and check what type of bugs are in the water and in 2024 the whole school did a big presentation at the creek to lots of other schools to show them how important our local creeks can be. Currently we are doing a soil project to prove that we couldn't live without it and how things can decompose into the ground and how worms live. Also we made muesli bars and sold them for 50 cents each. We put up signs at the creek to get people to pick up their dog poop. Everybody thinks she is a kind, funny and a wonderful person.
Famous quote: I need your beautiful brain.
By Quincy and Teyo, School Captains
March 2026
River Detectives
River Detectives
Learning about water quality
Learning about water quality
Investigating and identifying water bugs
Investigating and identifying water bugs
Students teaching other students: our Grade 3-6 students presented water testing techniquest at the Healthy Waterways day, and showed students how to identify waterbugs!
The level of knowledge children have developed through working with Serena is remarkable.
A group of students from Grade 4 were featured on the local Castlemaine Community Radio MaineFM with Serena, presenting their knowledge of the River Detectives program and how important it is to keep our local waterways healthy. This has turned into regular guest spots, with students now in year 5 and sharing their expertise and hopes for the future.
Connecting Country
Connecting Country
Trialling a unit of work with Hadley from Connecting Country at the river flat beside Leanganook Walking track.
Sustainability embedded in the curriculum
Sustainability embedded in the curriculum
Reuse, recycle investigations (Prep/1)
Reuse, recycle investigations (Prep/1)
Sustainable cities (2-3-4)
Sustainable cities (2-3-4)
Learning about compost and improving our soil health
Learning about compost and improving our soil health
Resource Smart Awards
Resource Smart Awards
2023 Curriculum School of the year
2023 Curriculum School of the year
2024 School of the year
2024 School of the year
Costa congratulates us on our School of the Year win!
Our principal bumped into Costa in the local supermarket and this is what he had to say about our incredible sustainability work
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Read more here!
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