Asquith Enviro Hub

Book Nook and Garden Club produce stall inaugural appearance leaves us wanting more!

2015-06-19T10:58:00.000+10:00

These all came from our school's garden!

The kids just love digging for that awesome new book!

Our next Book Nook and Gardening Club double-act is on the last day of term 2, Friday 26th of June from 2:30 to 3:30. Bring your coins, because we have lost of lovely books to re-home.

-Liz

2015-03-16T08:48:00.000+11:00

My Backyard Square Metre - by S2/3S

S2/3S have been studying their backyards this week for a presentation to their class. Their comments will be posted below.

Our Latest Tweet!

2015-03-10T18:47:00.002+11:00

Rouge Chickens visit Asquith Public!

— Asquith Enviro Hub (@asquithenviro) March 10, 2015

Love is in our school vegie garden...

2015-02-27T21:27:00.000+11:00

You know your vegetable garden is in good health when you have Ladybugs, and they are making more Ladybugs.

These guys dine on pests such as Aphids, so they are handy to have around. It also means no chemicals are needed to control the pests, which is great!

Let us know if you have spotted any ladybugs in YOUR garden...

Whooooo's visiting our Turpentine forest?

2014-12-12T10:00:00.000+11:00

A Tawney Frogmouth, that's who!

These guys mostly eat nocturnal insects, worms, slugs and snails. We are very happy to see wildlife using our forest, because it means the eco-system in the school is healthy.

Have you spotted him?

Learn more about these birds here - http://australianmuseum.net.au/Tawny-Frogmouth

Get the knowledge

2014-12-11T21:28:00.001+11:00

If you ever want to know what we plant in the school grounds, you will now be able to look it up.
We are building up a page (called the Knowledge Base) within this blog, that will hold the specifications of plants that we establish in the school grounds.
We hope this will inspire you to look for them while you are in the school, or even plant some at home.
You can get to this page via this link - http://asquithenvirohubactivities.blogspot.com.au/p/knowlege-base.html

November Working Bee - New pictures!

2014-12-02T21:20:00.000+11:00

November's working bee fell on one of the years hottest days. But that did not stop the dedicated team from getting the job done.
From moving entire vegetable gardens to setting up a new equipment shed, it was all happening.

This picture below is where our garden equipment shed has been installed. It will house all of our wheel barrows, and other bits and pieces.

The three raised vegetable garden beds have been given a new home, right near our digging patch. This is a much more central location, where everyone can keep an eye on how the veggies are going. Before and After School Care have taken on the responsibility of watering daily.

A garden can always use a compost bin, or two. We have three, servicing the veggie patch, from playground scraps. These were kindly donated to the school by families.

The garden beds between the library and the school office building have been planted out with an assortment of herbs. Hopefully they will thrive in the space we have made for them.

And Team Green, the kids club was kept cool but busy with all sorts of interesting activities. Some made Christmas cards, others watered the new seedlings planted in the Turpentine forest, and there were even some happily searching for litter treasure!

What fun!

APS goes Bottled Water Free for Carols on the Oval!

2014-11-20T23:00:00.001+11:00

Inspired by the popular mantra "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", Asquith Enviro Hub are pleased to announce that Asquith Public School's annual Carols on the Oval event this year will be disposable bottled water free for the first time.

We encourage you to bring your own refillable bottles, and fill them up at our water stations.

Don’t have one? Now’s the perfect time to get one – depending on your preference you can great metal , plastic or glass ones from supermarkets and pharmacies (make sure plastic ones are BPA free, so no nasty chemicals dissolve in your water – something bottled-water plastic bottles often have!).

Why is Asquith Public making a stand against bottled water?

Plastic bottles take up lots of space in landfills – using up our precious land.
Plastic bottles contribute to litter on roadside and especially in our water ways – the plastic choking animals and breaking down into micro-particles which never go away and poison our oceans and rivers*
Massive amounts of oils are used to produce and transport plastic bottles – emitting over 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases in Australia in 2006.
We are setting a great example for our community and more importantly, our kids. Actions speak louder than words, and we want to show that we mean what we say, when we talk about creating a greener future.
Tap water is so much cheaper!

You can also get a drink at one of many school bubblers - and we will have a water station handy for refilling bottles too (with some emergency recyclable paper cups too).

We are so very lucky to have clean, fresh and safe drinking water available straight from our taps in Sydney – let’s take advantage of this privilege.

Let’s get together, and "tap it" for a greener future.

* See http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/11/28/3900026.htm for more information on this.

Rockin' Composting

2014-11-15T22:24:00.002+11:00

While we're on the subject of compost, here is a great article from our friend Dirt Girl. Seeing all the steps here, makes it even easier to start your own compost bin. Have you got a rockin' compost bin at your home? Why not send us a photo of it!

http://www.dirtgirlworldscrapblog.com/3-steps-to-br-rockin-compost-pile/
Send your compost bin pics to asquithenvirohub.au@gmail.com.

Three cheers for Mrs Meggitt, the "Worm Lady"

2014-11-13T21:21:00.003+11:00

Mrs Meggitt’s determination to cut back on waste at school by encouraging composting has worked a treat, with many kids automatically putting their compostable waste in the bins provided at school! They know their banana peels, apple cores, bread, tomatoes, paper bags and other food scraps go to feed the schools’ worms – either in the compost bin or worm farm – and eventually create compost and soil to go back into their veggies gardens - go Mrs Meggitt!!

We’re now hearing stories of kids at home saying Dad? Mum? Where’s our compost bin? Well if you are interested in getting a compost bin or worm farm at home (worm farms are great especially if you don’t have the space for a compost bin), you can buy them from Hornsby Council. What’s more if you (or your kids!!!) successfully do a short online tutorial and quiz, you can get what you need for half price!!!

So check out the following website for the tutorial and quiz:
http://compostrevolution.com.au/

Current full prices (http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/property/waste-and-recycling/composting-and-worm-farming):
220L Compost bin - $40
Worm farm (black) $80

Worms - $40 for approximately 2,000 worms, can be ordered upon request (you can also get worms from someone else’s worm farm – pop a comment on our blog or contact the Enviro Hub and we’re sure we can find someone to share some worms with you)

Did you know?

1. 40-50% of waste in our red bins is food.
2. Throwing food in the rubbish (red) bin means more energy used transporting the waste to the dump.
3. It also means more methane gas produced in the landfill – methane is a greenhouse gas.
4. The food mixes with other waste to create acid leachate which poisons our groundwater.
5. We also lose the nutrients in our food cycle.

Our Turpentine trees are blooming!

2014-10-23T12:36:00.000+11:00

Turpentine in the Spring time.

Spring has sprung at Asquith Public, with many of our plants displaying gorgeous flowers. Below is a picture of one of our more mature Turpentine trees. There are many of these on the school grounds, they make wonderful shade for us, and play host to many different animals. Learn more about these trees here.

Hot Diggidy!

2014-09-09T22:42:00.001+10:00

Our Digging Patch is now open!

Amongst other things, the Enviro Hub installed the new Digging Patch at the August working bee. It has three sections - The sand pit, the matchbox dirt track, and finally, the stepping stone area. Each section caters to a mode of play that taps into kids innate creativity, giving children a chance to build upon what they have been learning that day. It is also a way for kids to let off creative steam, in a safe and tactile environment.

It may be installed, but it is in no way finished! Through observing wear-and-tear of the area, we will find out which parts work well, and which parts need improvement. In taking our lead from the students, future working bees will focus on adding to and adjusting elements of this fun little play area.

Q- Have you seen the digging patch in action? Do you plan to install one in your backyard?
Let us know what you think!

2014-08-26T13:49:00.001+10:00

Asquith Enviro Hub has joined Pinterest!

Come over and follow us!

www.pinterest.com/asquithenviro/

2014-08-20T00:33:00.003+10:00

Hello, Twitter!

We are now officially on Twitter.

Our handle is @asquithenviro, so if you are a twitterer, please stop by and say hello.

Welcome to our blog!

2014-08-14T23:24:00.001+10:00

Welcome

Welcome to the Asquith Enviro Hub’s new blog.

We hope to share our beautiful school grounds with you here – and all the ways the students, teachers, parents and wider community come together as stewards to nurture and care for our environment.

With deep respect to the Guringai and Dharug traditional owners of Asquith Country we hope to foster lots of exciting connections between the peoples and places of Asquith Public School.

We are a sub-committee of Asquith P&C Committee, and work closely with the principal Mrs Rita Trovato and teachers in everything we do. Feel free to join our group (coming soon!), help with particular activities which catch you fancy, or just keep an eye on what we do through our blog. Your comments are always encouraged; we love to hear what you think of our activities.

You can leave comments and questions below, by using the “comments” link.