Goals for 2014

What are our goals for the year?

• Introduce environment points for the spirit award system.
• A focus on rubbish and recycling by installing new bins and bin lids.
• Reducing the amount of waste and litter in the school.
• Reducing our use of power, water and paper.
• Maintain and grow the vegetable garden.
• Introduce a worm farm to eat scraps and to make our own fertiliser for the garden.
• Return to Balnarring to plant more trees.
• Incorporate "nude food" lunches into the school.
• Raise awareness of environmental issues both local and global. 

These goals wont happen overnight however with some hard work and support our team hope to accomplish the list before the year is over.

Ride to School Day

On the 19th of March it was Ride to School Day.

What is ride to School day?

It is a national initiative where everyone in schools were encouraged to ride their bike to school. The Ride to School Day Website

What happened at Star?

For participating, everyone got to have a free breakfast before school in Sebastian Hall.

This year there were about 60 girls who participated, which is double the amount of people than last year!!


Thanks to last years Great Vic Bike Ride girls who helped out on the day.

Here are some photos of the day;

 

 

Meet the Ballygriffin Leaders

What does Ballygriffin mean? 

Ballygriffin is Nano Nagle's birth place in Ireland and is now a Heritage, Spirituality and Ecology Centre.
Here is a link to a website that describes Ballygriffin and the presentation sisters work.
Ballygriffin

Why are we called the Ballygriffin leaders?  

Our role in the school community is to care for the environment and to think of new ways to preserve it.

Who are this years Ballygriffin leaders?

We have two leaders from each year level from 7-10 and an environment captain.
Year 7 - Phoebe Clark and Jessica Murphy
Year 8 - Sophie Daw and Maddie King
Year 9 - Mia Cosgriff and Julia Arrighi
Year 10 - Olivia Hocking and Naomi Hanna
Environment Captain - Holly Winch

Saving Our Marine Life

                                      Saving Our Marine Life

                                                 By Jess Murphy

Throughout our planet, marine life is suffering and the threats are growing. This is occurring globally with a variety of problems, such as pollution, poaching, overfishing,  and climate change. 

So how can we save our marine life?  There are little things we can all do!  For instance if we pick up our rubbish every day from school then it won’t go down the drains and into the bay, and suffocate and harm many sea creatures such as the turtle.

What else can we do?  Be aware of what we are fishing and how much.  And think about how our actions can cause a domino effect. If we take all the baby fish then we will reduce the population as they don’t grow old enough to breed. 

Engine Fuels can also harm our sea life. To reduce the harm you should be aware of the types of fuels we use in boats as some can cause more harm to marine life than others.

What Can and Can’t I Recycle?

What Can and Can’t I Recycle? 

By Phoebe Clark yr7

Recycling is a great system because it reduces the amount of items that go into landfill by taking precious materials that are otherwise wasted and giving them a second life. If harnessed, recycling will stop making the Earth sick but the sad reality is that we just don’t know enough about recycling so we put all our rubbish into general waste and that is not okay. Here is a list of things you can and can’t recycle so that you can be more informed when choosing which bin to put rubbish in.

What to recycle:

•     Glass jars and bottles (not broken)

• Plastic containers - soft drink, juice and water bottles, milk bottles,  detergent and cordial bottles, margarine, yoghurt, ice cream containers and takeaway food containers.
• Aluminium and steel cans, completely empty aerosols.
• Milk and juice cartons.
• Newspapers and magazines.
• Cardboard boxes (crush and tear large boxes to prevent jamming).
• Letters, envelopes and advertising material.
• Work and school papers, telephone books.

What not to recycle:

•     Plastic bags.

• Crockery, pyrex, glassware or broken glass.
• Motor oil containers.
• Hazardous or chemical waste.
• Polystyrene.
• Waxed cardboard.
• Paper with food remains (e.g. pizza boxes).
• Nappies or household rubbish.
• Syringes.
• Plant pots.

Bibliography:

http://www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/index.php?q=node/125

http://www.hrcc.vic.gov.au/images/files/waste/Items_recycling.pdf