Victorian Schools Garden Awards 2013Winner - Category 3 (schools over 250 students)
The Victorian Schools Garden Awards are run annually, and are open to all Victorian State, Catholic and Independent schools. The Awards are sponsored by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
Read more from our local papers here.
Marriot Cup Winners for 2013 ‘Best Carrots’
Elizabeth Miller, State Member for Bentleigh announced that East Bentleigh Primary School is officially the winner of the 2013 Marriott Cup, following a tough round of competition within local primary schools.
The Marriott Cup is an annual vegetable growing competition initiated by Ms Miller to engage local primary students in engaging activities that would educate them on the benefits of growing your own fresh produce.
This year, carrots were chosen as the mystery vegetable for the children to grow, however they were not just any carrot, but a special Dutch variety that would grow in an array of different colours.
Ms Miller said the competition was popular among the students and they were all very excited to play and learn in their school garden.
“It’s great to be able to get the children outside and learning how to grow fresh vegetables. They were all excited about seeing the different coloured carrots and learn how to care for the seedlings.”
The competition was judged by a panel of expert judges, including local market gardener Geoff Marriott, the namesake of the competition whose family were successful market gardeners in Bentleigh from 1878.
Mr Marriott said he really enjoyed the experience and was very impressed with each school’s entry. “The effort the teachers and students put in to their gardens was remarkable and the enthusiasm from the students was unbelievable” he said.
East Bentleigh Primary School was declared the winners after an intense two days of judging.
Maria Shearn, Principal, said the school was delighted to have received this award.
“A strong focus of our school is the student led kitchen garden and engaging our students in sustainable practises is very important. Being able to incorporate the kitchen garden in to education is of great value to our students and the students did a great job organising their entry in to the Marriott Cup” Ms Shearn said.
Seven local primary schools participated in this year’s Marriot Cup, including two special development schools.
The Marriott Cup is run as part of the Victorian Coalition’s $40 million ‘Health Promotion for Children’ policy which aims to establish healthy lifestyles in children at a young age.
Resource Smart Schools Awards Community Leadership and Biodiversity
2014 Winner - Community Leadership Primary School of the Year
On Monday 8th September, East Bentleigh Primary School won the Community Leadership Primary School of the Year Award.
The school's Green Team decided they would be more proactive with their waste-free theme at the Bentleigh Farmers' Market each month. Since coming to our farmers' market, two thirds of the stall holders have changed their practice when it comes to using plastic bags - most stall holders are now waste-free and have changed their practices at other markets.
In 2014, the Green Team also came up with a "Walking School Bus" to encourage children to walk to school on Wednesdays. They made walking charts and gave stickers to the children who walked. As a student-led leadership program, it has been a huge success.
The school continues to develop its beautiful garden areas through targeted garden lessons with students.
East Bentleigh Primary School and the Green Team hosted a professional development day in conjunction with Victorian Schools Garden Awards for other schools to attend, explore the basics of school gardens and to share East Bentleigh Primary School's journey. The Green Team led tours around the gardens ans assisted serving a lunch cooked and prepared by Year 6 students.
2013 Finalist
Winners of the ResourceSmart Schools Awards 2013 were announced on Friday 8th November in front of more than 350 students, teachers and special guests at an exciting event held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Finalists and winners shared in up to $40,000 in cash and prizes to help support and grow their sustainability initiatives. Resource Smart schools encourage all schools to continue taking the lead in their communities and build on the fantastic results achieved in 2013.
Find out more about the Resource Smart Schools Awards.
East Bentleigh Primary School on MasterChef
"All day at Masterchef kitchens with the students from East Bentleigh Primary School. What fun we had." Stephanie Alexander tweeted.