At home in nature's classroom
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday July 30, 2009
Hands-on learning about the environment adds to a balanced education, writes Melinda Ham. Few schools have a gardening class as an integral part of their curriculum but at the Armidale Waldorf School the emphasis on this subject shows its commitment to conservation and environmentalism. The gardening teacher and grounds caretaker, Ruth Tremont, says she tries to give every child a hands-on experience."My class isn't separate. Nature is also connected with nearly everything else the children study and complements their main lessons," she says.Armidale Waldorf is one of 60 Steiner schools in Australia, based on the educational philosophy of Austrian-born Rudolf Steiner, who ignited a worldwide movement of balanced learning.The school is set in four hectares of bushland, on the north-eastern outskirts of the New England city of Armidale, and includes a kitchen garden, a compost facility, worm farm and native-plant garden.Depending on the season, Tremont's gardening class activities include weeding, pruning, sowing seeds, composting vegetable scraps, dispersing manure on the gardens or harvesting crops.The vegetables grown include pumpkins, beans, potatoes, leeks, salad plants, corn, garlic and peas and are used to cook Friday lunches for all the students and teachers from preschool to year 8. The young fruit orchard has apples, plums and apricots, although they are not yet mature enough to eat.The Steiner philosophy emphasises the intellectual, creative and practical development of children in a balanced way and these hands-on activities aim to achieve such outcomes."We also developed a seasonal calendar about what flowers and birds you find at a particular time of year," Tremont says."Some of the older children made a native herbarium €“ a plant press €“ for the library. We collected the plants, pressed them and learned how to identify them."The students also participate in other environmental activities such as bushwalks at least once a fortnight and collect and use seed pods, leaves or gumnuts in their craft projects as well as leather and grass for basket weaving. They also examine common natural patterns, such as spirals, in maths.Two years ago, a group from Conservation Volunteers came to the school to work on the gardens. Conservation Volunteers is Australia's peak body for managing and dispersing volunteers to a variety of environmental projects across the country.Through its Green Schools Connect program, Conservation Volunteers members give more than 80 schools a year a helping hand.Schools only have to supply the plants, seeds or mulch, while Conservation Volunteers supplies the labour and tools.In Armidale, the volunteers replanted a fenced-off gully area at the school to reduce erosion, planted more native plants and extended the kitchen garden."It was really inspirational for our children to see other young people actually working hard and sweating and showing their love for the environment," Tremont says.Most of the volunteers were overseas backpackers, from countries such as Korea, Britain and the Netherlands, she says, and the children enjoyed chatting with them about their experiences.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
