Edstream
EdStream
Edition 13, February 2008
In this edition:
- Register now for the 2008 Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference
- Win a raingarden for your school
- Niddrie Primary School achieves gold
- Free Melbourne Water calendars
Register now for the 2008 Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference
Student-led workshop at the 2007 Melbourne Water Yarra River Youth Conference
It’s on again … the 2008 Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference.
The health of rivers and creeks across the Port Phillip and Westernport region will be the focus of the second annual Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference to celebrate World Environment Day (June 5).
This year, each school may register up to 2 teachers and 7 students to attend or present one of the twenty student workshops at the two-day conference at Flemington Racecourse on June 4 and 5.
To ensure that all river catchments across the region and both primary and secondary schools are represented, a quota system will operate until March 10, 2008.
Melbourne Water General Manager of Waterways, Chris Chesterfield, said the conference, organised with Firestarter, would be based on the ‘kids teaching kids’ model, providing students with an opportunity to develop presentations for their peers.
“It is a fantastic way for students to gain a comprehensive understanding of river health issues as well as skills in public speaking and presentation.”
Last year, more than 350 students from 38 primary and secondary schools took part in the conference, working with expert mentors on a range of student-led workshops.
If your school is in the Dandenong, Maribyrnong, Yarra, Werribee, Westernport or Mornington catchment, register now at www.onelifeoneworldourfuture.com/melbournewater. Registrations close on March 20, 2008
For more information, download the 2008 Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference Flyer.
Win a raingarden for your school
A raingarden
As part of the 2008 Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference, twenty participating schools have the opportunity to win a raingarden as part of Melbourne Water’s $200,000 Raingardens in Schools program, each valued at $10,000. Upon registration, schools will be sent an entry form, with winners announced at the conference on World Environment Day.
A raingarden resemble a regular garden, but is designed to act as a filter, cleaning the rainwater collected from a hard surface such as a paved area, road or the roof of a building.
The individual impact of each raingarden is small, but over time as more are built, the potential to make a difference to the health of our rivers and creek is huge.
For more information, download the 2008 Melbourne Water River Health Youth Conference Flyer.
Registrations close on March 20, 2008.
Registrations now open
Niddrie Primary School achieves gold
Claymation by students of Niddrie Primary School
Congratulations to Niddrie Primary School, the first Melbourne school to receive their Water – Learn it! Live it! gold accreditation, after first receiving their bronze accreditation in December 2006.
To attain their gold accreditation, Niddrie Primary School implemented water conservation into the school’s curriculum, encouraged their local community to save water, reduced their own water use and installed a range of water saving technologies.
Earlier in 2007, students created two ‘claymation’ films: The Raindrop Escapade, which follows the journey of three raindrops through Melbourne’s water cycle, while Residential vs. Industry tackles the misconception that big companies use more water than households.
In October 2007, the students recorded a water conservation song, Water for you and me, to engage their peers on water conservation.
Both the film and the song have now been included into the school’s 2008 curriculum.
Water - Learn It! Live It! has been jointly developed by the Melbourne’s water businesses: City West Water, South East Water, Yarra Valley Water and Melbourne Water. More than 160 metropolitan schools have now committed to the program.
More information: Water - Learn it! Live it!
Free Melbourne Water calendars
Artwork by Samantha Davis, Yarra Glen Primary School
Every year, Melbourne Water works with primary schools near our major assets to produce a series of calendars. For the 2008 calendars, students created artwork to the theme of "Our land of droughts and flooding rains".
Copies of the 2008 calendar are still available. For free copies, contact us via our Inquiry Centre on 131 722 or online.
Subscribe to Edstream
As we pursue our commitment to sustainability, Melbourne Water's newsletter for schools EdStream is now available online. To subscribe to EdStream, contact us online.