About our project: Sustainability in the Community of Bayswater
What do we want to protect and preserve? What can old buildings, the way the river flows and bends, and the lives of people who lived in the past tell us about the communities we live in today? What does getting out of the classroom and into the real world teach us about ourselves? These were some of the questions that 24 of Bayswater Primary’s Year2 children investigated for their Creative Schools HASS project during 2023.
About our school
Bayswater Primary is an independent public school in the heart of Bayswater about seven kilometres northeast of Perth CBD. We promote and encourage a sense of community involving staff, students, parents, and the wider community, who work together to provide and develop positive relationships.
What happened?
Guided by teacher Darelle Seal and visual artist Claire Davenhall, our students explored the history and geography of Bayswater through local stories and through the Dreamtime stories told by Noongar Elder and storyteller Dr Noel Nannup. We took heritage walks to research old structures like the Old Post Office and the Bayswater Bridge and made note of how local shops had all changed function over the last 100 years. We explored the local wetlands and invited the Water Corporation to the school to share ways of helping to keep our water clean.
We need to save the turtles because they live in Bayswater and otherwise, they will be extinct. Student
Somebody Swallowed Stanley is a story about what happens when plastic bags go rogue in the environment. After reading this, our students designed and made a sustainable version of a ‘Stanley bag’ to remind people to recycle, reuse and reimagine our waste and keep plastic out of our waterways. The children marketed these bags to the rest of the school community at our end of project showcase session.
I went with the group down to the bird sanctuary. It was wonderful to see the children exploring and learning in nature. My son has loved the program, it’s been his favourite day of the week at school. He’s been very excited about the showcase. He did a great job explaining his bag project to me at home. His bag is about recycling. We’ve had chats at home about recycling. He was telling me about plastic ending up in the environment and how bad it is for the turtles. Parent
How did we use the Five Creative Habits of Learning?
We made these come alive through targeting our warm-ups towards developing inquisitiveness and imagination, and getting our students to think about how they’d use these skill in our main activities. These warm-ups gave meaning and purpose to the rest of the session and encouraged student agency: by the end of the project students were designing their own warm ups.
I like how you have to create stuff. The warm-up games are really fun. It’s way different to school and home. We’re playing in Creative Schools. Student
At the end of each session, we reflected on the Five Habits, making them in the form of a school of fish. Students would select a fish whose colour corresponded to the habit they felt they had most developed that session. We ended up covering 15 windows in the classroom! It was like learning in a giant aquarium that grew and grew each week.
What did we discover?
The impact was far greater than we could have anticipated. We didn’t realise we had oblong turtles in Bayswater until we took on this project!
Our students became so excited about learning and sharing how to protect and preserve things in their environment. We sold all the sustainable bags and raised enough money to cover our costs. We became even more integrated into the local community, raising funds for Environment House, a local not-for-profit organisation committed to protecting and restoring the natural environment, which provides an important environmental resource for City of Bayswater.
I wish this sort of learning had been around when I was a kid. It shows how education has evolved. The passion and confidence that the children have shown when they are talking to us is amazing. That’s important. They are all so willing to express what they have learnt. The kids were telling me all about the excursion to the wetlands. They got so much out of it. Grandparent
The impact on the Creative/Teacher team
It’s been incredible to work with someone creative. We bounce ideas off one another. I’ve noticed the children are better at sticking with things, they’re persisting. I do a lot of collaborative work in the classroom, and I find I have been using the same language of the Five Habits throughout the week in different lessons. The program has been beneficial for children with difficulties with reading or writing and children with Autism. It’s inclusive of all children. They can all participate, and they can engage and just get on with it. Teacher
It been wonderful to work with Darelle and her group of Year 2s this year. The project we designed has been a real success and the students have been so excited about sharing their learning with the community. They have really grasped the Five Habits. You can hear them asking for feedback from each other and wanting to make their work better. They’ve worked hard on getting their pictures for their bag designs just right and they are able to talk confidently about the meaning and purpose of the project. Creative Practitioner
Main Curriculum Focus: Humanities and Social Sciences
Key skills involve Questioning & Researching, Analysing, Evaluating, Communicating & Reflecting.
History: investigating the past in the present. The history of a significant person, building, site, or part of the natural environment in the local community and what it reveals about the past. The importance today of a historical site and why it has the heritage significance and cultural value for present generations.
Geography: investigating how people are connected to many places. Ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples maintain connections to their Country/Place.
Cross-curricular Links:
• General Capabilities: critical and creative thinking, personal and social capabilities.
• Cross-Curriculum Priorities: sustainability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories & cultures.
• Maths: money and financial mathematics.
• English: listening & speaking interactions.
• Science: Biological Sciences
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