Lessons of creation
When it comes to caring for God’s creation, it seems some of the youngest members of our LCA community can teach the rest of us a lesson or two. As they learn, students in many parts of the Lutheran Education Australia system are working to protect and preserve our environment as a unique, delicate and precious, God-given gift. Here is just a sample of their stories.
Bush wisdom changes lives
Tanunda Lutheran Early Learning Centre, Tanunda SA
The children who attend Tanunda Lutheran Early Learning Centre (ELC) in SA’s Barossa Valley may be only pre-school age but they already are gaining knowledge to last a lifetime.
The ELC, which is a part of Tanunda Lutheran School, has the ultimate outdoor classroom within its site and Director Marie Hage says it is changing young lives. What was once just vacant land bordering the North Para River is now a bush block full of life, learning and play opportunities.
About a hectare in size, the block is located at the back of the joint property and has been revegetated by the ELC team, with the support of parents, friends, government grants, local service groups and businesses.
Along with a focus on sustainability and care for God’s creation woven through the curriculum, Marie says visiting the bush block at least twice a week has a huge effect on students.
‘We find that it affects the children cognitively, socially and spiritually and it promotes deep thinking’, she says of the bush block, which is shared with the primary school. ‘Every area of curriculum can be addressed in that bush block and many children blossom in that environment.’
Waterwise award for Faith College
Faith Lutheran College, Plainland Qld
by Heidi Rose
Faith Lutheran College, Plainland, in South East Queensland, has been crowned the winner of the Best Waterwise Garden category in the Lockyer Valley Regional Council’s Garden Competition.
Showcasing the work of groundsmen Nigel Klinge, Anton Lehmann and Darren Jamieson and project manager Tom Kenny, the college was able to display drought resistance initiatives to ensure its grounds remain green in spite of consistently dry weather conditions.
Faith also took out second place in the Schools and Childcare section of the awards.
The college uses recycled water and run-off from drains and dams, along with plants that require little watering or maintenance as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability.
Darren Jamieson says ‘staying abreast of the latest innovations in gardening, and researching the best plants to use in our soil conditions and that are native to the area, help to make the grounds that much easier to care for and maintain’. ‘It is lovely to see our students sitting under our beautiful shady trees and on our lawns, knowing that we have grown these ourselves during tough weather conditions’, he said.
Heidi Rose is the marketing and publicity coordinator for Faith Lutheran College, Plainland, Queensland.
EDEN in the making
Good Shepherd Lutheran School, Angaston SA
EDEN – or Explore Discover Engage with Nature – is a precious patch of land with a creek at the back of Good Shepherd Lutheran School at Angaston in SA’s Barossa Valley.
A few years back it was slated to become a hockey field. But, with the urging of parents and staff, new principal Anne Marschall looked into the concept of nature play, and possibilities for the school’s ‘wasteland’ opened up.
The students are involved with the development of EDEN, too, coming up with the name and ideas for the space, including a maze, an outdoor classroom, a giant sandpit, a tunnel, a fire pit, and plants to attract native birds and butterflies.
Anne says being a Christian school gives EDEN extra relevance: ‘There is an aspect there of caring for God’s creation and stewardship, using what we’ve got wisely’.
The school also has a group of 10 students who are particularly committed to EDEN and the environment. God’s Little Helpers looks at a range of sustainability practices, including how much plastic is used and how the school community can save electricity.
What ‘God’s Little Helpers’ say
I enjoyed getting ideas for Eden and what we should put in it. I wanted to put in a little wooden house with seats and a bee hotel. – Tilly
I liked checking the electricity and trying to come up with ways to save electricity. – Tom
I enjoyed making the puppet video to teach the students about how to use the bins. – Courtney
I liked going to the GLH meetings and talking about what we are going to do next to help the environment. – Georgia
I had fun thinking about what we can put in the nature areas. – Thomas
If we don’t look after the environment it can die and animals can die if they don’t have trees and plants. – Angela
Don’t use a lot of plastic because it takes up a lot of room in the world. It can kill animals and can take a long time to break down. – Jemima
We need to look after the environment because native plants can do special things and bring wildlife to them. – Riley
Teacher tips on sustainability
‘The biggest goal in schools for sustainability should be to use everything at school and have minimal to no waste’, says Renae Hampel, Sustainability Coordinator at Good Shepherd Lutheran School, Angaston SA.
- Encourage plastic-free lunch boxes.
- Use paper and green waste to make mulch.
- Use food scraps in a Bokashi bin (the liquid can be used in the garden).
- Discuss how to minimise paper use as staff and students.
- Do a waste audit to work out how to minimise waste or reuse it at the school.
- If recycling, go and visit a recycling place so children know why it’s important to wash containers and why they shouldn’t put certain things in the bin.
- Start a student sustainability group to look at ways the school can be more sustainable.
- Have children monitor electrical use. They can brainstorm ways to save electricity and monitor the use to see if it is making a difference.
- Plant more native trees and bushes to encourage native animals.
God’s call still stands
Cornerstone College, Mt Barker SA
by Albert Gast
What response will most teenagers give when asked to clean up their room? If you are a parent or a caregiver, you probably already know the answer to this question. Whether it’s because they don’t see the mess, whether they are purposefully disobedient, or whether they are purely lazy, it is a rare thing for a young person to respond positively to what seems a reasonable request.
In the end it can be a matter of having to close the bedroom door.
While teenagers mostly grow out of a bad attitude toward the living space they are supposed to be responsible for, we all carry similar attitudes to the bigger living space we call Earth.
Ever since the creation of the world and humanity within it, there has been a call to all those made in God’s image to take a different attitude. In the beginning God created the world and invited us to take good care of it (Genesis 2:15), as a poignant and powerful testimony to the amazing partnership formed between God and us.
Our track record since then, however, has been less than impressive. Sadly, I wonder how often God might have preferred to have simply shut the ‘bedroom door’, in response to our own bad attitudes, laziness and disobedience.
I recently watched a documentary on a well-known music festival in the United Kingdom, a three-day event that gathered tens of thousands of people under the banner and sponsorship of Greenpeace. The irony of those supporting one of the world’s most enduring environmental organisations was staggering, as the cameras unveiled an ocean of garbage and filth, left behind after the festival.
This image of selfishness is our collective struggle too, as humanity continues to miss the mark when it comes to our roles as Earth-citizens. Our mutual ability to mess up God’s creation is all part of the story of sin. Thankfully, God’s patience with us allows his call in Genesis to remain as relevant as ever, especially in the 21st century. As Christians we are invited to take a lead in God’s commission, and we have license to teach younger generations to be empowered and equipped to bring change in keeping with God’s vision for the world he made.
Reverend Albert Gast is Pastor at Cornerstone College, in Mount Barker, South Australia.
Nature’s classroom
Cornerstone College, Mt Barker SA
by Tony Egan, Mary Butler & Adam Yeager
At the beginning of formal ceremonies at Cornerstone College at Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, the following statement is read: ‘God created the world. God created Australia. God created the land on which he placed Cornerstone College. We acknowledge that today we are meeting on the traditional land of the Peramangk people and we respect their spiritual relationship with the land’.
We are so blessed at Cornerstone to have such a beautiful campus, including a creek, healthy 200-year-old red gum trees, and expanses of native bush and open space. In acknowledging God as creator, and the Peramangk as the traditional custodians of this land, a small group of staff came to realise we had a responsibility to care for the natural environment and to share the experience with others. And so our journey towards sustainability began.
With support from management, other staff, students, parents and local community associations, we have made significant progress. The concept of sustainability is now integrated into the curriculum in subjects such as science, geography, English, mathematics, art, Christian Living and also through things such as the use of recycling bins around the school and compostable packaging in the canteen.
In the past 14 years we have established an Environmental Education Centre which is used for lessons and community meetings/workshops. We also have a propagation shed to germinate and grow native plant species for our wetland and woodland. And, thanks to the support of the Mount Barker Council, the school has a series of wetland ponds and linear trails which are all accessible to the public. Students have contributed through the construction and installation of nesting boxes, seating and bird hides. They have planted more than 25,000 native plants with many as part of National Tree Day, thereby improving the biodiversity of our school grounds.
We know that by helping others understand how ‘environmentally gifted’ we are and by providing a means for them to actively care for God’s creation, we are also caring for each other. There is a much bigger picture beyond our vision, based on our relationship with creation and our Creator God.
Tony Egan and Mary Butler are Sustainability Education Coordinators and Adam Yeager is College Chaplain at Cornerstone College, SA.
Wonders of plants and animals
Faith Lutheran College, Redlands Qld
by Jacqui Castorina
Studying God’s creation is an important part of learning at Faith Lutheran College, Redlands, Queensland.
The junior school at the co-educational Prep to Year 12 campus located in the South East of the state has a specialist teacher and classroom for science across the P-4 range. The science program follows the Australian Curriculum, covering biology, chemistry, earth sciences and physics.
First term is dedicated to biology, with students learning about God’s wonderful creations in the animal and plant kingdoms. The children are taught the particular needs of living creatures and how habitats can be damaged.
The Year 1s have set up a worm farm, guided by the local council. The Year 4 students can now use the ‘worm tea’ on their herb garden.
In second term students study chemistry. Year 4s consider how the properties of materials affect pollution. Year 3s explore how changes between solid and liquid can help to recycle materials, while Prep students learn the benefits of recycling clothes, and helping others like Jesus did.
Year 2s study the water cycle in Term 3, including how water is recycled through God’s natural filtration system. The students learn how important it is to keep waterways clean, and are taught that fertilisers and plastics can pollute the ocean and harm wildlife.
By making our students aware how easy it can be to care for God’s amazing world, hopefully we can work together to ensure its prosperity.
Dr Jacqui Castorina is a teacher at Faith Lutheran College, Redlands Qld.