Belltrees Public School is proving size is no barrier to climate change impact. Led by Principal Shane Roberts, the 8 Belltrees primary school students are rolling up their sleeves and making real, tangible changes, contributing to NSW’s push towards net zero.
“These kids are the future. By 2030, they’ll be graduating and leading the push to net zero by 2050,” says Shane. “Teaching them skills at a grassroots level helps them understand how our actions impact the world around us. Their education is much wider than their classroom.”
Belltrees Public School has created a model for resilience, education, and environmental stewardship in their rural community. Climate change is a universal problem, and Shane wanted his students to know they could help manage it.
A holistic approach to net zero
The students gain invaluable hands-on experience — learning to compost, conserve energy and care for animals. They’ve built worm farms, a greenhouse for seed propagation and irrigation systems for drought prevention. They put all this to use, growing and harvesting their own fruit and vegetables to share with the local community.
They play an active role in restoring their local environment, planting trees and shrubs to encourage biodiversity and create a vibrant, more resilient ecosystem.
The school has installed solar panels, energy-efficient air conditioners, LED lighting and has implemented new routines with the children. These include turning off electronic equipment at the end of the day and monitoring the school’s energy use.
For those looking to go down the same path, Shane says “the best bit of advice is start, no matter how small that action is, be it composting or planting a garden bed, think about something that's achievable and get started.”
Shane has noted the impact on the students’ mental health since he implemented the environmental education program in response to the severe drought in 2019. Seeing how the children were reacting to the struggles of their farming families, it was important to empower them to make positive change.
“The students definitely feel a greater sense of belonging and a greater meaning to what they do each day,” reflects Shane. “That's allowed them to feel more included with a more action driven focus to their learning.”
The power of small changes
Rob Breur, the co-founder of Zero Positive, has been working with the school to monitor the school’s energy use since 2022. “If you look at their data, they get around the 10 to 15% reduction just by turning standby devices off,” says Rob. “You reduce energy, you reduce cost.”
“I think that the message here is that you can make great change by doing the tiniest of things. Individual action collectively adds up. There are 9,542 schools, roughly, in Australia, and combined they make one of the biggest emitters of CO2 in the country.”
Rob reflects on the role of schools like Belltrees and principals like Shane. “They're educating the future generations that are going to inherit this problem. It allows those generations to understand and take action on climate by taking simple actions like turning things off at the wall.”
A community effort
Staff, local farmers and businesses have responded passionately to the school’s projects. Some assisted with decision making, such as determining a water saving strategy. Others volunteered machinery and labour to carry out more difficult tasks such as excavating. Many also contributed through various donations.
“Such large changes would not be possible without the help of the community.” says Shane. “The school partners with local farmers to guide them through major developments.”
Shane has also accessed numerous avenues of funding and information to support this transformation. These include the NSW Department of Education, Landcare and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
The result is an environment that the kids can thrive in, with the landscape transformed. Once barren, the surrounding land is now green, and full of water and wildlife.
Recognition for their success
The efforts of the school and its students have not gone unnoticed. Minister for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Heritage, Penny Sharpe presented the school with her Minister’s Young Climate Change Champion Award at the 2023 NSW Sustainability Awards. Landcare has also used the school’s conservation work as a shining example to other regional schools in their presentations and neighbouring schools have visited to see first-hand how they could follow in their footsteps.