This term our Intermediate VCAL students have partnered with Yarra Valley ECOSS (ecological and social sustainability) — a not-for-profit organisation in Wesburn that has adopted a community enterprise model to provide education that demonstrates sustainable living practices. Students have been working in teams to develop the site. Over several weeks they have been involved in a variety of projects to develop skills and knowledge of sustainable building practices. The projects include:
- Building an earthship stage
- Straw bale and rendered walls
- Building a wood-fired pizza oven
- Biodynamic farming
- Cooking with a wood-fired pizza oven.
The program provides an opportunity for students to be self-reflective and self-directed learners and make a contribution to their community.
Here are some student reflections after their first visit to ECOSS:
ECOSS has helped the development of being eco-friendly. It’s shown me and my Year 11 class that you can do certain things without wasting materials or by using eco-friendly materials. My group are building a wall out of hay bales and mud, which works as a great insulator to keep the heat or cold in and is also a very sound-proof and structurally strong wall. — Thomas Trezise (Year 11 Jade)
ECOSS is a company in the Yarra Valley that helps many people to learn a wide range of skills such as cooking , building and learning how to work in a team and how to live a more sustainable life. The value of the ECOSS partnership is to teach people how to live sustainably and learn new skills. The ECOSS partnership has supported me in learning how to live more sustainably and how to cook with what you have available. — Rosalie De Francesco (Year 11 Bronze)
In the first week l learnt how to make potting mix myself so that it was eco-friendly and did not have bad chemicals in it. I realised that it was a big process. The potting mix consisted of 70% compost, 20% pit, 10% sand. We then placed all of these on top of each other and my group then had to shovel the pile from one side to the other four times so that everything could be mixed. Now that l have seen how much time and effort goes into farming, l appreciate it more. — Chloe Baulch (Year 11 Blue)
We had to design and lay out an area where we had to place our first concrete slab for our wood-fired pizza oven. We first started with our frame, which was rough but got the job done. It was measured up, then hot glued and screwed together so there would be no leaks. We had to make the concrete, pulling wheelbarrows full of stones and sand up a muddy hill then shovelling nine portions of stone, one small bucket of water, six portions of sand and three portions of cement mix. Through all of our hard work we got the first bit of the pizza oven done. It was a great experience learning how to mix cement and learning different portions and what goes into it. — Josh Boede (Year 11 Gold)
