$20,000 grant for GreenWay Schools Program

The GreenWay Program has received a $20,000 grant from the NSW Government's Environmental Trust to fund its award winning sustainability education program in 10 primary schools along the GreenWay in 2015.

The Trust received 64 expressions of interest and funded only eight projects. Each participating school will receive teacher training, a guided walk along a section of the GreenWay and a 200 page Teachers Workbook packed with fun learning activities for primary school children, using the GreenWay as an outdoor classroom.

The Program is accredited by the NSW Institute of Teachers and has been adopted by the Observatory Hill Environmental Education Centre as a best practice case study for primary school sustainability education using the local environment. The Program evolved from a series of local history and environment walks and learning initiatives developed at Kegworth Public School in Leichhardt over several years. The GreenWay Sustainability Project allocated funds to translate these into a fully-fledged, cross curricular program which was piloted in three GreenWay public schools in 2011.

In 2012 the Program won a NSW Planning Institute of Australia Commendation Award (Planning for Children and Young People Category), sponsored by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People.

"It's a great way for local schools to use the environment along the GreenWay to teach the new national cross curricular subjects of sustainability and aboriginal heritage, as well as core subjects such as maths, english, science and history," GreenWay Place Manager, Nick Chapman said.

"The kids have a lot of fun getting out and about along the GreenWay and learn a lot about their local environment and its history."

Inquiries about the availability of this free schools program can be directed to Nick Chapman via the GreenWay website.