With gloves and rubbish bags at the ready, the kids at Gisborne Primary School were happy to be lending a helping hand for Clean Up Australia Day.
From the school yard, to Jackson’s Creek, to the surrounding streets, pupils in years three to six got down on Friday, March 4, to do their part as a school.
Year four teacher Penny Keehner said pupils have been learning about sustainability and recycling, and would be using the clean up as an opportunity to sort the plastics and waste.
“We’ve been doing waste management all year,” Ms Keehner said.
“In the classroom I actually have six bins, where we sort out all the rubbish, and the other classes are following suit as well.”
Some of the kids told Star Weekly how excited they were to be involved in keeping the environment clean and safe.
“I am happy to be cleaning up the creek because people chuck things in there and it is not good for the environment,” Harper said.
“Hopefully Clean Up Australia Day will teach people not to throw rubbish away in the environment,” Charlie said.
Clean Up Australia supplied the school with the bags and gloves they need to make the day run as smoothly as possible, keeping the pupils safe too.
Pupil Brian said the Clean Up Australia initiative “keeps our fish, birds and animals safe as we clean up the environment”.
Scarlett also said she was glad to keep “all the animals safe and away from rubbish pollution”.
Ms Keehner said she’s teaching the kids how far rubbish can travel, to help them see the bigger picture.
“Because Jackson’s Creek feeds into the Maribyrnong River, which then feeds into the bay.
“Whatever we drop in the rubbish at Jackson’s Creek ends up in the bay.”
Elsie Lange
