St Peter's Girls' School makes a visit

St Peter’s Girls’ School in Stonyfell understands the importance of encouraging student engagement with local government, having for the third time in recent years, visited The City of Burnside to learn about all things council and the importance of environmental sustainability.

Meeting with Mayor Anne Monceaux, two classes of Year 4's were taught about the many services the City of Burnside oversees, before touring the toy library and spending time with the Burnside Environmental team to learn about recycling.

Mayor Anne Monceaux, St Peter’s Girls’ School alumni herself, said educating future leaders of the community about the vital functions of the City of Burnside is always a pleasure.

‘Seeing the next generation of our community so involved and eager to learn is a promising sign for the future,’ Mayor Monceaux said.

‘It is important for students to understand that council provides many more services than just the three R’s of rates, roads, and rubbish.’

Educator at St Peter’s Girls’ School, Ms Olivia Coulter said part of the school curriculum was to study local council, how it affects the lives of its citizens, and the democratic processes behind it.

‘This visit helps them feel more involved in their community,' Ms Coulter said. 'When the students get hands-on experience, it is much more impactful. It helps bring the council to life.’

‘They get back to school from this visit and want to make immediate changes, “Can we compost? Do we have the right bins? Can we do this and that?”’

During the visit Environmental Sustainability Officer at the City of Burnside, Sarah McConaghy-Beasley ran the students through the importance of proper at-home waste disposal and hosted the ever-popular Recycling Relay Challenge.

‘The students love the recycle relays,’ Sarah said. ‘This is where they take one item and run to place it in the correct bin, then run back and tag the next person, then when all the items are in the bins, we talk about a few key items that were right or wrong and why.’

Sarah also mentioned the students are always keen to share the proper recycling practices once back at home.

‘I do notice that they talk about what they do at home, most students understood the importance of placing food waste in the green bin and were already doing so at home. They are all very excited to tell everyone at home the importance of recycling and composting.’

If your school is interested in visiting the City of Burnside for a tour with Mayor Anne Monceaux, a peek at our award-winning Toy Library and a talk with our Environmental Sustainability team, send us an email at burnside@burnside.sa.gov.au