We hit a new record last month, with a very dedicated teacher, Kate Mamone, travelling 691 km’s (8hrs and 19mins) all the way from Cobar, NSW to attend our Waste & Sustainability in Schools Professional Development Day at the Eco House & Garden. Previous holders were Waste Education Officers from the city of Newcastle, which we thought was a hike but Kate came the distance. We were thrilled to meet her and find out more about what brought her to Kimbriki from the country town of Cobar in outback NSW, northwest of Sydney, known for its copper and gold deposits.
We sat down with Kate over the lunch break to find out more:
What is your background/work?
I studied Sustainable Design at university and am a Design & Technology/Engineering high school teacher. I am actually based in the Bega Valley and teach at Eden High School on the far south coast of NSW. I have created the Bega Valley Circular Education Strategy K-12, as the Valley is becoming Australia’s first circular economy. I’m currently doing a 12 month rural experience in Cobar with my family to experience a different way of life and share my expertise with the school and community. So I am here with two hats on! (The Bega Circular Valley Program – Bega Circular Valley Regional Circularity Co-operative Limited – Community Services Directory – Bega Valley Shire Council)
They are building Australia’s National Centre for Circular Discovery in the Bega valley. They already have 18 local case studies of industry working in circular economy including tourism, agriculture, health, education, aquaculture, retail. (Australia’s National Centre for Circular Discovery – Bega Circular Valley) This Centre will be connected to others internationally.
I see education as being one of the key pillars of success for this Circular Economy Strategy for the region and so created the Bega Valley Circular Education Strategy K-12. It is hoped that during the 14 years of schooling students will develop environmental literacy across 5 modules that will be delivered over their school life. This will be available to 3 and a half thousand students in the Bega Valley – across all school types – department, catholic and independent.
What made you come all this way for the PD Day?
I was really keen to get some sustainable and circular practices into Cobar High School as the town currently does not recycle or have FOGO and there are no environmental practices set up in the school currently. I have experience of setting up some systems and practices in high schools but wanted to learn more to apply to Cobar. I also wanted to get some experience of primary school based professional development as well as an insight into the Early Childhood framework to apply to my work with the Bega Valley Circular Education Strategy K-12.
How did you hear about the event?
I was looking for professional development opportunities on waste and sustainability on the Department of Education’s professional development portal – MyPL and came across it. I looked into what was offered at Kimbriki in terms of teacher education and the supported materials on the Resource Hive and thought it was the right fit.
What are you taking back to Cobar?
Not a Lucky Door Prize of a Compost Bin as I flew!! I would like to get a school compost system set up using the materials, processes and signage from the Resource Hive both in an accessible area of the school for the school community and also outside of the Food Tech Kitchen Classrooms. I am really interested also in WaterUps wicking gardens for schools and have spoken with Eric Sturman, from WaterUps and learned that there are 12 WaterUps wicking garden beds installed at Cobar primary school already! So I’ll be investigating those on my return. I hope I can collaborate and share resources with the Kimbriki Eco House & Garden team in the future.
