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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSUS 01-24Report to Executive Committee Report Number: SUS 01-24 Date: March 4, 2024 From: Kyle Bentley Director, City Development & CBO Subject: Pickering Environmental Schools Grant - Results of the 2023 Funding - File: D-7000-007 Recommendation: 1. That Report SUS 01-24 regarding the Pickering Environmental Schools Grant be received for information. Executive Summary: The purpose of this report is to present an overview of the student activities enabled by the City’s 2023 Environmental Schools Grant program. On October 21, 2019, Council approved the creation of a Pickering Environmental Schools Grant (Resolution #154/19). The purpose of the grant was to provide Pickering students with the opportunity to implement activities that contribute to a healthy environment. The Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB) and the Durham District School Board (DDSB) each had access to up to $10,000.00 for their respective schools. The Viamonde School Board (VSB) could apply for up to $1,000.00, which was reflective of there being only one joint elementary and secondary school site in Pickering. Staff worked with the three school boards to communicate the grant opportunity to their respective schools. Nine schools applied and a total of $20,581.74 in funding was allocated in 2023. The DCDSB, the DDSB, and the VSB each provided a report outlining the projects that were undertaken (see Attachments 1, 2 and 3 respectively). Through the City of Pickering’s Environmental Schools Grant, students achieved the following initiatives: • installed outdoor community garden beds to grow flowers and fresh food, to be used by the school community and to educate students on the importance of growing local food; • created native pollinator gardens with drought-resistant plants; • installed bird feeders and baths to attract pollinators and support outdoor learning; • participated in the Seed Saving education workshop, presented by The Edible Garden Project, to learn about growing seeds, and participated in an experiment where they made their own self watering container and planted sprouts to grow; • purchased native plants for pollinator gardens along with new gardening tools/supplies, that were needed to maintain the garden bed; • helped fund an indoor hydroponic garden project; and • purchased garden materials such as soil testing kits, bird feeders, bird seed, and a Vermicomposter, to enhance and maintain their pollinator gardens. SUS 01-24 March 4, 2024 Subject: Pickering Environmental Schools Grant Page 2 Pickering’s Environmental Schools Grant initiative provided equitable access for thousands of students to be engaged in fun, educational, and meaningful activities they otherwise would not have been able to pursue. Relationship to the Pickering Strategic Plan: The recommendations in this report respond to the Pickering Strategic Plan Priorities of Lead & Advocate for Environmental Stewardship, Innovation & Resiliency, and Strengthen Existing & Build New Partnerships. Financial Implications: Not applicable to this report. The cost of this program is funded from the casino reserve. Discussion: The parameters outlined in the Environmental Schools Grant Application Guidelines ensured that the funded activities/programs achieved the following: • provided an environmental benefit to the Pickering community and its residents; • had clear measurable benefits and results; and • directly supported the City’s goals to continuously improve environmental sustainability. A total of nine schools from DCDSB, DDSB and the VSB participated in the program, and they recognized the City’s contribution in various ways including: • eNewsletters • social media • classroom communications • outdoor posters • School Community Councils/School Councils Many schools have inquired about applying for funds in 2024. Subject to 2024 budget approval, Pickering’s Environmental Grant program is intended to be offered again to the above-noted school boards. The attached reports provide a brief overview and photographs of the work that was completed by the students. Through the Environmental Schools Grant, many schools were able to deliver meaningful projects they may not have otherwise been able to. The City of Pickering’s grant provided opportunities for local students to expand their knowledge about environmental matters and share their experience with family and friends. In summary, this report presents an overview of the student activities enabled by the City’s 2023 Environmental Schools Grant program. These efforts will help Pickering’s future decision-makers gain a sense of empowerment about the role they play in creating a more sustainable home, neighbourhood, and City. SUS 01-24 March 4, 2024 Subject: Pickering Environmental Schools Grant Page 3 Attachments 1.Durham Catholic District School Board 2023 Environmental Grant Final Report 2.Durham District School Board 2023 Environmental Grant Final Report 3.Viamonde School Board 2023 Environmental Grant Final Report Prepared By: Original Signed By Melanie Edmond, HBSc. Coordinator, Sustainability Original Signed By Chantal Whitaker, BESc (Hons), CSR-P Manager, Sustainability & Strategic Environmental Initiatives Approved/Endorsed By: Original Signed By Kyle Bentley, P. Eng. Director, City Development & CBO Original Signed By Stan Karwowski, MBA, CPA, CMA Director, Finance & Treasurer ME:ld Recommended for the consideration of Pickering City Council Original Signed By Marisa Carpino, M.A. Chief Administrative Officer Attachment 1 to SUS 01-24 Durham Catholic District School Board Pickering Environmental Schools Grant 2023 Final Report St. Mary Catholic Secondary School – We Grow Food St. Mary Catholic School partnered with We Grow Food to help repurpose a greenspace at the school, and through engagement, gave students the opportunity to develop garden beds to grow flowers and fresh food, which can be used by them. An Outdoor Ed Leadership Team of 40 St. Mary students helped deliver the project. However, the project will help the larger school community made up of 1300 students. Through the program, they are able to grow fruit and vegetables for the school community, and also create an outdoor classroom where teachers can take their classes outside for lessons and classes. St. Mary’s acknowledged the City of Pickering’s contribution through photos and messaging posted to twitter. St. Monica Catholic School The City of Pickering’s Environmental School grant has made it possible for our school to plant a pollinator garden that will help the environment and be an educational tool for our students. We created a space with many types of indigenous and drought resistant flowering plants to attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies to this garden. We have also made our garden bird friendly by adding two bird feeders and a bird bath. As we know birds are very important pollinators of wildflowers throughout the world. The benefit of the project would be a new habitat garden for native pollinators in Pickering. We can help sustain and support the native bee population in Pickering. There is a lot to be done to protect bees, but our small garden is one action our students and families can commit to. We have at least one classroom that has committed to counting and recording the number of pollinators they see in the garden on a weekly basis. The garden supports the Life Systems strand in the science curriculum for all grades. It is located conveniently by the outdoor classrooms and already has been used by teachers as a spring board of conversation to talk about the environment. The garden spans roughly 100 square feet. Two intermediate classes weeded and planted all the plants, and the ECO team was excited to create “Thank you City of Pickering” Posters that will go in the garden. The ECO team (40 students grade 4 and up) will maintain the garden (weeding and watering) in the spring. For Long-term maintenance plan the ECO team will create a maintenance schedule for watering and weeding the garden. We will also communicate to our families, that volunteers will be welcome to sign up for helping to care for our garden. The ECO team has created colourful thank you posters that have been laminated and put on posts. They will be put in the garden until it starts to snow. Then the posters will be stored until the Spring and put out again. The principal informed parent council about the funds from the City of Pickering, and they were very excited about the project. When the garden blooms the principal and vice principal will Tweet pictures of the garden using hashtags #cityofpickering #pollinatorgarden. Thank you, City of Pickering, for supporting our local environment, our eco initiatives and our students at St. Monica’s Catholic School! St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School participated in the Seed Saving education workshop presented by The Edible Garden Project. On November 7th, students learned about how vegetables grow and that we can grow our own food in small spaces. They learned about germination, condensation, evaporation, and absorption before participating in an experiment where they made their own self watering container and planted sprouts to grow. We now have a garden in our courtyard that will grow vegetables for students to eat. Thirty-nine students planted sprouts in their individual self-watering container and then Carol and Michelle from The Edible Garden Project will return in the spring and we will plant seeds in the big garden that they built. They will help us plant seeds and show students how to care for a garden. In the seed saving workshop 39 students were engaged in making a self-watering container and then planting sprouts in the morning and then 31 students painted murals to decorate the outside of garden. We also had 10 grade 8 volunteers helping to fill our gardens with soil. The school will acknowledge the City of Pickering's contribution by informing our parent community of the project in the spring. Attachment 2 to SUS 01-24 Durham District School Board Pickering Environmental Schools Grant 2023 Final Report 2 City of Pickering Environmental Grant Final Report 2023 As of the end of 2023, the following schools have completed their environmental grant projects in partnership with the City of Pickering. Dunbarton High School: The grant funds were used to purchase native plants for our pollinator gardens along with new gardening tools/supplies that were needed to maintain the garden beds at Dunbarton High School. With the grant, Dunbarton High school was able to implement a healthier environment around the school while promoting local biodiversity. The native plants that we have planted require less water, fertilizer, pesticides than the previous plants that are not native to that environment. They are able to improve the air quality of the environment, while also providing a habitat and source of food for pollinators such as birds, bees and butterflies and insects alike. The addition of the native plants to our existing pollinator gardens are able to help maintain biodiversity in the Dunbarton community. The Dunbarton Environmental Council can measure the project’s success using a number of factors. First, engage as many students as possible to actively take part in the planting process. The project was successful in attracting approx. 30 students (and 3 staff) to organize and plant 80 native species plants in the pollinator gardens. Providing a welcoming green space within the school campus which allows students to immerse in nature on a daily basis. This will be monitored by inviting classes to use the courtyard and allowing students to access the courtyard during lunch and spares. The idea is to enhance the use of the school courtyard and promote it as a healthy, natural green space. In addition to engaging the community to use the space, it will be required to maintain the gardens as well. The enviro students have created a watering/weeding schedule for the gardens in addition to purchasing the required tools to keep the gardens healthy and vibrant. The plan will be to maintain the gardens on an annual basis to ensure their success in attracting pollinators and students to the courtyard, alike. 3 4 Fairport Beach Public School Funds were used to support the We Grow Food project. Two representatives came to the school for a full day and discussed a variety of topics with our ECO Club students and teacher. The students were involved in several hands-on activities. One planter box was constructed (mid-November) and then in the spring the representatives will come back to teach our students how to plant and care for items planted at the school. This project involved 1 staff member, and approximately 10 students. The City of Pickering was recognized through our school newsletter and Instagram. 5 Maple Ridge Public School Garden Club (Grade 4 to 8 students) worked in the spring and fall to plant drought tolerant, pollinator friendly, and native plants. They tended the plants weekly: watering, mulching and weeding. The plants were labeled using painted rocks, with the name of the plant as well as its attributes (as listed above). We grew plants from seedlings, seeds and bulbs and even saved some seeds to plant again next year. This has served as an educational opportunity for students at the school as well as other visitors to the school. Garden Club members were excited to show off the garden to their parents on curriculum night. Our Maple Ridge school community council took notice of the garden, and parents donated even more plants to the garden. We also grew food plants in the garden, as well as in our indoor Tower Garden. This spring/summer we were able to harvest: lettuce, arugula, parsley and garlic. One grade 3 class also did a deep dive into plants and pollination, growing plants in their classroom, collecting plant samples from outside, and keeping nature journals. Project summary: - 26 edible plants grown indoors. - Over 16 new perennials added to the outdoor garden. - Grade 3 students demonstrated learning over time in their journals. - Garden Club members demonstrated their learning by gaining increasing competence and independence, caring for their plants week after week. - 4 teachers and over 60 students directly involved with the project The City of Pickering’s contribution was recognized in the Parent newsletter, aThank You message posted on Maple Ridge social media account, and a. message added to garden sign. 6 7 Frenchman’s Bay Public School A group called We Grow Food came to our school and built two 8x4x2 cedar planter boxes for growing vegetables. They then ran a day of education and activities for approximately 75 of our grade 3 students as well as a handful of grade 8 students from our Eco Club. They learned about seed saving, planting, growing, sustainable practices, etc. Due to the timing of this project, the measurable results won't be visible until the spring, when planters will be used to plant new crops. That being said, we think the engaging day of learning provided valuable hands-on experiential learning for the students was valuable, and was measurable through their grades in their science unit. The plan for the spring is to use these planters to educate and inspire environmental stewardship among our students. Once the plants yield, the produce will be donated to families in need. Approximately 75 grade 3 students, 6 Grade 8 students and 2 teachers led the project. More will be involved in the spring. The City of Pickering’s contribution was recognized with newsletters to the grade 3 families, school wide newsletters, and social media posts. In the future, more of the same will be done when we use this for the Eco Club initiatives described above. 8 Claremont Public School The purpose of the project was to provide a rejuvenation of the front gardens at Claremont P.S. through increasing the number of native pollinating plants to keep species of birds, butterflies and other pollinating friends in abundance and provide a stable and thriving ecosystem. Through the generous Environmental Schools Grant by the City of Pickering, we were able to buy tools for working in and maintaining a garden, a place to store the tools, a soil testing kit, bird feeders and bird seed, a Vermicomposter with worms, and mulch to keep the weeds down in the garden. The eager members of the Grade 2-4 Gardening Club plus educators worked tirelessly on lunch hours to weed, dig up existing bulbs, remove perennials to put aside so we were able to put down landscaping fabric (to minimize future weeds), replant bulbs and perennials, plant the new bulbs purchased and fill and hang the new bird feeders (which also happen to be squirrel proof!), and cover with a layer of mulch. We have left a small section of the end of the garden for soil play and discovery where students can freely dig and examine bugs, test soil and explore in a more natural area. The vermicomposter is in the Grade 1 and 2 classroom and students are actively learning about how the red wrigglers are composting fruit and vegetable matter to create a rich compost that we look forward to using in the spring. We have planted an additional 45 bulbs and have been able to better organize the plants within the garden to accommodate different types of pollinators. The compost that the worms create will be able to be directly put back into the garden for rich soil in the spring. We have met weekly as a garden club since the middle of September to work on this rejuvenation project. Students learned how to plant bulbs, how to space them (how deep to dig), how to use the gardening tools safely. Other classes in the school will be offered to host the vermicomposter in their classroom and learn about the worm composting process. As the garden is now ready for the winter ahead, we look forward to continuing our exploration in the spring and the students will enjoy seeing the new garden unfold before them. The City of Pickering has been recognized several times in our school`s newsletter, we share pictures on our school monitor of the work the garden club has done, and a sign has been created for the garden to recognize the generosity of the City of Pickering. On November 14, we did a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Garden Club where the sign was unveiled to the students and we thanked the contributing members of the large endeavor. Students were excited to be a part of this large transformation with special thanks going to the City of Pickering! 9 1 Attachment 3 to SUS 01-24 Viamonde School Board École secondaire Ronald Marion Pickering Environmental Schools Grant 2023 Final Report 2 The Environmental Schools Grant helped École secondaire Ronald Marion fund a school-wide indoor hydroponic garden project. To introduce the hydroponic garden project, we recruited students interested in the initiative, introduced the virtual Vireo platform to the science teachers, as well as planned the inclusion of our grade 11 Boussole cohort in the leadership and scalability of the project. With the assistance of staff, we added a botanical club (10 students) to the eco schools club (15 students). Those two clubs have collaborated on a number of gardening projects (cleaning up the patio for planting in the spring, preparing the Nutritowers for planting, and building the nutritower). The virtual platform has been presented to our science department head, to be introduced in December to our science teachers, and then be used by the grade 7-12 science teachers with their students for gardening, but also as an extension resource that focuses on environmentalism and leadership. With the Vireo tower, as well as the 7 Nutritowers from previous years, we will have the capacity of planting between 200-300 plants at least once a year.