19 June 2018

As a Catholic primary school in its first year of operation in 2018, Lisieux Catholic Primary School in Torquay was honoured to be approached by the VCAL team at Clonard College, Geelong, to participate in a partnership to enhance its outdoor spaces.

Clonard College VCAL students engage in a program known as Backyard Blitz, which requires them to plan a local outdoor makeover initiative. The process involves collaboration with host, design work, occupational health and safety (OHS) considerations, measuring and construction. The project allowed students to develop skills in an industry that many had not been exposed to previously and the opportunity to ‘get their hands dirty’ in a creative and authentic way.

Ms Sarah Clark from Clonard College’s VCAL team explained, ‘We wanted to develop our community partnerships and increase our students’ employability skills. Lisieux is a new school that’s developing so we thought it was a great opportunity to get involved while supporting our Catholic connection.’

Lisieux Foundation Principal, Dr Susan Ryan, saw evidence of initiative and commitment as the students worked closely to arrive at end goals that have improved the outdoor space and its functionality. ‘The girls had to visit our site, collaborate about what we wanted, put forward ideas and then translate the ideas into practice. They were so enthusiastic and the concepts they presented were outstanding.’

After a period of planning, the students spent two days on site at Lisieux and constructed a chicken pen, installed raised vegetable gardens, painted a wall mural and erected bollards which were painted in house colours and marked with Lisieux students’ handprints.

‘We were thrilled with the end result and with the way the girls interacted with both our staff and our students. They have really kick-started our kitchen garden program for us and we believe we’ve really initiated a powerful connection between the two schools’, said Dr Ryan.

A barbecue is being planned for later this year when the Lisieux team will welcome the senior students back for the official launch of its ‘Chook Palace’ and serve some salad featuring vegetables from the new garden.

Both schools are very grateful for the support received from local landscaper, Mark Gabell, and also to Bunnings, Torquay, for their donations towards the program.