School’s out for study

By Melissa Grant
PAKENHAM Secondary College students now have a room with a view.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the school’s environment club students celebrated the opening of their Henty lily pond outdoor classroom.
The learning centre is the culmination of four years of hard work to look after and revitalise the heritage-listed lily pond and will provide students with a safe place to sit, study and observe it.
The students, with the help of the Cardinia Shire, successfully applied for $25,000 for the project through Nestle’s local community environment club grant program.
Teacher Ally Jenner said the school’s environment students had done some great work at the lily pond, having attended numerous clean-up days, and were looking forward to making full-use of the new classroom.
“It has been a great success. We’ve cleaned out the lily pond, pulled out trolleys and found all sorts of things,” she said.
Ms Jenner said although students in previous years had worked on the lily pond, it was this year’s group that decided to take the next step to ensure a sustainable environment.
“It’s about the students realising in 2007 that the environment is something that won’t necessarily be around forever,” she said.
“Thanks to them we have a safe learning environment next to the lily pond.”
Ms Jenner said Year 10 students Caitlyn Thorne and Rachael Connelly spearheaded the project, which involved more than 200 students.
She also thanked the various community organisations and local businesses involved with the construction as well as the school’s VET students who built the furniture for the centre.