Involving schools

kcc was a student-centred project with a high degree of participation, and involved, from the outset, teachers and students in planning. It was important to facilitate meetings carefully to ensure young people were not dominated by the adults. A list of points for facilitating meetings to encourage participation is included in Appendix 1.

During the initial meetings students demonstrated that their ideas were different from those of the adults. Where adults talked about waste audits, students talked about a personal approach to industry. They wanted to go out into the industrial area and talk about their work, and they specifically wanted to involve and include companies in their campaign to clean up Manly Lagoon.

To get as many people from the industrial area as possible to attend the special event, students decided to personally invite companies to participate. An afternoon training session was held to prepare young people to approach companies with safety and confidence. Students from participating schools practiced role-playing how they would deal with a wide array of responses. This also helped to build a sense of teamwork.

 Practical planning was needed to send 50 students out to invite 250 companies. A map of the industrial area was prepared to locate companies and divide the area up into sections of approximately 10 companies each. Students worked in pairs, with each pair allocated a different section of the industrial area clearly marked on a map. Adult supervision was provided for each team, with someone standing in easy view on each corner. This proved to be an important precaution, giving students someone to report back to as they proceeded.

Generally the students received a warm reception from the companies they visited. Many companies were aware of the work that the schools had been doing as part of the Streamwatch project, and, congratulated the students on their good work.

Developing a project outline

Planning for the kcc project began six months prior to the final special event, and included key organisers: Blackmores, Oz GREEN, M Environment Centre and Streamwatch. The Planning Guide outlines the key steps. The special event was the culmination of a process of involvement and education which brought together school students, business people, local government and others in the community.
 
From the outset the special event centred on the contributions being made by young people.

The four major components of the kcc project in Balgowlah were: water quality testing of the Manly Lagoon; waste expo displays; a waste guide; and an event involving speeches, song and theatre. To get more community and media interest, the involvement of a personality guest speaker was sought. Angry Anderson agreed to be the special guest speaker for kcc Balgowlah. A free, healthy and waste-minimised vegetarian lunch was provided by Blackmores.

Planning Guide
 

Activity	Notes	Examples from kcc
1 Six months before - find your team   Invite participation, and ask for suggestions of who to involve:   local council environment officers EPA officers for the area Streamwatch schools in the area local environment group or environment centre EPA, water resource and waste management agencies Catchment Management Committee	The aim is to target industries that are doing a good job and use them as a positive role model.   Ask EPA officers which industries are doing a good job in waste management and cleaner production.	Preliminary discussion involved Oz GREEN, Blackrnores, the Manly Environment Centre, Streamwatch and EPA region officers.
2  Five months before – determine available resources (expo site, financial resources and organisational time).    Hold a meeting to find out who is interested in participating in the event, set broad aims of what the groups want to achieve and how, who to involve, possible dates for the special event and a venue:    set dates for planning meetings. review Streamwatch water quality data to identify issues having an impact on water quality in the catchment.	Questions to ask:   Who do we want to involve? Who do we want to target? What message do we want to communicate? Where will we hold the event? When will we hold the event? Where can we get funding? Who has time to devote to organising this event? How much time? What do we want to achieve?	Set purpose for event, for example:   to motivate companies to investigate and adopt practices that minimise environmental impact to raise community awareness about factors having an impact on water quality.
3 Four months before - planning meeting    At this meeting all organisers and stakeholders set a definite agenda, time-line and approach. If the event is student- or school-centred, then student representatives from each participating school should be present. Structure the meeting to ensure young people express their ideas, and prevent adults from dominating the process.    (See Appendix l.)    Determine the overall theme for he event through careful questioning. Allow ideas to flow discussion and brain- storming. Carefully noting ideas young people. New ideas and ways of doing things can evolve through dialogue.	What are your concerns? How do you think we can do this? What are you prepared to do? Set dates for the follow-up meetings and time-lines for completion of tasks.   Meet at a central location, at a time and place accessible to schools. Provide afternoon tea. Brainstorm a list of tasks, and then work out when they need to be done and who is going to do them. Share the jobs according to skills and talents.	Sample task list:   Develop a logo (possibly by students) Skills training for water testing Organise testing sites catchment walk and map Organise testing groups and equipment Role play training to approach industry Design invitations and identify industries, guests and VIPs for function Prepare a map of industrial area for approach to industry Media Catering Prepare Waste Information guide Organise waste expo and displays Wet weather plans
4 Follow-up organising	Contact potential exhibitors and arrange inserts for Waste Guide folder.   Contact primary schools and continue liaison.	Monitor response to invitations.   Meetings for organising committee continue on a regular basis, with frequent phone contact in between meetings.
5 One month before preparation for industry approach	Training afternoon for students role-play practice for approaching industry.   Pre-publicity to notify industry about the event.   Tour industrial area to prepare maps and groups.
6 Three weeks before invitations to go out	Mail out invitations to guests and VIPs, plan catering, book public address system.  Students hand-deliver invitations to companies.
7 Three weeks before - training and planning for catchment testing	Catchment walk to plan test sites for strategic water test sites water testing   Water testing skill practice for students.   Catchment testing-organise water testing equipment, team leaders, and transport for mix school groups.
8 The Event	Start early to allow time to coordinate the program.   Prepare a running sheet with event items and times for key people.   Greet guests as they arrive.  Organise a reception desk with nametags.	Day before: set up marquee on the day:   7-11 am: set up catering, exhibits, banners, and public address system   7-11 am: catchment water testing   11 am: cheek all systems   11.30 am: event begins, nametags given to VIPs, view displays, demonstrate water testing   12 noon: speeches, song and theatre   1 PM: lunch   1 PM: event finishes, exhibitors pack up displays