Project Summary

1. Project Summary

Project Name:

Let’s Teach Fruit Trees for Kindergarteners

Describe your project in 100 words or less. Include what it is about, who it is for, who will deliver it, and how it will support environmental sustainability in Waverley. Refer to guidelines to help you answer this.

You may attach more information if required.

The project will begin by planting 3 trees in one year to meet the fruit needs of the children in the centre. The project is all about teaching kindergarteners the benefits of fruit trees, creating awareness on healthy eating, and fostering a culture of sustainability a tender age. All the planting work is done by the teachers and the children together. The collaboration is meant to instil the aforementioned values especially on healthy eating and the role of fruits in the human diet. Fruit trees are a safe and healthy project. The project will use organic practices that will further create efficiency in the entire environmental circle. Thankfully, fruit trees contribute to mitigating the negative impacts of CO2 pollution (Rosenzweig & Tubiello, 2007). In order to thrive, plants, particularly fruit trees, really need carbon dioxide (CO2) (Rajatiya et al., 2018). By taking up carbon dioxide and releasing new oxygen into the atmosphere, trees provide the function of a cleaner or filter for the air. The centre intends to do its bit to help the environment by including three fruit trees in the garden landscape that can be maintained in a fun and learning environment using a student-teacher collaboration. The centre won’t just get to reap the health benefits of fresh fruit, but will also be contributing to the reduction of greenhouse emissions.

It has been shown that allowing students to spend at least some of their time studying outside, in more natural situations, helps them remember more of the material they learn in learning centers (Marchant etal., 2019). The three fruit trees will give the kindergarten pupils with an extra study space as well as allow them to learn more about their surroundings. Planting these fruit trees as living monuments and marking crucial times in their lives with them will allow the youngsters to build memories that will last a lifetime. Throughout this lesson, the students will learn not only about the benefits of planting fruit trees, but also about the benefits of planting trees in general. According to Akbari (2002)’s study, the fruit tree initiative helps to lessen the urban heat island effect in two ways. It does two things: first, it cools the air via evaporation, and second, it reduces the quantity of sunlight that reaches parking structures. Both of these factors help to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect. This is especially true in areas like the schoolyard’s outside, where there are many hard surfaces, such as the playground. Trees remove dust and pollutants that are harmful to people’s health from the air we breathe, making trees helpful to people’s health (Dilley & Wolf, 2013). Pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide are only a few of the pollutants emitted into the atmosphere.

As part of an endeavor to enhance the quality of the children’s meals, each youngster will get their own fruit tree. The project’s major goal is to inculcate in individuals a lifetime commitment to eating healthily, in addition to highlighting the importance of fruits and meeting the children’s demand for them. Fruit consumption has been demonstrated to strengthen immune systems and aid the body in fending off sickness (Savoie-Roskos, Wengreen, & Durward, 2017). Fruits include critical nutrients that may help avoid diseases including diabetes, heart disease, visual problems, and digestive problems. Fruits are a good source of numerous vitamins, minerals, and other bioactive components, which are needed for the growth and development of children’s bodies. Encourage youngsters to consume fruits instead of greasy snacks and meals from fast food restaurants since fruits are high in filling fiber but low in fat and calories, which may help them avoid becoming obese.

Name of applicant:

Smallville Education Centre

$5000

Amount requested:

Are you willing to accept partial funding for your project? ☑ Yes No

2. Contact Information

Luyao Sun

Your name:

Institution Director

Your position:

+61452564880

Phone number:

+61452564880

Mobile:

Luyao.sun@smallvilecentre.au

Email:

3. Project Details

Need/ Opportunity

What is the need for this project or the opportunity it creates? How was it identified? (eg through an environmental management plan, audit etc.)

Educational practitioners and theorists led by Drummond (2010) have for a long time considered ways to convince children to consume more fruits and vegetables. Such projects also researched on how to instil a culture of healthy eating and the understanding of the benefits of the same. According to the findings of several studies, fruit programs in schools may genuinely contribute to the accomplishment of this objective (Pearson et al., 2009; Nathan et al., 2011). Children have been shown to eat much more of a certain food category when their schools provide them with cost-free fruits and vegetables on many occasions each week, preferably from their own fruit trees. Even on days when they are not provided with fruit at school, children do not typically consume a greater quantity of fruits and vegetables. A child’s participation in the school fruit plan has the potential to have a favourable impact on the child’s dietary habits over the long run. Students who took part in the study consumed substantially more fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, even on days when they did not get free fruit from their schools. The goal is to get more fruit and vegetables into the diets of youngsters and so contribute to the development of more healthy lifestyle habits.

EAP Targets Complete this section

What Waverley Council Environmental Action Plan (EAP) targets will this project help deliver?

Tick all that apply:

Waste avoidance, reduction, recycling and reuse

Water conservation and water quality

☑ Planning and responding to climate change

Energy and/or Greenhouse gas emission reductions

Biodiversity support and protection

See the Environmental Action Plan (EAP) 

Project Objectives/ Goals

What environmental benefit/ improvement does this project create?

Fruit trees are not only a practical, but also a delectable addition to school gardens. There are several advantages to growing trees, but one of the major advantages is the positive effect that fruit trees have on the environment. Fruit trees assist the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which then undergo a process that converts the gas into pure oxygen. Another advantage of growing fruit trees is that it reduces the expenses and emissions of transporting produce to school cafeterias. The cooling effect in the school compound also reduces energy costs and increases the amount of fresh air in the school environment.

Project Partners

If implementation of your project relies on project partners, please describe who they are and what role they will have in the project. (Provide a letter of support from partners where possible)

Partner’s name Role in project

No need to complete Project Site or Venue

Where do you plan to implement the project? Do you have permission to use this location?

More and more schools are beginning to cultivate native flora on their campuses. Such initiatives often end up being successful, resulting in the creation of an enduring resource from which students may gain knowledge about the natural area in which they live. Students’ abilities in areas like as mathematics, language, science, and art may be developed by the participation in a wide variety of activities that can be facilitated by their usage. Before beginning work on the school orchard, it is essential to get cooperation from the administration of the building. If more people work together on the project, there is a better chance that it will be successful. The concept will be pitched to both the administrative team at the school as well as the building facilities department. The personnel of the facilities will offer information on which places, such as mowing clearing and other maintenance duties, will not interfere with other activities or procedures like the provision of this information. The project will inquire about obtaining approval from the Waverley Council in order to utilize current equipment and cut down existing trees. Engineers will be sent to the location that has been selected so that they may assist in measuring any potential implications that planting fruit trees may have on the neighbouring structures.

If your project is an event or program, and you plan to use a Council facility indoors or outdoors, what have Council’s venue hire and/ or events teams advised about the suitability and availability of your preferred venue, and the cost of venue hire for your proposed project? See:

https://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/recreation/venue_hireIf your project is a street, verge, or shared garden, do you have approval from Council/ the property owner for implementation? Please provide details.

Due to the small-scale impact of the project (planting only 3 fruit trees a year), the project will not require a lot of permissions only approvals from school management, facility maintenance, site engineers, and a notification to the Waverley Council on the attempt to facilitate learning and encourage healthy eating through fruit trees in the school centre.

Community Awareness

How will you promote and communicate this project to the community?

Example: newsletters, project partners, media.

Planting trees is often regarded as one of the most engaging and ecologically beneficial activities that people can engage in to help better the world’s situation when done correctly. The presence of trees may have both long-term and short-term advantages. In addition to having a nice appearance.

Using social media platforms to spread the word about the next social gathering is one of the most efficient methods (Paris, Lee, and Seery, 2010). Because of the tools provided by social media (Lovari & Valentini, 2020), people are able to communicate with their audiences in new ways, resulting in more attendance and a better overall experience. In order to achieve more desired project outcomes, it is advised that people’s family and friends, as well as management and the local government, be encouraged to participate (Al-Rahmi & Zeki, 2017). An event will be established on Facebook containing all of the attendees’ information as well as the many ways in which they may participate. The article will include links to all of the invited speakers’ and special guests’ official websites. The event’s discussion section will be a great place to make announcements or respond to participant inquiries. Instagram will be used to establish a countdown to the event in order to promote it. Your guests will be able to purchase tickets without ever leaving the Facebook event once the connection is setup.

People who wish to attend events and conferences will find that social media is the finest platform to utilize since it combines the two most important things that draw people in and help them succeed: networking possibilities and educational material ( Griesemer, 2012). The vast majority of individuals planned to attend the event now utilize social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Participants will very definitely be discussing the event on various social networks before, during, and after the event, whether they realize it or not. This is particularly true if your event will attract a significant number of people who have similar interests and are already connected on social media. It gives the sense that something is wrong if the organizer is not there to help, participate in, or encourage involvement.

Project Evaluation

How will you measure whether your project’s effectiveness and ensure it achieves its desired benefit?

For example:

Waste reduction projects – pre and post waste audits

Environmental Educational projects – pre and post awareness surveys

Biodiversity projects – bird counts

Council will ask for these results as part of your grant acquittal. Please provide details on your evaluation approach here

As trees mature, they take in a greater quantity of carbon dioxide from the air, store a greater quantity of carbon in their tissues and soil, and release a greater quantity of oxygen. For these reasons, trees play a vital part in the fight against climate change. Each and every day, trees bestow upon us a number of advantages. They prevent soil erosion, clean the air and water we breathe, cleanse the air we breathe and the water we drink, attract birds and animals, give shade, and keep severe winter winds at away. They also make our houses and communities more aesthetically pleasing.

The level of success of the project will be determined by the number of people who are involved in it before to, during, and after to its launch. This count will be done three times: once before the launch, once during the launch, and once after the launch. To provide more clarity, a tally and investigation of the number of youngsters who are willing to help will be carried out. The B Impact Assessment will be used since it is an efficient approach for establishing how a company’s operations have an influence not just on its employees, but also on the community, the environment, and any other stakeholders (Rosenbaum et al., 2018). Participants get the opportunity to evaluate their own performance, evaluate it in comparison to that of others, and pinpoint areas in which they might improve using the B Impact Assessment. An educational establishment that is interested in determining the social effect of a fruit tree planting campaign would do well to consider this fantastic alternative.

A metric referred to as the Social Return on Investment is going to be used in order to evaluate how productively the effort was carried out. Social return on investment (SROI) is a method for quantifying values that do not often show in financial records (Hutchinson et al., 2018). This may be helpful in determining the worth of certain investments. It’s possible that some of these values are connected to issues relating to society, the economy, or the environment. They may evaluate the institution’s and the project’s ability to make effective use of the cash, capital, and other resources at their disposal in order to meet the needs of the community of participants, which may include educators, students, and any other organizations that are participating. The outputs of the exercise, as well as the direct and physical impacts of the exercise, will be the primary focus of the research. For instance, it will take into account the frequency with which pupils expressed a willingness to learn outside and take part in the many upkeep tasks that were a required part of the lesson plan.

The project will also determine success by way of pre and post awareness surveys conducted on the users. The benefit of using this approach is that it gives a qualitative feel of the project from the perspective of the main stakeholders (White, Eberstein, & Scott, 2018). Teachers will be used for this part to give an impact analysis report on how well the project has created the impact that it was designed to do. Measures will include increased volunteers and more children from other classes willing to participate in the project.

Project Implementation Plan Complete this Section (you can add more rows if needed)

Who What When Expected Outcome

School management Approvals June 15, 2022 Project approved

School director Mobilization June 10, 2022 Social media positive campaign

Teachers Preparation June 5, 2022 Positive reception from the learners

Future Maintenance

If this project will continue after the grant has finished, describe your plan for maintaining and funding it in the future.

It has been established that children are able to remember more of the material that is given in learning centres if they are able to spend part of their time learning outside in natural settings (Marchant etal., 2019). The three fruit trees will act as an extension of the learning environment and serve as an alternative classroom for the kindergarteners. The planting of these fruit trees as living monuments and to mark major moments in the life of the children will be a way to create lasting memories. Additionally, the children will be taught about the benefits of planting trees in general, not just fruit trees. According to research by Akbari (2002), evaporative cooling and a reduction in the quantity of sunlight that reaches parking buildings are two of the ways in which the project involving fruit trees help to mitigate the urban heat island effect. This is particularly true in locations that have a significant number of impermeable surfaces, such as the school yard outdoors. Trees are beneficial to the human health because they remove dangerous dust and pollutants from the air that people breathe (Dilley & Wolf, 2013). Some of these pollutants include ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide.

Fruit trees will be presented to the children in a healthy eating setup. The project intends to not only show the benefits of fruits and to meet the fruit needs of the children, but also to create a culture of seeking healthy eating. Fruits have been shown to strengthen immune systems and the body’s capacity to ward off illness (Savoie-Roskos, Wengreen, & Durward, 2017). Fruits include essential nutrients that may help prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart attack, visual difficulties, and digestive disorders. Good nutrition is essential for the development of children’s bodies, and fruits are rich sources of a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and other bioactive components. Because fruits are rich in filling fibre, yet very low in fat and calories, encouraging children to eat them rather than sugary snacks and fast meals loaded with fat may help prevent childhood obesity.

References

Akbari, H. (2002). Shade trees reduce building energy use and CO2 emissions from power plants. Environmental pollution, 116, S119-S126. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0269-7491(01)00264-0

Al-Rahmi, W. M., & Zeki, A. M. (2017). A model of using social media for collaborative learning to enhance learners’ performance on learning. Journal of King Saud University-Computer and Information Sciences, 29(4), 526-535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksuci.2016.09.002

Dilley, J., & Wolf, K. L. (2013). Homeowner interactions with residential trees in urban areas. Arboriculture and Urban Forestry. 39 (6): 267-277, 39(6), 267-277. https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2013.034

Drummond, C. (2010). Using nutrition education and cooking classes in primary schools to encourage healthy eating. The Journal of Student Wellbeing, 4(2), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.21913/jsw.v4i2.724

Griesemer, J. A. (2012). Using social media to enhance students’ learning experiences. Quality approaches in higher education, 3(1), 8-11. https://carleton.ca/cuopen/wp-content/uploads/using-social-media-to-enhance-students-learning-experiences.pdf

Hutchinson, C. L., Berndt, A., Gilbert-Hunt, S., George, S., & Ratcliffe, J. (2018). Valuing the impact of health and social care programmes using social return on investment analysis: how have academics advanced the methodology? A protocol for a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature. BMJ open, 8(12), e022534. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022534

Lovari, A., & Valentini, C. (2020). Public sector communication and social media: Opportunities and limits of current policies, activities, and practices. The Handbook of Public Sector Communication, 315-328. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119263203.ch21

Marchant, E., Todd, C., Cooksey, R., Dredge, S., Jones, H., Reynolds, D., … & Brophy, S. (2019). Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views. PLoS One, 14(5), e0212242. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212242

Nathan, N., Wolfenden, L., Butler, M., Bell, A. C., Wyse, R., Campbell, E., … & Wiggers, J. (2011). Vegetable and fruit breaks in Australian primary schools: prevalence, attitudes, barriers and implementation strategies. Health education research, 26(4), 722-731. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyr033

Paris, C. M., Lee, W., & Seery, P. (2010). The role of social media in promoting special events: acceptance of Facebook ‘events’ (pp. 531-541). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-99407-8_44

Pearson, N., Timperio, A., Salmon, J., Crawford, D., & Biddle, S. J. (2009). Family influences on children’s physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption. International Journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 6(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-6-34

Rajatiya, J., Varu, D. K., Gohil, P., Solanki, M., Halepotara, F., Gohil, M., … & Solanki, R. (2018). Climate change: Impact, mitigation and adaptation in fruit crops. International Journal of Pure and Applied Biosciences, 6(1), 1161-1169. https://doi.org/10.18782/2320-7051.6161

Rosenbaum, R. K., Hauschild, M. Z., Boulay, A. M., Fantke, P., Laurent, A., Núñez, M., & Vieira, M. (2018). Life cycle impact assessment. In Life cycle assessment (pp. 167-270). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_10

Rosenzweig, C., & Tubiello, F. N. (2007). Adaptation and mitigation strategies in agriculture: an analysis of potential synergies. Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change, 12(5), 855-873. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-007-9103-8

Savoie-Roskos, M. R., Wengreen, H., & Durward, C. (2017). Increasing fruit and vegetable intake among children and youth through gardening-based interventions: a systematic review. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117(2), 240-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2016.10.014

White, R. L., Eberstein, K., & Scott, D. M. (2018). Birds in the playground: Evaluating the effectiveness of an urban environmental education project in enhancing school children’s awareness, knowledge and attitudes towards local wildlife. PloS one, 13(3), e0193993. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193993