On Sunday 3 March 2013, over 100 volunteers met at Centenary Hall or the Boarding House to help clean up the Newington and wider Stanmore community. Students from across different Year groups participated, and their efforts were greatly appreciated. This year’s Newington Clean Up Australia Day effort was a great success, with around 30 large garbage bags of litter collected, which amounts to around 300kg of rubbish off the streets of Stanmore.

Significantly, this year saw an increase in parent involvement, and thanks go to all those parents who took part in the clean up. Special thanks also must go to Helen Fenton for setting up a stall to raise some much-needed funds for the Sustainability Committee.

This is some of the feedback we received from the volunteers:

“I was surprised at what little effort and time it took to fill our large ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ bags. I was also amazed at the amount of take-away coffee lids lying in gutters.” – Parent

“Clean Up Australia Day is something that can be done by anybody. It is really easy and simple, and for a good cause. It doesn’t just benefit us now, it benefits our future.”
Andre Lam (12/KL)

“I love Clean Up Australia Day as it is a great opportunity to walk the local streets and make a mark that you can be proud of. This was my fourth year in a row and personally it gets better every year. I will definitely be back next year to help out.”
Edward Treloar (10/FL)

We do hope to see even more volunteers at Clean Up Australia Day 2014.

Earth Hour

Coming up much sooner than 2014, is Earth Hour. Between 8:30pm and 9:30pm, on Saturday 23 March, we will be turning off our lights and computers.

Much like Clean Up Australia Day, Earth Hour was an initiative which originated in Australia, with the first Earth Hour in Sydney in 2007. Since then, it has become the world’s largest volunteer action for the environment, with more than 6,950 cities and towns across 152 countries taking part. Sustainable energy use is a main focus of this initiative, and is extremely important in the long term.

This year Newington is running its own Earth Hour, which will run from 1:30 to 2:30pm on Friday 22 March; lights will be switched off in all classrooms. However, we still urge you to participate in and support the official collective action on Saturday night by switching off the lights in your homes and avoiding use of technology.

 Edmond Cheng (12/Fl) and Clyde Welsh (12/ME)