A barren asphalt carpark at Deer Park North Primary School has been transformed into a bird’s paradise.
The small carpark, once described by school principal Liz Balharrie as a “trip hazard”, was ripped up last year and turned into a wetland designed to capture and filter stormwater and attract birds through the planting of trees, native rushes, sedges and grasses.
“We wanted permeable surfaces rather than a hot, harsh landscape,” Ms Balharrie said.
The school was given funding from the Living Victoria Fund that also enabled it to build a rain garden watered by run-off from classroom roofs and a productive garden with vegetable beds, trellised fruit trees, composting bins, worm farms and a drip-line irrigation system fed by a water tank, as well as new plantings of deciduous trees around the school’s community hub.
This month the school has been named a finalist in the Water School of the Year awards for its innovative garden projects.
The awards recognise schools that go the extra mile to reduce their environmental footprints. The winners will be announced on November 11.
