Letter to Council

St Anne’s Yr 10 Class
125 Deboos Street | Temora | 2666
3rd September, 2020

CONCERNS OVER THE LACK OF RECYCLING OPTIONS IN TEMORA

To Temora Shire Council,

We are writing to you today to discuss the lack of easy- recycling options in Temora. Our Year 10 class is currently studying stewardship and the desperate need to care for our environment. We have learnt that in order to look after the world we all need to play our part, and we believe we could do more in order to fulfill our role in helping the current state of the environment. Recycling is a key part of looking after our earth. During this topic we have been made aware of the little recycling options
we have in Temora compared to other towns around us. This has caught our interest as we believe Temora needs to do more collectively as a town, in order to help the earth.

The issue within the Temora area is our options regarding waste and recycling. We currently have a few options in Temora, but in order to continue to maintain the environmental health of our district we need to implement more. These include things like the IGA ‘Return and Earn’ recycling system where you can cash in cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles. This allows people to recycle responsibly and improve the welfare of the earth. The Lions Club contributes to the recycling of approximately 600 tonnes of cardboard, paper, and glass each year. The Temora landfill is not commonly known for their E-waste recycling system but we can encourage people to utilize the facility to dispose of electronics and e-waste responsibly. These options are great however, we need more ideas and solutions
implemented in Temora to responsibly recycle and manage waste. Not having enough facilities within the Temora area is an environmental issue as locals are often disposing of their waste incorrectly which has a further impact on the environment and worsens our ecological footprint as a community.

As individuals we all share the responsibility to care for our environment. With the continuous blind behaviour we show toward both our society and land, we are further worsening the state of our environment and remaining complicit in the rise of pollution and global warming. Therefore we are remaining complicit in the destruction of our earth. In 2015, the Pope's, ‘Laudato Si’, was a letter regarding the state we are putting our environment in. It brought up many concerns about the ways we are mistreating our earth. The continuous deforestation, water usage, land destruction and pollution affects our lives. We are risking our future and the hope we have left. Our ungrateful behaviour will reflect badly upon our society and soon enough we will have nothing to live off. We need to stop turning a blind eye to this problem now because it is something that is talked about but in some cases regarding our town not enough action taken. We need to fight for our lands to ensure the survival of our future generations.

Other towns similar to Temora in size have recycling solutions. Cootamundra is one town that offers this service to their residents. These include kerbside garbage bin pick up, where they have the option of yellow (recyclable), green (green waste) and red (garbage) bins. While we recognise that the council has provided recycling solutions, these are not mandatory and require time and effort from residents. This can be a deterrent, and this lack of care has greatly impacted the health of our earth. If the bins were provided, people would find it much easier to recycle, given that they only have to divide amongst the relevant bins, rather than driving to out-of-home recycling facilities. Having multiple bin units is a time-effective means of recycling that would influence residents to dispose of their waste in an environmentally friendly manner. Meanwhile, Wagga, a much larger area, has 8 different pick up truck companies that service different areas. Would it be possible to get a contract with these companies to service Temora? We understand that there is a significant cost in organising the different bins for the residents of Temora, but we strongly think that this cost is both manageable and worthwhile.

We appreciate the time and effort that you, as our council, put towards running our beautiful town.  This issue is a worldwide one - but we hope that with your support we can make a difference in the Temora locality.

We await your reply.

Sincerely,
St Anne’s Central School - Year 10
Mrs Georgina Breust (teacher), Liam Baldock, Kiara Balon, Charlie Bent, Hannah Cooper, Kaelan Ferguson, Isabelle Gaynor, William Matthews, Amelia Murphy, Taylor Phillips, Abbey Reinhold, Jake Schulz, Ella Van Egmond, Josh Weincke.

YEAR 8 ENGLISH

In Year 8 English this term we have been focusing on “The Real World”, which means all things non-fiction. In this unit the children get to choose a group to work within that is based on a common interest. Every year the interests are very similar, but this year we have:

• Agriculture
• Gaming
• Music - in particular Kpop
• AFL 
• NRL

Within these groups the students studied non-fiction texts on these topics. For their assessment they then had to choose a topic from their interest group and create a feature article. It has been amazing to read the students’ work as their passion for their topics comes through in their writing. I have been learning about the size of the new Bougoult Air Seeder, how the numnuts lamb marking tool works, the life of Korean Pop stars and idols, Indigenous Round in NRL, how MindCraft is giving back to poorer communities, and the rise and development of Virtual Reality headsets - to name a few! This unit is a special one that allows students to research and write on a topic that they enjoy. I have found that this is the key for producing great writing. If your child is in Year 8, have a read of their feature article and see if you learn a few new things!

Mrs Georgina Breust

YEAR 9 ENGLISH

Term 3 in senior Secondary is synonymous with essay writing. From the early years in Secondary we teach students how to master the basic essay. We have found that our clear and concise ways of teaching this structure mean that as the years progress students can focus on adding in complex analysis and literary and film techniques to support their ideas. Year 9 has an opportunity this term to create an essay comparing two texts from the Holocaust period. The film, “Life is Beautiful', and the Australian novel, “Alexander Altmann”, while very different, both provide an insight into what was such a horrific time. In comparing the texts, the students have analysed the role of prejudice, dehumanisation tactics and eventually genocide, in the rise of Nazi Germany and the mass destruction of European Jewry. While this is a difficult unit to comprehend, the students have shown such empathy and anger towards the prejudicial treatment of the Jews and other minorities. This emotion has enabled them to create essays that are both informative and persuasive. While drafts are being handed in at the moment, it is always a pleasure to read the impassioned words of teenagers, on what some might say happened a lifetime ago. It is our duty to remind the students that it is up to us to always see and do good, and to protect those who need it most. If you have a student in Year 9, be sure to read their essay, as I know you’ll be as proud of them as me. 

Mrs Georgina Breust