Shed’s a boost for school’s sustainability

A COLLABORATION between Buninyong-Mount Helen Lions Club and Community Bank Buninyong has seen the town’s school community benefit with a new shed unveiled on Monday.

The structure is purpose-built for students to continue taking part in the Energy Breakthrough program, where schools are tasked with constructing energy-efficient vehicles which are then showcased at a racing event at Maryborough.

The school has been participating in the event for three years, with 24 Buninyong Primary students taking part in this year’s event across two teams.

Acting principal Nicole Phillips said having a dedicated shed will allow the school to expand on their involvement.

“It’ll allow the future of the program to be more sustainable for the school,” she said.

“They’ve been working out of classrooms and storing the bikes in open spaces in learning areas. Having the shed will enable them to have a dedicated place to store their bikes and equipment.

“There’s a whole lot of learning behind Energy Breakthrough so it’ll allow for workshopping as well.”

Students have been able to utilise the space since the start of the current school term following construction commencing at the beginning of the year.

The new shed, as well as a sustainability shed at the school’s Scotsburn campus, were both made possible with Community Bank Buninyong and Buninyong-Mount Helen Lions Club each contributing $7500 towards the projects.

“Having partnerships in the community is really helping us to achieve our goals in terms of leveraging our funding and being able to contribute to meaningful, impactful projects,” said Community Bank Buninyong partnerships lead Kelly Bevan.

“We’ve actually done quite a few collaborations with Lions recently. We also worked together with them to send 17 students to Sydney for the Magic Moments Youth Leadership and Business Summit.”

This year’s Energy Breakthrough event took place late last month, and Buninyong Primary School students are looking to prepare for 2025.

The Scotsburn campus’ sustainability shed will serve a similar function.

“Our Scotsburn campus has a focus on sustainability and again, it’s more like a storage area for them to store their tools and gardening equipment,” Ms Phillips said.

“Some of our storage areas there are ageing and deteriorating and they had different pieces of equipment stored at different areas.

“To have everything there at the front of the campus, it’s easy access for everyone.”