Gruyere digs in for finals

GRUYERE Primary School is one of the finalists in this year’s Victorian Schools Garden awards.
The school is one of 34 finalists from across the state, chosen from 155 entries in the annual competition.
Gruyere Primary School qualified for the finals after winning the award for best garden in category one of the Eastern Metropolitan region earlier this year.
Judges for the final awards visited the school on Thursday, 3 November, arriving by helicopter and spending an hour touring and assessing the school’s gardens with students and staff.
The bilingual school, which teaches its curriculum in both English and Japanese, has created a Japanese garden with sculptures and a water feature.
Judges inspected the Japanese garden and toured the native garden at the front of the school, which was created in 2001 to celebrate the centenary of Australia’s Federation.
Principal Rod Barnard said being included as a finalist in the awards was a great honour for the school’s students and staff.
“Our school community has worked hard over the past few years to enhance our school environment and it’s great to be recognised for that,” he said.
The Victorian Schools Garden awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held at the Royal Botanic Gardens on Wednesday, 7 December.
Mr Barnard said a representative from Gruyere Primary School would attend the ceremony.