SCHOOL GROUNDS
Indigenous Gardens
The gardens at Danville have always been attractive and well maintained. Greater environmental awareness has, however, caused a whole re-think about garden planning, and Danville has answered the call to ‘go indigenous’. In 2011 all Category 1 Aliens were finally removed, and Danville’s gardeners set about proving that indigenous can also be colourful and appealing.
Recycling
Recycling has been part of the school ethos since 2005 when the school started recycling paper. Recycling bins are set up around the school for cans, plastic, glass, batteries and computer cartridges. Every classroom has a paper recycling bin. A weekly inter-class paper recycling competition stimulates rivalry to earn a prize each term and a trophy at the end of the year.
The whole school was involved in making ecobricks from plastic waste in 2018 and 2022. These have been made into stools for the computer room.
Danville has benches, tables and monkey-proof bins made out of recycled plastic.
Saving Water
Rainwater harvesting tanks – Danville has ten rainwater harvesting tanks at school with a total capacity of 58 000 litres. One of the tanks is linked to the bathrooms to supply water to the toilet and basins. The others are used to water the school gardens, vegetable tunel and fill the swimming pool.
Cooldrink bottles in school toilet cisterns – These were installed in 2016 in order to reduce the amount of water used with each flush.
Solar
In 2024, Danville installed solar panels to harness the sun’s energy to power as much of our school as possible. This also allows us to decrease our carbon footprint and reduce our contribution to climate change and global warming.
Borehole
Our recently installed borehole is now able to supply us with water.
Vegetable Garden
The school has had a vegetable garden for many years. Vegetables are planted using permaculture techniques. Only vegetables that would not be eaten by monkeys were planted in the past as we have a troupe that visits the school on a daily basis. Danville has been awarded funding as part of the One Planet Water Explorer UN Global Search for Sustainable Schools to establish a monkey-proof enclosure around our vegetable garden in 2020, so a wider variety of vegetables can be planted.
Saving Electricity
Solar geyser – A solar geyser was installed on the staff quarters in 2009 in order to save electricity.
Energy reduction – Much of the school’s lighting had been changed to energy efficient CFL or LED to save energy usage. Lights are on timers in passages to save electricity. Computers are turned off and unplugged at the end of each day. Lights, fans and data projectors are turned off when not in use.