St James’ Anglican School

ST JAMES’ ANGLICAN SCHOOL

OLIVE OIL SUCCESS

St James’ Anglican School students have produced their very first release of St James’ Olive Oil, after picking olives from the School’s trees, sending them offsite for processing before bottling the oil. Head of Junior School Dan Mornement said the release of olive oil marked a new tradition in the Junior School that had provided a fantastic learning opportunity for students to see just how the olives on the trees can turn into this great tasting product.

“Sustainability is a key pillar at St James’. To be able to help work with our students and teach them about how we can turn fruit into a product that we can eat and cook with is an invaluable life lesson in sustainability and respecting our environment,” Mr Mornement said.

The Junior School students hand-picked 51kg of olives from trees on campus in May. The olives were then taken to the Jumanga Olive Farm to produce nine litres of 17.6% oil. St James’ Olive Oil is a great tasting olive oil, full of antioxidants and health benefits far greater than that of supermarket olive oil. This year 16 bottles, 250ml each, were poured. The Junior School held a label design competition with Year 5 student, Ava, produce the winning design to feature on the bottles. Ava and Alex, the Year 6 Sustainability Captain, took great pleasure in pouring the first bottles. Alex said: “It was good to be able to pick the olives and learn how they got turned into olive oil. I enjoyed seeing how it happened.” Mr Mornement said he was proud of the school community’s involvement in this project. “The production of olive oil at St James’ for the first time in 2022 was a whole community activity. Parents, students, and staff all got involved. To see 200 young people very quickly harvest the olives was an impressive sight,” he said. St James’ is grateful to parent, Helen Riley, for her generous support with this project. The Junior School plans to produce more bottles in the coming years.