2016 ResourceSmart Schools Awards
On Friday 11 November 2016, The Hon. Lily D'Ambrosio MP, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change announced the 2016 ResourceSmart School of the Year – Banyule Primary School.
Congratulations Banyule Primary School and well done to all the categories winners and finalists. We received over 200 entries, the highest ever making the competition strong. Thanks to all our entrants and our sponsors, it was a fun event that showcased and celebrated the best sustainability achievements Victorian schools have to offer.
The ResourceSmart Schools Awards are Victoria's largest sustainability awards program celebrating the achievements of schools and early childhood services.
All finalists were invited to the Awards event at the IMAX Theatre, Melbourne Museum, where all finalists’ sustainability stories for a beautiful planet were showcased. See the school's sustainability projects in this year's Awards booklet.
2016 ResourceSmart School of the Year
Winner: Banyule Primary School
Banyule Primary School is the embodiment of sustainability, embedding direct action of climate change via energy efficiency, water conservation, community engagement and enhanced their local ecosystem throughout the curriculum and school community.
This school has shown leadership specifically across biodiversity, water and energy savings, waste reduction, student and wider community engagement – this is no small task for a school of 579 students.
Banyule has a ‘Whole School Sustainability Program’ with 10 teacher sustainability leaders and 24 student leaders, ensuring every single student at the school participates and learns about sustainability.
Banyule’s most significant achievements include a video to promote efficient energy use to students and energy saving ideas to the entire community. The video was created by students across all year levels.
Clean transport was a key focus this year with the whole school embracing the use of public transport, electric cars and bikes.
It’s not just the students and staff involved, the wider community also benefits from the sustainability activities being carried out at this school. Students present the food they have grown to families, sharing their knowledge of locally grown produce.
Banyule students are the real leaders and driving force behind the school’s sustainability success. Through research, action and leadership, students have changed the way the wider school community thinks about gardening and biodiversity, resulting in a new range of garden structures, creating nesting boxes and other projects around the school.
The students have presented a case for key sustainability projects convincing the principal, teachers and parents to help build a greenhouse, install an irrigation system and created ‘The Wicking Bed Project’.
The students in the Gardening Club, discovered wicking beds to redirect water from drains to gardens through online research.
As part of the project they convinced a plumbing company to volunteer their services, they sourced a recycled PVC container and enlisted the help of fellow students to move dirt from the chicken shed to the wicking bed. The club members are an inspiration to others, presenting at conferences and awards ceremonies on the importance of biodiversity.
Banyule is a ResourceSmart School star. In the past three years the school has gone from no stars to a 4 Star ResourceSmart School and 5 stars is on the horizon.
This school actively encourage sustainable and responsible Australians for the future, through hard work and a passion for our beautiful planet.
Finalists
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Ongoing improvement of biodiversity in the school ground and the wider community is a commitment close to the hearts of the students and teachers of Badger Creek Primary School. Students completed a habitat census, created a wildlife pamphlet, organised working bees and have a highly successful community leadership partnership that has strengthened ties with Zoos Victoria (Healesville Sanctuary). The school has presented information on frog bogs, Helmeted Honeyeater Web Collection and Wipe for Wildlife at a Love Your Locals Schools Showcase.
First time entrant, Badger Creek Primary School’s harvest kitchen garden project partnership is a significant achievement. The school has partnered with Healesville High School’s Senior (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) team, the local Men’s Shed and Yarra Ranges Alliance for Sustainable Learning to extend the harvest kitchen garden and is an example of a community working together.
Through this partnership project the school was able to solve watering issues over summer holidays with the establishment of a wicking bed. The partnership strengthens and supports the development of students’ skills and knowledge and links to the curriculum.
Badger Creek Primary School is committed to learning about water use, efficiency and supply. While they learn about water at school, students take personal, local and global action. The student-led water-well project fundraiser secured an ongoing water supply to a Cambodian school and engaged students through studies into global resources. Four students led the project providing clean water to over 400 people in Ang Takim, Cambodia. Their actions promoted water-efficient, sustainable habits at school and in the community.
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Truganina South Primary School are buiding environmental sustainability awareness through strong community engagement and actions around water conservation.
The ResourceSmart school is working hard to complete all five modules and aims to be the first Private Public Partnership school to be achieve a 5 Star rating. The school has engaged students’, parents and the broader community and is strong on community leadership. The school encourages sustainable events, incursions and excursions and opportunities for staff, students and their families.
Action such as students bringing drink bottles to refill throughout the day are encouraged. In term four, 2015, students had one lesson per week on water usage. Interpretive signage ‘Every Drop Counts’ were used around the school and have reduced the school’s water use as a whole. Students only plant drought tolerant Indigenous plants at the school, and toilets use water from rain water.
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At Warracknabeal Secondary College, students have completed water audits, identified and eliminated significant water spikes that have been wasting water and costing the school thousands of dollars. Students completed water quality testing and made comparisons with countries around the world through online collaboration. The college has a dedicated group of students and staff who are making a big impact in a small amount of time.
Warracknabeal Secondary College’s most significant achievement has been the creation of a 1.3 x 1.3 metre cube of rubbish presented at the school assembly to raise awareness of waste management. Taking months to create, the visual reminder has helped to bring about a reduction in waste at the school and an increased focus on paperless classrooms and recycling.
Biodiversity Primary School of the Year
Winner: The Patch Primary School
It’s a real community effort for biodiversity at The Patch. The school has planted over 2,000 indigenous plant species within the school ground, extended wildlife corridors, expanded connections to the local community and implemented an award-winning habitat plan. The school established community groups to oversee key projects supporting the habitat plan – projects included edible food, food forest, weeds, working bees, class representatives and grant writing.
The community groups include over 50 parents from the school. The school developed a range of ecological zones including a swampy riparian forest and wetland, shrubby gully forest and understories to protect large trees from soil compaction and root damage.
Student groups, such as Grub Club, support staff to facilitate opportunities for students with special needs to benefit from experiential learning by engaging in additional activities such as
tree planting. Nature-based education workshops are also held, and the school hosted five visits from educational providers. The Patch raised funds to support their habitat plan, including
applying for Melbourne Water Stream Frontage Grants, entering the Victorian Schools Garden Awards (‘Best Habitat Garden 2015’) and selling student-propagated plants.
Finalists
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Ongoing improvement of biodiversity, in the school ground and the wider community is a commitment close to the hearts of the students and teachers of Badger Creek Primary School. The school’s many achievements include a Harvest Kitchen Garden extension and Hen House Project; and a highly successful community leadership partnership that has strengthened ties with Zoos Victoria (Healesville Sanctuary) as a Partnership School.
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Mildura West Primary School is the creator of the Lake Ranfurly Birds and Plants App. The app is a field guide, developed by students, that allows users to discover the plants and birds that inhabit Lake Ranfurly, where students have planted 280 indigenous trees.
The school is also in partnership with Mildura Rural City Council as caretakers of the Rio Vista Park and Johnson’s Bend where students have planted trees and installed nesting boxes.
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The transformation of Moorabbin Primary School’s barren grounds into an indigenous habitat with frog-friendly gardens and outdoor learning opportunities has been the catalyst for raising awareness of and placing value on local biodiversity among students and the broader community.
Achieving a 15 point improvement in habitat quality score from a baseline of 56 recorded April 2016, and 42 hours of dedicated biodiversity teaching, the school is set to become a 2 Star ResourceSmart School.
Biodiversity Secondary School of the Year
Winner: Damascus College Ballarat
The opening of Damascus College’s Murnong Trail in Ballarat with 16 informative stations was a significant achievement for the school. The 800 metre biodiversity trail winds through the college grounds and was developed to increase the school community’s awareness of the bountiful bushland and to ensure its conservation.
Indigenous plants protected on the trail include the Murnong yam daisy, Microseris walkeri. Conserving Murnong also protects the rich biodiversity of the heathy dry forest in which it grows.
The trail has been transformed into a vibrant educational experience, becoming a hands-on project where students have learnt many new things about the environment and now understand the effects of their actions on the local environment.
Finalists
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Braybrook College successfully applied for a grant from Maribyrnong Council to purchase bird and possum box kits to add to the habitat available for local and protected wild animals in the school grounds.
With a ring tail possum setting up home in a tree near the staff room, the school placed a possum box nearby to ensure the possum had a safe place to shelter during extreme weather events.
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St Monica’s College, Epping is rising to the challenge of engaging students to become involved with its EnviroFriends group’s sustainable activities such as composting and tree planting.
EnviroFriend captains promote awareness to their peers by talking at year level assemblies and creating displays. These actions help students to learn valuable life and sustainability skills such as how composting works to reduce global warming and why trees are important for earth’s atmosphere.
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Woori Yallock Farm School, which caters for ‘at risk’ and disengaged students from other feeder schools, has recently partnered with a Registered Training Organisation and have created a contextualised ‘Certificate Program’ in Conservation and Land Management for students, which meets National Standards. Students get involved in a range of environmental projects that supports their learning, builds self-esteem and helps them to develop communication, team working and leadership skills.
Community Leadership Primary School of the Year
Winner: Moorabbin Primary School
Moorabbin Primary School (MPS) has collaborated with a wide variety of partners to instigate a culture amongst students and the broader community for environmental leadership. Every member of the school has helped transform the campus into productive zones, habitats for indigenous wildlife and outdoor learning spaces.
The school shares it learnings with fellow ResourceSmart schools, has coordinated 250 hours of parent volunteering and integrated sustainability into its curriculum and culture.
In 2016 Moorabbin Primary School set up a Parent Sustainability Survey. Completed by one in three parents, the survey showed that the school has achieved its core aim: to model positive behaviours within the school and facilitate the transfer of these behaviours beyond school to the home and community.
Collaborating with 10 community partners, MPS has transformed itself over the space of one year into a ResourceSmart school that is valued by the whole community for its environmental leadership and advocacy.
Finalists
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Badger Creek Primary School’s Harvest Kitchen Garden Project Partnership is its most significant achievement in the area of Community Leadership over the past year. Last year, the school made wicking garden beds, while this year’s focus was the hen house.
Partnering with Healesville High School’s Senior Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning team and the local Men’s Shed, the school has created a project that is integrated into the curriculum.
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St Louis De Montforts embodies ResourceSmart Schools’ 5 Star behaviour by providing outstanding commitment to community leadership. The students and school leadership team take the leading role with presentations, school tours and workshops to deliver their sustainability learnings to the wider community. The school’s activities include ‘Kids Teaching Kids’ events, presentations at Council Environment Meetings, promotion of sustainable practices through publications in local papers and the establishment of the Friends of the Aspendale Train Station group.
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In November 2015 the principal of St Joseph’s, Gabrielle Espenschied, and Indonesian teacher Ebony Jenkin travelled with the principal of Our Lady of Fatima in Rosebud, to Indonesia. They visited two sister schools in Lombok with local marine experts to engage the schools’ students in a program called ‘The Sea Is Our Best Friend’. The relationship has provided all students with the opportunity to learn about Indonesian environmental challenges and differences, while sharing their Australian experiences.
Community Leadership Secondary School of the Year
Winner: Catholic Regional College
Catholic Regional College in St. Albans has created an innovative garden and community outreach program that advocates for a world where students, local communities and society become agents of environmental and social regeneration.
The Arthur St Community Garden project is a living, breathing enterprise that continues to evolve and flourish, helping the school to form new partnerships, grow fresh food and re-evaluate its policy and curriculum around sustainability.
The garden allows students to gain a greater perspective about what it means to be a citizen of the planet – in union with the earth and each other. The school works to build its sustainability capacity of students, staff and community.
Finalists
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St Joseph’s College believes in the preciousness of the earth’s resources. The college is committed to exploring partnerships within the community to provide valuable experiences for students and to foster the notion of stewardship.
A host of activities reflect their commitment to their vision including tree planting excursions at Waurn Ponds Creek; an alternative energy workshop; coastal revegetation work at Torquay with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee and a Clean Up Australia campaign.
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The Outdoor Education School Bogong has created a learning plan focused on Sustainable Living Actions that underpin all of the school’s programs. The actions introduce students to the concept of sustainability and how they can help reduce Bogong’s environmental footprint. Through the Sustainable Living Action program, the school leads discussions on local ecosystems and the impacts of climate change, which builds student connection to the outdoors. Students share lessons learnt with their community.
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Maffra Secondary College has taken a leading role in increasing the biodiversity and amenity of its local rail trail. Partnering with community groups, the school has planted trees and recieved funding for new bench seats. Maffra’s efforts has made lasting changes to the rail trail as community members now have better access to the trail. Armed with a Local Landscape Enhancement grant the school aims to build and nurture long-term community partnerships to support its sustainability work.
Early Childhood Service of the Year
Winner: Goodstart Early Learning Centre, Morwell
Goodstart Early Learning, Morwell, encourages children to engage in sustainability activities such as the process of growing vegetables, as well as investigating and learning about the recycling process, including recycling centres.
Goodstart established a worm farm, recycled used paper, created a vegetable garden, and formed connections with the community. The learning facility provides families with worm juice and ask families to donate recyclable goods. Students are now enjoying teaching each other about sustainability.
Finalists
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Heathmont-East Pre-School actively involves its children observing the composting process by getting children to collect worm tea, which they now sell to families. The children cut up left over food scraps, feed it to the worms and maintain the farm with little supervision from educators. They have also been creative in re-purposing materials creating a screen curtain out of used bottle tops and an edible gumboot garden made from outgrown gumboots donated by families.
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Springside Kinder’s outdoor play space was created by dedicated staff. The children were engaged in a large planting operation, and take ownership and responsibility over the space, worm farm and compost, using the extracts for their garden. The children sort their food waste into labelled containers and monitor the worms and compost. The children are also taught the importance of recycling and saving water and paper.
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Clarendon Children’s Centre was involved with the ‘Seedlings’ program, which led to the implementation of a worm farm. The Centre has also installed solar panels, which has led to a reduction in power use. Recently they introduced SustainaBill, a plush donkey from the op shop that goes home with his scrapbook for the children to document their sustainable adventures. SustainaBill allows the children to share their sustainability knowledge at home.
Energy Primary School of the Year
Winner: St Joseph's Primary School, Elsternwick
St Joseph’s Primary School in Elsternwick has seen a significant reduction in its energy consumption from 311.2 kg of greenhouse gasses per student in the 2015 school year to 192.9 kg in 2016. The school has reduced electricity consumption from 206 KwH per student to 142 KwH per student, and gas from 313.79 Mj per student to 150.96 Mj in 2016.
St Joseph’s significantly reduced energy consumption using a behaviour change program, which has been extended to the local community.
The school has made connections with other schools in the community and shared its learnings in a presentation at the Steps to Sustainability Conference. The school strives to show leadership and assist others on their energy journey.
Finalists
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Koonwarra Village School has seen a 35 per cent reduction in electricity consumption per student over the past year to 180 kWh per student per year – well below the benchmark of 250 kWh. This is due to a range of energy efficiency and behaviour measures. Koonwarra has incorporated solar passive design and improved insulation in new and renovated buildings on the site. In science classes Koonwarra students looked at energy across levels two to six, learning about circuits and storing energy for all types of energy; where electricity comes from.
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Manchester Primary School students are environmental leaders, ensuring the student leaders of today are the educators of tomorrow through the school’s ‘Kids Teaching Kids’, Earth-Hour and Enviro-Week programs. The students monitor energy generated by the school’s 70 solar panels, transferring those learnings into practice and sharing them with the community. To achieve ResourceSmart Schools 5 Star status Manchester Primary’s activities include energy audits, walking to school, black out blinds and Earth Hour switch offs.
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Werribee Primary School has taken practical action to meet specific energy reductions and demonstrate sustainability leadership internally within the wider community. Over the course of the year, the school’s 27kW solar system generated 27 per cent of its electricity. At the sunniest point of a sunny day that rises to 48 per cent. Comparison data shows 4,000 kWh generated in June, 2016, with 11,000 kWh in June 2015. The school prides itself on its students who are ‘change champions.
Energy Secondary School of the Year
Winner: Brentwood Secondary College
While Brentwood Secondary College has only recently started its sustainability journey, the school has already made serious head way. During the past year the school has analysed its energy use and identified areas for improvement. It has placed temperature setting labels on remote controls to all heating/cooling devices; installed a 30 kW solar PV array, which started generating electricity this year, and celebrated Earth Hour. It now switches off all appliances (expect servers and important fridges) during term holidays.
Brentwood Secondary College communicated their actions to the wider community through newsletter articles to raise awareness on saving energy.
Finalists
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Braybrook College has reduced its energy use by 15 per cent through monitoring, using ResourceSmart Schools’ tools and SWEP data logging. Braybrook reduced overall energy consumption of the school through the School Council funding a large lighting upgrade project to assist with energy reduction. The school has established an Environment Committee, which is tasked with looking at new and effective ways of reducing energy use and encouraging sensible energy use.
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Having added another 42.12 kW solar Photo Voltaic system to its current 5 kW system, Princes Hill Secondary College is expecting energy savings of around $67,000 over the next decade. The school has converted all suitable lighting to LED, replacing more than 2,000 globes, tubes and fittings. The goal was to reduce energy consumption and as a consequence, greenhouse gas emissions. Expected emissions reduction from the combined project is estimated at 64,700 kg annually.
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Combining innovation with energy conservation, St Joseph’s College, is making real progress in raising awareness of renewable energy within the school and broader community. The school’s innovative approach, using film and social gatherings, has provided a platform from which to reduce its carbon footprint. St Joseph’s sustainability initiatives have included an Alternative Energy Workshop with 80 students from Fyans Park Primary School, a school-wide switch off hour and a National Ride to School Day.
Student-led Action Team of the Year Primary
Winner: Glengarry Primary School
Glengarry Primary School’s ‘Pick up Day’ team organises a day of the week when students are invited to spend lunch time picking up rubbish. Class mates, Henry, Kaelan, Tatiana, Charlie, Isabel and Jedd publicised and organised pick up day without input from teachers. The biggest impact of pick up day is the reduction in the amount of rubbish in the yard. The other flow-on effects have been the feeling of positivity and goodwill that the students have created among their peers.
With very little input from teachers at Glengarry, the children have been driving the intiative from the outset, problem solving along the way. The team is now enlisting staff assistance to expand pick up day into the community and possibly hold a ‘Pick Up Day Olympics’.
Finalists
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Mildura West Primary School’s student action team spreads awareness of the need to conserve water and energy, reduce waste and increase biodiversity. The team promotes recycling using milk bottles for a furniture program and encourages kerbside recycling for the whole school. Projects are completed to a high standard as evidenced by the development of the Lake Ranfurly Birds and Plants app, which is now available on iTunes.
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St Joseph’s Primary School’s Enviro Captains take the lead on communicating the school’s current sustainability projects and goals, internally and in the wider community, leading action teams for waste, biodiversity, water and energy. The student action team plants and harvests produce in the school’s sustainability garden. The team also encourages and monitors recycling and composting, and ensures landfill bins are used correctly.
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The Patch’s ‘Gang Green’ comprises year four students that have taken responsibility to restore a swamp situated on a neighbouring reserve. Students identified the swamp as a project for restoration. Land abutting the school ground is weed infested, prone to flooding and a safety issue due to the hidden nature of the water, mud and ground irregularities. Students gathered base-line data relating to the land’s current habitat and amenity value. They established partnerships with The Patch Landcare Group, Platypus Education Group and the Yarra Ranges Council.
Student-led Action Team of the Year Secondary
Winner: Naranga Special School
Naranga Special School’s ‘Senior Hands On Program’ (HOP) regularly engages students, by developing their literacy and numeracy skills and good sustainability practices to carry through to adulthood.
There are 10 students involved in HOP and they are positive role models for other students and the entire school community. Through practical conservation activities the students have learnt a diverse range of skills such as how to work together as a team, how to use power tools, how to build structures, gardening knowledge and sustainability knowledge.
The students recently designed a new kitchen garden area, cleared, pruned and relocated some plants for the revamp, measured and costed garden materials and ordered gardening supplies. Students also prepared worm farms, relocated a frog pond, prepared six plots for fruit trees to establish an orchard, and used old soccer balls as planters.
Finalists
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The Senior Student Leadership Group meets fortnightly with the senior student leadership team mentor, Principal and year 12 manager at Portland Secondary College. The group targets projects that students have a passion for, such as beach cleanups at Discovery Bay, the blue whale project and taking action against the damaging presence of plastic in waterways. The students networked with the Sustainability Leader at the College, DELWP, Resource Transfer Station at Portland about how to dispose of accumulated beach-cast items. The students attracted media interest.
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Swan Hill’s Green Team was established in May 2016. Some of the team’s key roles have been: attending meetings to discuss ideas; planning fundraising activities; meeting with school staff to organise tree plantings; negotiating with Bunnings for tree donations; presenting updates at assemblies; planning small group projects to remove bottled water from the canteen; increasing biodiversity; and building a chook yard. The most important role of all members is to encourage others to think about sustainability and to spread the enthusiasm.
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Point Cook P–9 College’s Senior Environment Leadership Team are role models for Environmental Stewardship and actively work on engaging the school community. The school pride itself in biodiversity education as a key area of environmental focus. Point Cook College P–9 (PCC) is a 3 Star ResourceSmart school with onsite wetlands and a Stephanie Alexander food garden. The school boasts two wonderful environmental leadership teams. The year five to six Green Gang (28 students) and the years seven to nine Senior Environment Leadership (17 students).
Teacher of the Year Primary School
Winner: Maree Bailey (Mentone Primary School)
Mentone Primary School’s teacher and sustainability leader, Maree Bailey, has many strings to her bow. Responsible for integrating sustainability into school life, Maree is tasked with
embedding sustainability practices into school operations, teaching, learning and school community engagement.
Maree co-ordinates the ResourceSmart Schools program, leads the Student Sustainability Club, plans school working bees, and much more.
Somehow, she also finds time to build partnerships with organisations such as the Dolphin Research Institute, Coastal Ambassadors and the local council too. Maree promotes and engages in opportunities to improve teaching practice and increase learning opportunities for students.
Finalists
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Courtney Deacon is something of an inspiration at Banyule Primary School. She has encouraged students and staff to be involved in sustainability projects and is the instigator of many of the projects such as a lunchtime gardening club for a new generation of student green thumbs. She nurtures sustainability creativity in students, inspiring them to develop their own sustainability projects at home as well as at school.
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Sandra Surace is the Sustainability Leader at St Catherine’s Primary School. She works with the student leaders through a mentoring model to facilitate sustainability through peer-to-peer teaching, has embedded whole-school initiatives using ResourceSmart Schools, and has developed the school’s first sustainability policy. Sandra’s enthusiasm has inspired activities such as rubbish reduction, a garden program that supports the curriculum standards, and a working veggie patch.
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Heather-May Buzza has been passionately growing environmental sustainability awareness at Truganina South Primary School (TSPS). In her role as sustainability and science teacher, her specialist classes have engaged students’, parents and the broader community. She has organised sustainability professional development for staff, incursions and excursions as well as opportunities for students and their families by running Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) events.
Teacher of the Year Secondary School
Winner: Kate Morgan (Warracknabeal Secondary College)
Kate Morgan has played a leading role in sustainability at Warracknabeal Secondary College in the past year focusing on waste, water, biodiversity and energy. Kate works passionately
with an award-winning student-led action group and embeds sustainability into the year seven curriculum. Her outstanding leadership has seen the College become a 2 Star ResourceSmart school with a third star close to being achieved. Kate and her students regularly present at whole school assemblies to spread the sustainability message.
Kate works closely with the ResourceSmart Schools Facilitator and has developed a number of policies to present to the school council, which promote positive change in the school community.
Finalists
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Jacqui Godfrey took on the role of Sustainability Coordinator at Ringwood Secondary College in January 2016. She promotes sustainable activity throughout the school, manages the schools’ Environment Prefects/Captains in their leadership roles and supervises the school’s green team. Jacqui is known for being dedicated, motivated and informed. She has shown great enthusiasm and in the first six months of her role she recruited 20 regular members of the green team.
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Ben Lawless has been Head of the Humanities Faculty at Aitken College for three years and has contributed significantly to the school’s achievements through ResourceSmart Schools. Ben engages students by turning learning into challenging problem solving activities that capture their attention. To maximise student engagement he recently spent much of his spare time training year six teachers how to facilitate a political science simulation game, which also assists students with environmental learning.
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Ben Coleman is dedicated and passionate about educating staff and students to work together to care for the environment. He embraced new technology by creating a Google classroom for the EnviroFriends group. He encourages senior management to review policies, to advocate for bikes and native plants, energy efficient lighting and solar panels. Ben along with collegue Rachel Zammit also works with other local primary schools to promote awareness of environmental issues and ResourceSmart Schools.
Waste Primary School of the Year
Winner: St Kilda Primary School
St Kilda Primary School’s student-led teams have focused on sustainability priorities across the school, which have led to a reduction in landfill and e-waste.
The school has created a community recycling depot that collects printer cartridges, batteries, mobile phones, corks and soft plastic. A ‘Waste Warriors’ team collects data on whole of school landfill and recycling, and reminds students to be mindful of which items can be recycled from their lunch box.
St Kilda Primary School is committed to creating and maintaining a sustainable planet for future generations and tries to ensure that the future development of the school is ecological sensitive, representing best practice in environmental management. In a very short time the school has transformed itself into a green haven by decreasing waste, energy and water use significantly, with students leading the sustainability charge under the guidance of dedicated teachers and parents.
Finalists
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Caulfield South Primary School will soon earn a fourth ResourceSmart Schools star thanks to a school waste reduction program. The school’s sustainability leaders created a plan that used the school community, the network of teachers and wider community to reduce waste production by 50 per cent.
The school worked closely with Glen Eira Council throughout the program and has shared learnings from the program at council sustainability meetings.
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Mentone Primary School has recorded significant reduction in its waste and heightened students’ awareness of how damaging waste is for the environment. In 2015 the school’s measurable waste data was 0.25m3 per student compared to 0.61m3 in 2014. In 2016 the school has recorded 0.15m3 of waste per student and achieved its goal of 75 per cent waste reduction. The school has changed its culture, with students and teachers taking action as part of everyday activities.
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St. Macartan’s Parish Primary School has developed a top waste management system managed by student leaders. The system means the school sends only one 240 litre bin to landfill per week.
Due to the system’s success, other schools seek its support and the school’s student leaders are rostered on weekly to share learning experiences with local and international schools and businesses. The school’s success in waste reduction has been achieved through a sustained change in behaviour.
Waste Secondary School of the Year
Winner: Warracknabeal Secondary
Warracknabeal Secondary College has ceated a piece of sustainability installation art in its 1.3 x 1.3 metre cube of rubbish. Taking months to create, the visual reminder has helped to bring
about a reduction in waste at the school and an increased focus on paperless classrooms and recycling.
Students and staff are aware of how much waste they produce at school in one year and the rubbish cube has given them some strategies to reduce that amount. The school has seen a reduction in photocopying and an increase in electronic distribution of worksheets.
More students are bringing nude food to school and using the recycling bins in the yard and classrooms when necessary. Teachers also contirbute by collecting organic waste and milk bottles in the staffroom.
Finalists
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Lorne-Aireys Inlet P-12 College’s environmental activities include recycling, reducing and reusing waste. The student sustainability leaders educate the school community in waste management, even teaching younger children and their parents. The school has participated in a Wakakirri performance using recycled costumes and old signs for props, built an onsite greenhouse using recycled bottles, recycled chicken waste as fertiliser and educated students on plastic pollution with beach clean ups.
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Naranga Secondary School has a host of sustainability achievements to its name. Last year senior art and kitchen garden students won the Diggers Perpetual trophy in the schools category at Redhill Spring Garden festival for garden projects using recycled mosaic tiles and terracotta pots.
Senior horticulture students designed and built new garden beds, planted an orchard from trees and established 11 worm farms. Naranga won Frankston Council’s Sustainability School of the Month.
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St Jospeh’s College focuses on ways to evoke positive waste management behaviours. Achievements include adopting Tim Silverwood’s ‘Take 3’ approach to waste collection and conducting a ‘Take 3’ competition. The school also carried out a Clean Up Australia service, collected blankets for the St Vincent De Paul Winter Sleep out, and shared learnings regarding waste audits at other educational organisations. The school has recently introduced e-waste and bicycle collections, and set up waste systems to encourage better resource use.
Water School of the Year Primary
Winner: St Louis De Montforts Primary School
St Louis is well known for its ongoing sustainability achievements, and over the past year they have stepped things up with a new and unique water habitat area to support students’ understanding of water conservation. The school’s water initiatives are empowering students to see water as a precious commodity. Students are encouraged to engage in experiential, participatory and multidisciplinary approaches to build understanding, knowledge and responsibility about water.
St Louis monitors its water use through ResourceSmart Schools and SWEP, and engages with local wetlands by taking part in activities like testing water quality pH levels for optimum animal and plant growth.
From driving the popular 'Steps to Sustainability' Conference' and establishing partnerships with the local community, this school’s commitment to student water education is inspirational.
Finalists
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Badger Creek Primary School is committed to learning about water use, efficiency and supply. While they learn about water at school, students take personal, local and global action. The student-led water well project fundraiser secured an ongoing water supply to a Cambodian school and engaged students through studies into global resources. Four key students led the project providing clean water to over 400 people in Ang Takim, Cambodia. Their actions promoted water-efficient, sustainable habits at school and in the community.
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Truganina South Primary School students are empowered to become water savers. The school encourages students to bring drink bottles and refill them throughout the day. In term four, 2015, students had one lesson per week on water usage. Interpretive signage ‘Every Drop Counts’ is used around the school and has reduced the school’s water use as a whole. Students only plant drought tolerant Indigenous plants at the school, and toilets use rain water.
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Deer Park North Primary School successfully secured State Government funding for their ‘School as a catchment’ project in 2015. The funding assisted them to redevelop a disused car-park into a wetland, construct a rain garden and develop a garden. The wetland reduces water runoff from the school’s hard surfaces and acts as a litter trap thus reducing pollution in waterways. The rain garden reduces runoff and has increased the local biodiversity. The garden is integrated into the curriculum with horticulture and home economics classes offered to the students.
Water School of the Year Secondary
Winner: Williamstown High School
Williamstown High School’s recent accomplishments include development of a wetlands area, monitoring using SWEP, educating students through Environmental Crusaders and
assembly presentations.
The school links water to the curriculum, and is committed to recycling rain water for the school’s toilets, garden and the community. Having large gutters, 12 large water tanks, half flush systems in both campuses and, on the Bayview Campus, a monitoring system is in place that allows the school to test taps, flushes and operational sewage drains fortnightly to ensure the
systems are working efficiently. Student water use has subsequently dropped from 15.5kl to 13.3kl.
Finalists
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At Warracknabeal Secondary College students have completed water audits, identified and eliminated significant water spikes that have been wasting water and costing thousands of dollars. Students have completed water quality testing and made comparisons with countries around the world through online collaboration. The college has a dedicated group of students and staff who are making a big impact in a small amount of time. They are connecting with people all over the world to raise awareness of sustainability issues.
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Ringwood Secondary College has made significant improvements in reducing water consumption. It is a school community effort, which is what it takes to make sustainable change. The facilities manager always finds ways to encourage and prioritise water conservation. The school participates in SWEP, has a new building for the catchment of roof water to irrigate the oval and a new pump system to allow external toilets to run on tank water.
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Wedderburn College is proactive in conserving water and encouraging the community to do the same in their own backyard. The school has recognised that to run successful vegetable gardens internally and in the community, that it needed a plan to maximise water. The school remodelled and repaired a mulch system and planned an aquaponics system. The school is mindful that chemicals don’t end up in local water ways or the water table.
2016 awards booklet
A showcase of Victorian schools sustainability stories for a beautiful planet.
Want to know more?
Get in touch:
ResourceSmart Schools Awards, Sustainability Victoria
03 8626 8747
resourcesmartawards@sustainability.vic.gov.au