2019 ResourceSmart Schools Awards

Last updated: 20 September 2024
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Congratulations to all the amazing winners of the 20119 ResourceSmart Schools awards.

Student with Craig Reucassel from ABC TV’s War on Waste

School of the Year

Winner: Carrum Primary School, Carrum

Sharing is caring: Carrum Primary School inspiring environmental spirit

Surrounded by wetlands and a unique farmlet, and close to long stretches of white sandy beaches, lies Carrum Primary School. This location inspires a love and respect for nature and the school’s
comprehensive learning program sees sustainable practices and knowledge shared with the broader community.

Every year, students guided by Assistant Principal Amanda Carmichael and Learning Specialist Marcus Mulcahy, celebrate a sustainability term devoted to environmental activities across all grades integrating sustainability into the curriculum.

Students learn about sustainability and waste through a kitchen garden program that transforms organic waste into chicken, goat and bird food. Students also recycle food waste from the local supermarket to enrich their compost.

The school leads by example, hosting the Big Green Conference annually, and are regulars in the Mornington Peninsula Environment
Week Showcase, and the Kids Teaching Kids conferences. The school’s ‘Carrum Radio’ program also hosts segments focussed on sustainability.

Carrum also host monthly beach clean-ups and planting activities, earning the support of Kingston City Council.

Sustainability is boosted by developing a solar bank and working with Zoos Victoria, the Dolphin Research Institute, and the Mornington Peninsula Aviculture Society.

With this level of initiative and quality commitment to sustainability it is easy to understand how Carrum Primary School has been
awarded a ResourceSmart 5Star school twice, and earned the title of our 2019 ResourceSmart School of the Year.

Finalists

Campus Infrastructure and Operations School of the Year

Winner: Beaconhills College, Pakenham and Berwick

Energy and infrastructure for champions

Sustainable infrastructure became serious business for Beaconhills College in 2018. They installed a 230kW solar system on top of their
already existing 100kW structure. They designed a green building with sensor lighting, air conditioning, double glazed windows and
installed stormwater toilets. Other features include a wetland with ponds for birds and a lizard lounge, sponsored by Landcare Australia.

This 2 Star ResourceSmart school has lowered their ecological footprint thanks to their Waste to Food program that provides natural fertilizers for school gardens which provide 35% of their canteen’s vegetables. With an extraordinary infrastructure, this school encourages environmental awareness, inspires students and Green Teams across all grades, whilst saving energy and carbon emissions.

Finalists

Teacher of the Year (Primary)

Winner: Vanessa Smith, Truganina South Primary School, Truganina

Fostering love and respect for nature by example

Behind Truganina South Primary School’s sustainability approach lies the commitment and enthusiasm of Vanessa Smith. This Science
Teacher advocates for sustainability side by side with her students in events like the 2018 War On Waste March carried out on the school’s oval, the Kids Teaching Kids conferences and Clean Up Australia Day. She looks for sponsors, coordinates activities and promotes sustainability initiatives across social media.

Vanessa motivates the Green Team to diffuse the sustainability message creatively. Entering the Wakakirri Musical Competition with an environmental-inspired performance is a prime example. She is also responsible for embedding sustainability in the school’s
science program.

Her inspiring leadership earned the school a 5Star certification, and to Vanessa, the well-deserved Teacher of the Year distinction.

Finalists

Teacher of the Year (Secondary)

Winner: Timothy Thompson, Mount Lilydale Mercy College, Lilydale

Ready to get your hands and feet dirty: learning sustainability through agriculture

Agriculture Teacher, Timothy Thompson, has been responsible for raising awareness of sustainability in agricultural practices and for guiding The Yarra Valley Young Farmers: a group of 50 driven Mount Lilydale Mercy College students.

Under Timothy’s guidance, students analyse the impact of sustainable practices on agriculture by revegetating eroded land and preventing overgrazing and plague techniques.

He connects students with the largescale harvesting and fermenting processes in the school’s viticulture program. The Yarra Valley Young Farmers’, guided by Timothy, have become Young Rural Ambassadors for the Yarra Valley.

Timothy’s active teaching style allows the students to experience sustainable impactful learning in a fun way. His classes are so popular and engaging that the number of students increases every year.

Finalists

Student Action Team of the Year (Primary)

Winner: Truganina South Primary School, Truganina

Communicating sustainability through performance

The Green Team at Truganina South Primary School embrace sustainability with style and creativity. Inspired by the ABC’s War On Waste TV series, the Green Team started a movement that led to nude food days, a shared reusable bag program and rubbish collection sessions open to the whole school. They also created a story accompanied by a giant puppet made from recycled materials to illustrate the impact of waste on a frog’s habitat.

A collaboration with the Wyndham Council’s Greening the Pipeline project, constant participation in Kids Teaching Kids conferences,
and the production of sustainability videos are just some of the activities carried out by this Green Team. Currently, this 5Star school is preparing a musical performance called War on Waste that surely will showcase their students’ creative and driven spirit.

Finalists

Student Action Team of the Year (Secondary)

Winner: Nossal High School, Berwick

A collective effort: sharing tasks to address sustainably

Students across all grades participate in the Nossal Environment Sustainability Team (NEST): a group of 60 students lead action on sustainability in the school. The NEST leaders capture the environmental concerns and opportunities presented by the school then delegate tasks to four action groups who work out how to improve specific areas of sustainability.

The school’s involvement in events such as the high school’s Selective Entry Schools Environment Summit and the Casey Environmental Summit are arranged by the summit group. The ResourceSmart Schools team undertake the program’s modules. The Green team look after the natural spaces, whilst the Public Relations delegates communicate environmental activities to the members of this 3Star school.

This innovative approach to collaboration shows how the Nossal High School is taking action in sustainability.

Finalists

Community Leadership School of the Year (Primary)

Winner: Warrnambool East Primary School

Community benefits through real-life learning experiences

Using the natural surroundings and involving the wider community in learning about the environment is a key part of sustainability at
Warrnambool East Primary School.

The school teaches sustainability from prep to grade 6 and works with experts in the community to provide fun environmental education. The Inspiring Young Scientists program, recognised with the Victorian Education Excellence Award, offers real-life learning experiences with Deakin University students.

The Marine Entanglement Community Action Day gathers the broader community around workshops, such as constructing reef ecosystems, beach clean-ups and sorting marine debris.

The school’s efforts are complemented by parents that coordinate the recycling and composting process for the community and with work alongside organisations like Zoos Victoria and Wannon Water.

Finalists

Community leadership School of the Year (Secondary)

Winner: Footscray City College, Footscray

Bringing biodiversity back to the community

Two major community concerns became a learning opportunity for Footscray City College students. As the Footscray Park plants
started to disappear, the school’s Sustainability Centre (The Farm), focused the Horticulture class’ efforts in re-growing the missing
flora. Additionally, supported by Maribyrnong Council, the Community Action class conducted research in the local wetland, installed a
floating island device to filter the water and improve its quality and planted trees.

The construction of an eco-friendly astronomy house powered by wind turbines proved the STEAM class’s capabilities and the installation of an industrial composter funded by the local community via a Pick my Project grant, demonstrates the sustainability leadership of this school.

Finalists

Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Primary)

Winner: St Aloysius Primary School, Queenscliff

Encouraging sustainability from the classroom to the shore

Using Port Phillip Bay and Swan Bay as classrooms is key to St Aloysius Primary School’s curricular program and outdoor education policy.

A partnership with Deakin University and the Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre allows the school to organise visits to the centre each term, to be part of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning funded Marine Science Experts Steward of Swan Bay program and to assess the impacts of the curricular program.

Students advocate and develop empathy for the environment whilst snorkelling to survey and monitor seagrass.

The school’s participation in the Kids Teaching Kids conference earned them the Borough of Queenscliff Australia Day Award for Best Community Environmental Event in 2018. And now they are adding the prestigious title of Resource Smart School Curriculum Leadership Primary School of the Year.

Finalists

Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Secondary)

Winner: Kyneton Secondary College, Kyneton

Adventure in the field: citizen science and sustainability

Mapping the distribution of the near-threatened platypus nationwide and re-vegetating ecosystems are some of the amazing activities
Kyneton Secondary College students engage in with experts from the surrounding community.

The students work alongside scientists from the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network’s Platypus Project extracting cellular debris from water samples to map the distribution of the platypus.

The Campaspe River in Kyneton and Bald Hill are the open classrooms where students from every year level engage with citizen science and sustainability, conducting research on the Brush-tailed Phascogale’s food and nest distribution and study environmental human impact with the help of Macedon Ranges Shire Council.

Humanities, Science, Maths, and English are some of the learning areas involved in these engaging outdoor activities.

Placement opportunities with Parks Victoria are another feature available to the students of this outdoorsy 2Star school with a love for nature.

Finalist

2019 awards booklet