2024 ResourceSmart Schools Awards

Last updated: 24 September 2024
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decorative image Legendary Legacies - what will they leave behind? Winners revealed.

In 2024 the awards celebrate their 15th anniversary. Fittingly the theme for 2024 is: Legendary Legacies – what will you leave behind?

We congratulate all winners of this year’s awards. Our young people and schools are leading the way on sustainability, creating real impact for Victorian communities beyond the school gate.

We celebrate everyone in our ResourceSmart Schools community who has worked to incorporate sustainability into the curriculum over the past year and everyone who entered this year’s awards.

Read the ResourceSmart Schools Awards 2024 program (pdf, 11.7MB) to learn more about this year’s finalists.

The 2024 event was held on 4 June 2024 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

We offered subsidies for travel and for casual relief staff so that our finalist schools could attend the awards as cost-neutral as possible. Winners received cash prizes for sustainability projects at their school.

ResourceSmart School of the Year

This category recognises outstanding sustainability achievement in Victorian primary and secondary schools through:

  • positive impact and innovation
  • addressing sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority in the Victorian Curriculum
  • engaging the broader community
  • improvements to campus operations and/infrastructure
  • sustainability leadership in the education sector/other schools.

Winner: Chewton Primary School, Chewton

Chewton’s Country Warriors show agency and advocacy

This school’s award-nominated Reconciliation Action Plan shows its strong bond with the community. And its Koorie Engagement Officer works with the Nalderun Education Aboriginal Corporation to ensure First Nations perspectives are part of the school program.

In 2023 the school introduced a weekly sustainability class for the entire school. And students participate in Connecting to Country workshops, where they learn about biodiversity.

The school cares for its nearby reserve and Forest Creek. Students collaborate with the Landcare and Post Office Hill Action groups on revegetation projects.

Students launched a Dog Poop Protest to educate walkers around Forest Creek about the danger of leaving dog poo near the waterway. This mission was later supported by Parks Victoria. In 2023, 300 people joined the school’s Reconciliation Walk, where this 3 Star school showed its strong environmental leadership.

Finalists

Student Action Team of the Year

Celebrating student teams that best demonstrate environmental leadership.

Primary school winner: Castlemaine Steiner School and Kindergarten, Muckleford

The Eco Club shines a light on Castlemaine’s biodiversity

Attending the ResourceSmart Schools Awards in 2023 inspired 5 students to form the school’s Eco Club. The foundation committee meets weekly to discuss potential initiatives, and the now 20 members of the group run 4 activities.

The Lids4Kids initiative collects lids for recycling. And students build and install nesting boxes for native species across the campus for the Nesting Box project.

The Bird Hide project is one of the Eco Club’s greatest achievements. Students dismantled an unused shelter and moved it to an area overlooking the wetlands to encourage birdwatching during recess and lunchtime.

The Wetland Project allows the students’ creativity to flow while promoting stewardship. Some members collect and share data on wildlife. Others participate in national citizen-science projects. Two students created a YouTube channel about local wildlife.

Finalists

Secondary school winner: St Monica’s College, Epping

A motivated team nurtured by an environmentally focused school program

The school has a bustling co-curricular program with 90 students actively engaged in sustainability-related activities.

The team visits the school’s wetlands each week to clean up, weed, plant, remove aquatic pests and do biodiversity audits.

During the school’s Environmental Day, the team helps to run whole‑school competitions testing correct bin use and awarding best animal or plant photo.

For the circular economy program students visit the chicken coop every day. They feed the animals food scraps and freshly picked weeds and collect eggs, which are sold to school staff.

Representatives from the team shared the work they’re doing to improve biodiversity in the school’s wetlands and the nearby Darebin Creek at the Whittlesea Council Environmental Conference.

Finalists

Curriculum Leadership School of the Year

This category recognises teaching and learning of sustainability through the Victorian curriculum, and the creative and innovative approaches to addressing sustainability in lesson plans, units of work or school-wide curriculum.

Primary school winner: Heathmont East Primary School, Heathmont

Kicking goals for the planet and the community

This school bridged learning and sustainable action by introducing a specialist sustainability subject based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Year 3 students explore the No Hunger goal through the lens of social justice by collecting and donating food, toys and clothing to local organisations.

Years 5 and 6 approach the Responsible Production and Consumption goal by designing products and circular economy business models.

The sustainability class allows students to engage in hands-on activities while developing literacy and numeracy skills.

For the Natural Disaster unit, students read non-fiction and fiction texts, create posters, and present their work to their peers.

The Cleanest and Greenest initiative empowers students to look after their school, fostering ownership and responsible behaviour.

Finalists

Secondary school winner: St Monica’s College, Epping

Because caring for the environment is a cross-curriculum priority for this school, it has hired a dedicated sustainability coordinator.

In 2023 the school introduced 2 sustainability-focused semester-based electives: Year 10 biofuels and Year 9 STEM classes, both developed with a focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The school’s tiny house assignment explores the impacts of design and insulation on temperature. Students use laser cutters to create their house project, and investigate resource-efficient technologies.

The Year 9 geography class researched the origin and type of the school’s wetland to better understand their local environment.

One student coded a Raspberry Pi computer to record the local ecosystem’s bird sounds. The audio files are automatically sent to the Cornell University bird database to identify species. And Year 7 students analyse the bird information and translate the data into graphs.

Campus Infrastructure and Operations School of the Year

Celebrating the school that best demonstrates their commitment to environmental sustainability.

Winner: St Michael’s Grammar School, St Kilda

Data-driven decisions for sustainability

To better understand the school’s waste habits, and to introduce appropriate waste streams, students audited bin contents and staff monitored busy areas in the school to determine where to put bins for maximum effect.

Based on that audit the school has introduced 8 new waste streams: paper and cardboard, plastic bottles, metal cans and tins, food packaging, glass, coffee cups, landfill, and organics.

Organic waste goes to the Yarra Valley Water Treatment Plant and is turned into biofuel. And between 2022 and 2023 the school diverted over a tonne of waste from landfill.

St Michael’s Grammar also has 2 rainwater tanks that save 464 kilolitres of this precious resource each year. The 449 solar panels around the campus produce more energy than what’s used in school hours, and during the holidays excess energy is exported to the electricity grid.

Teacher of the Year

This category recognises teachers who best demonstrate leadership in sustainability.

Primary teacher winner: Gill Davey, Sarah Chamings and Erin Salm, Epsom Primary School, Epsom

The Green Gals foster agency with creativity

Gill, Sarah and Erin are the Green Gals. They are an intergenerational team of teachers championing sustainability in the curriculum and leading a group of 35 students called the Green Magpies.

In 2023 the Green Gals hosted a stall at Bendigo’s Sustainability Festival to fundraise and learn from other stallholders.

At the festival the Green Magpies delivered a message on stage for the Minister for Climate Action at the Greater Bendigo Climate Summit, which led to the Green Gals mentoring 3 local schools.

The Green Gals guided the school to 5 Star status. The school celebrated at a ceremony with a student flash mob, and school staff performed a song about sustainability, written by Erin. The mayor of Bendigo presented a large gold star to the group and announced the school’s achievement to the community.

Secondary teacher winner: Andrew Feher, Mount Lilydale Mercy College, Lilydale

Inspiring students to think outside the box

Andrew has been pivotal in the school’s 5-Star status achievement, but his impact goes far beyond the classroom. He is the school’s Sustainability Leader and always finds opportunities in the curriculum to focus on the environment.

Thanks to Andrew’s work students take part in the Green Innovators Sustainable Building program to learn about resource efficiency in design. They also participate in the college’s revegetation program, done in partnership with Melbourne Water. He also facilitates debates at events like the Go Green sustainability conference.

Andrew encourages students to take ownership of the school’s Sustainability Week by participating in Earth Hour and Clean Up day. His efforts have led to a bike maintenance workshop and sustainability-inspired art installations.

Thanks to Andrew’s passion and mentorship every year students from the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), Vocational Education and Training (VET), and geography and agriculture programs pursue careers in sustainable industries.

Community Leadership School of the Year

This category recognises schools that best demonstrate a commitment to community leadership through the encouragement of innovative sustainability practices and action on climate change.

Primary school winners: St Patrick’s Primary School, Port Fairy

Port Fairy’s sustainability beacon

This 5 Star school’s dedication to sustainability is as solid as its commitment to the community.

Students visit the Volcano Produce site to learn about spray-free farming practices and harvest food that they then distribute to people in need via the local food share.

As part of the school’s weekly sustainability lessons, students collect recycled fabrics from local families. Staff members and volunteers help them to sew them into upcycled “boomerang bags”. Money made from selling the bags is donated to the Bandari Project, which supports underprivileged children and women in Tanzania.

For the past 7 years the school has participated in the Port Fairy Coastal Group’s Beach Monitoring program, where students collect data for Deakin University’s biologists.

Tecoma Primary School, Tecoma

A community hub for Tecoma

The Sustainability Action Team – formed by students, teachers and class monitors – joins forces with church volunteers, parents and grandparents to promote sustainability in the school and beyond. And as a whole the school fosters collaboration among businesses, groups and families, creating a network dedicated to sustainability.

The school participated in Clean Up Australia Day and cleared the rail trail from Tecoma to Belgrave. It also collaborates with groups like Treasuring our Trees to improve the campus’ gardens, and has an indigenous garden with Australian native food plants and a yarning circle.

The school has a robust green-procurement policy and prioritises using eco-friendly products and recycled materials.

To tackle waste, the students teach their peers about the bin system, and use food scraps to feed the school’s worm farm and chickens.

Finalists

Secondary school winner: Mount Lilydale Mercy College, Lilydale

Fostering responsible, community-oriented citizens

This campus serves as a professional learning and events hub for the community. It’s committed to fostering community through sharing sustainability knowledge.

The school invites primary schools to participate in the First Nations Immersion Day, where they learn how First Australians care for Country and use natural resources in a respectful and sustainable way.

Students have restored a once-degraded site into an immersive outdoor classroom. And the school has created a key refuge for local biodiversity with money from water authorities and the Shire of Yarra Ranges’ Ribbons of Green program.

The curriculum explores green careers and science-based climate solutions, including sustainable farming and robotics. And the college organised a network of sustainability leaders to discuss ideas through groups such as Beyond Net Zero and the Eastern Alliance for Sustainable Learning.

Finalists

School Volunteer of the Year

Celebrating a volunteer or volunteer group who supports the implementation of sustainability activities by contributing their time and expertise.

Winner: Friends of the PMPS Garden, Port Melbourne Primary School, Port Melbourne

Port Melbourne’s gardening heroes

Anthony Moran leads the Friends of the Port Melbourne Primary School Garden group, an enthusiastic team that inspires students to connect with their local biodiversity, and that demonstrates the value of community action.

This 18-member collective uses recycled and donated materials, and has worked with Bunnings and the local Men’s Shed to complete their projects.

In 2023 these volunteers created a garden dedicated to a departed member of the school community, and a sensory garden. They also joined the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor initiative by redeveloping a nature strip outside the school.

The Wednesday Garden Club, a cornerstone of their activities, gives students hands-on experience with planting, propagating and maintaining the school’s green spaces.

Finalist

Emerging School of the Year

A category that celebrates a school that has recently joined RSS and has already started to embed sustainability in everything they do.

Winner: Wandin North Primary School, Wandin North

Little heroes inspire big actions

In 2023 the school introduced HEROES (Harvest Eat Record Observe Environment Sustainability). The subject quickly became the heart and soul of the community.

Staff, students, families, council officers, local tradespeople and nurseries have come together to make HEROES happen.

The volunteers constructed a chicken coop, and worked on 2 school orchards and an Australian native food garden. They also built composting and worm farm areas with second-hand materials.

The school repurposed fallen trees to build the HEROES kitchen, where students learn about growing, harvesting and cooking fresh produce.

Each class participates in HEROES every week. This consistency has contributed to the school’s rapid and steady journey towards sustainability.

The students record video updates and calls to action for the community, look after the garden, and inspire collaborative environmental action at this outstanding 2 Star school.

Finalists