Since beginning our Sustainability plan in 2016, we have developed many valuable practices at Eastwood. We have established many whole school sustainability initiatives and involve our students and the wider community in our programs.

Student Involvement

Student leaders are elected at the beginning of each year to help lead the school to be more sustainable. Our school employs a teacher dedicated to teaching the Kitchen Garden program and also embedding sustainability across the whole school.

Our classes from years three to six have regular Kitchen and Garden sessions, following the Stephanie Alexander model and also incorporating environmental education. Our younger students are given opportunities to take part in events such as School Tree Day, Clean Up Australia Day and National Recycling Week as well as a weekly lunchtime gardening group.

Community Involvement

The Kitchen Garden program requires several volunteers and we encourage families to be involved on a regular basis. For the past two years, Eastwood has run a joint program with a local secondary school. This Community Service program allows the students to work together to make pizzas and work in the garden. Our families are also given the opportunity to help care for the school chickens and gardens during the school holidays.

Sustainability Initiatives

Throughout the last 12 months, we have been refining our waste management systems across the school. We currently collect most of our green waste for composting, recycle our paper waste and collect and recycle the co-mingle and soft plastic waste in the kitchen and staffroom.

Our new landscaping and existing gardens have increased our biodiversity and also helped educate our students about the importance of a rich, diverse environment.

We take part in several events throughout the year. Initiatives such as Schools Tree Day are run in conjunction with our local council and native nursery. We have run several whole school events such as Schools Earth Hour and National Recycling Week. Our school is a Nude Food school and we run a weekly competition with our ‘Nude Food Dude’ trophy for the winning class.

There are regular articles, reports and photographs shared in our online newsletter to keep families up to date with current initiatives. Recipes used in our Kitchen sessions are also published on Compass for families to access and enjoy at home.

Currently, Eastwood has achieved our first star for completing the Core Module for the Resource Smart Schools. We are hoping to attain our Waste and Biodiversity in the very near future and will continue to strive for excellence in all areas of sustainability.