As part of our commitment to being a Resourcesmart school we need to undertake different tasks to complete our module and to gain our star rating. One of the tasks is to develop a school policy outlining our approach to the environment and how we undertake educating ourselves and what actions we will take as a community.
The Liasion officer for us is Lorna Pettifer from CERES and she met with us on Monday the 8th for an hour and a half. The following children participated- Caroline, Thomas C, Lorraine, Saveria, Olivia, Amanda, Angelique, Allen, Hannibal and Lucy.
Lorna explained the purpose of a policy and what we needed to do. As a group we then looked at the four areas- Energy, Waste, Water and Biodiversity. Using Lorna as an expert we looked at what other schools were doing in each of these areas and the children discussed what actions were practical for us to undertake and sustain. She used the Sustainability Hub as a resource which showed the different schools and their case studies.
From all of this and lots of dialogue the children proposed the following lists of actions:
Energy- solar panels; turning off lights; switching off computers; don’t keep the room too cold or too hot; and, dressing for the weather.
Waste- make posters and signs to educate others and remind them; make short films and put them on the Myclasses page; worm farms; reduce, reuse, recycle; looking at the paper we buy and use; and, making good choices about the printing that we do.
Water- water tanks; collecting water; making sure Malcolm Creek is healthy; and making signs near the drains to remind us to not let our rubbish enter the drains.
Biodiversity- weeding and mulching; planting; vegetable garden; native plants; environmentally friendly furniture such as the Red Project; and to continue to participate in days such as Clean Up Australia Day.
Lorna was extremely pleased and impressed with the discussion the children had with her and the proposals that they made as a group. They were all very switched on about practical ideas that we can undertake as a community and to sustain in the long term. I can’t wait to see what we do next to make our school more sustainable.
