This year has seen a lot of movement in St Philip’s Sustainability push.

The 5/6 Sustainability Group have worked hard to create and promote Waste Free Wednesdays. Each Wednesday each class collects data on how many students have brought in waste-free lunches. This data is then collated and the Sustainability group work out the class with the highest percentage of waste-free lunches to win a small prize at the end of each term. Term 2 saw both 5/6 classes win!

The Sustainability group are now in the process of creating signs for the whole school to remind everyone to turn off lights when they are not necessary, to keep the heaters and air conditioning on 22 degrees in Winter and between 22 to 26 degrees in Summer. Signs to keep doors closed when heaters and air conditioners are on are also in the works.

The Sustainability group are now working with the Social Justice group to work on the Mondo Clothes drive for Term 4. This clothes drive not only supports numerous charities around the world, ensuring those in greatest need receive good quality second hand clothing, it also helps our school community! Each kilogram of clothing collected gives the school 10 cents. The school which collects the most clothing also has the chance to win $1000! More information will be sent out soon by the Sustainability Leadership Group.

This year we are also getting closer to achieving our first star in the ResourceSmart School program. The first core module has allowed the staff at St Philip’s to consider how our school runs and how we can make changes to make it more environmentally friendly. We have completed our School Environmental Management Plan (SEMP) and it has been ratified by the school board. Kate, our school facilitator has had the opportunity to come to our school and share our school’s progress and also give us tips and ideas to help us on our journey.

Keep an eye out as we continue our sustainability journey!

Take care,

The Sustainability Team