Sustainability has been at the core of our strategic vision for our school.
Sustainability is a key element of how we conduct all aspects of our school. Over the years, we have focused on developing and implementing strategies that improve the School’s overall environmental footprint.
Our approach to sustainability consists of the following endeavours:
- Sustainable Building Design
- Energy Savings
- Waste Output
- Printing
- Water Savings
- Bushland Conservation and Restoration
Sustainable Building Design
Sustainability for schools means being able to cater to growing numbers of students. At our school, we have also always considered the environment when making decisions about planning and development. In 2009, our school underwent a major project which included the construction of the pre-primary and lower primary buildings. These buildings are designed to maximise airflow and reduce heat in summer. Our buildings are north facing, which reduces heat in the summer and maximises heat in winter. The use of natural materials, longevity, and minimal impact on the existing biodiversity has also always been at the core of our buildings’ designs. These design principles are also being used as we plan for the construction of our new high school building in 2023/2024.
Energy Savings
Following the construction of our lower primary and upper primary buildings, we installed solar panels with the aim to reduce our carbon footprint. As technology improved and the cost of solar panels diminished, we made the decision, last year, to replace our panels and increase their numbers. Over the last school holidays, we had a 35kW system installed on the roof of the Lower Primary Building, which will cover all our current and projected electricity needs during the day, thereby reducing our carbon footprint.
Waste Output
Our school is a Waste Wise school, which means that we have demonstrated our ongoing commitment to waste reduction and waste recovery.
Some of our Waste Wise initiatives are:
- We have developed uniform recycling bins within our classrooms and School Office.
- We have also partnered with Containers For Change (CFC) so that our community could take their recyclable containers to authorised refund points (with the closest locations to us being Wangara, Padbury, and Landsdale), thereby encouraging more people to recycle their containers. Our CFC number is C10289251.
- We have created a recycling station, located at the Lower Primary building, where our community can bring items to be recycled, items such as:
- Dental products: toothbrushes/ paste tubes
- Medicine blister packs
- Soy sauce fish bottles
- Spectacles
- Batteries
- Mobile phones
- Pens of all types, as well as correction fluid bottles
- Plastic lids
Printing
Over the last three years, we have streamlined many of our internal administrative processes and digitised many of them. One of the biggest changes for our families has been the introduction of SchoolStream, which is an app that enables us to communicate with parents without using a single piece of paper.
We have also switched our newsletters from a paper version to a digital-only version.
Water Savings
We have a 34,000-litre water tank that supplies water to our school toilets, a significant saving of water being used from the City’s main water source.
Bushland Conservation and Restoration
Within our school property, remnant native bushland has been retained and its conservation is a priority for our school. The native bushland provides an opportunity for students to learn about and care for the natural environment. Students participate in planting native species, identifying and controlling weeds and invasive species, and the importance of conserving the native bush within the context of the surrounding suburban land uses.
Now what?
Moving forward, we, staff and students along with our community, look forward to finding new methods to continue to be innovative in the ways we approach sustainability.
There must be provision for the child to have contact with Nature, to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in Nature …. so the child may better understand and participate in the marvellous things which civilisation creates.”