St Monica’s is committed to sustainability and encouraging students to see the value and responsibility we all share as stewards of creation.
By incorporating sustainability in daily school life, students learn how their actions can have a direct impact on the world around them – both at the local and global level.
Sustainability is embedded through units of study across all levels of the School. Each year, students undertake a unit of study with a sustainability focus; and, across a two-year program, these units cover areas such as Water, Sustainability, Waste management, and the impact of human activity on the Earth.
The school takes actions to minimise waste, save energy and water and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Here are some examples:
Waste Management:
- Each classroom has compost bins for lunch scraps
- Larger compost bins are located in our Garden
- Recycle bins in each classroom and throughout yard
- Student management of the recycling and composting program
- Scrap paper boxes in classrooms for reuse by students
Water Conservation:
- St Monica’s is registered to the Schools Water Efficiency Program (SWEP). SWEP enable schools to continually track their water usage and gain water and cost savings.
- Parks Victoria scientists worked with our students exploring water conservation and river health of the Maribyrnong river. Our students visited the Maribyrnong River to further explore, and in the process identified and categorised waste found.
Sustainability in action initiatives have included:
- Soft plastic recycling initiative: Students supported the REDcycle campaign by collecting and recycling soft plastics. Confused on what you can recycle? Check out REDcycle’s comprehensive list!
- ‘Nude Lunch’ Campaigns: Each year, our ‘nude lunch’ campaign has focused on educating our School Community on reducing the amount of plastic and non-recyclable materials that come with our snacks and lunches. Students measure the amount of waste at the beginning and end of the period with a target of reducing waste by at least half.
- Student involvement in our gardening group and garden harvest sales.