St. Jude’s Primary School in Langwarrin and Berwick Beaconhills College teacher Clare Tuohy have been named finalists in the ResourceSmart Schools Awards.
The sustainability-savvy schools are in the running for the title of Student Action Team of the Year (primary level) and Teacher of the Year (secondary level) respectively.
Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart School Awards, now in their 13th year, celebrate students, teachers, parents and volunteers’ sustainability efforts.
St Jude’s has established the Environmental Leaders of the Future, a group of empowered Year 3 to 6 students working on promoting waste, water, biodiversity, and energy sustainable practices.
They run weekly energy audits in the classrooms and later report their findings and announce calls to action in the school’s assemblies.
They also support recycling, garden duties, and local initiatives.
In her role as head of Citizenship and Service, Clare has been responsible for the Beaconhills College community engagement programs.
With a social environmental approach, the list and the impact of her activities goes beyond the school gate and even Australia.
In 2020 and 2021, Clare developed the Beacon of Hope Community Garden, a hub for growing vegetables to feed people in need.
The space provides a wellbeing area to lead extracurricular gardening programs for students who have challenges engaging in class.
Clare has helped underpin environmental activism and sustainability and is responsible for the college’s involvement in the Solarbuddy program, where technology and science students make solar-powered lights for underprivileged students in Bangladesh.
Sustainability Victoria’s director community action Katie Pahlow said positive sustainability actions can give students a feeling of agency over their world.
“Helping young people focus on what they can influence now for their future is more important than ever,” she said.
“The teachers who are helping our young people focus on what they can do now to influence their future is to be commended.
“The ResourceSmart School Awards also give students, teachers and the school community a sense of pride and achievement in their sustainability work.”
Over the past 14 years, 1,400 schools have participated in the program.
Collectively they have saved more than $41 million on bills, reduced more than 118,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases through energy, water and waste efficiencies, diverted 194,000 cubic metres of waste from landfill, saved 1,884,783 kilolitres of water and planted more than five million trees.
Winners will be announced on Thursday, 2 June at a prestigious event held at the MCG hosted by Sammy J.
For more information visit sustainability.vic.gov.au/rss-awards
