WIMMERA students celebrated their school’s efforts to become more sustainable.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nine schools in the region participated in the ResourceSmart Schools program, which was led by Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group.
Grampians Central West WRRG’s executive officer La Vergne Lehmann said the organisation arranged a sustainable party for the students to reflect on their achievements this year.
Ms Lehmann said five awards were given to the schools that made huge strides to incorporate sustainability into its operations, curriculum and community engagement.
Warracknabeal’s St Mary’s Primary School took out the top award for school of the year.
“St Mary’s Primary School has been leaders in sustainability and joined the program four years ago,” Ms Lehmann said. “It takes time to build that culture in a school, but they are now a five star school.
“When schools first join the program, they focus on the school itself. From there it goes out into the community and when you’re a five start school they can start mentoring other schools.”
Murtoa College will join the program next year, but the students joined the celebrations to get a head start on gathering ideas.
Year 8 student Anai Taylor said she has talked to many students from other schools to learn about their sustainable projects.
“We are asking them about the different projects they are doing at their own schools,” she said. “What we are learning is that no school is the same – they don’t have the exact same projects.”
To make her school more sustainable, Anai believed the first step was to fix the gardens. She also said she wanted chickens to return to the school.
“We have to start somewhere and we want to improve our school, but eventually I would like to branch out and be leaders for our community,” she said. “If I can, I want to talk to my friends at schools in Horsham and see if their schools would join the program.”
While you’re with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox twice weekly from the Wimmera Mail-Times. To make sure you’re up-to-date with all the news from across the Wimmera, sign up below.