Year of Learning for Sustainability

The Department of Education and Training declared 2010 as our Year of Learning for Sustainability for NSW Public Schools, TAFE NSW campuses, state offices and staff.

The goal of learning for sustainability is to guide us to take actions that result in sustainable living for the benefit of present and future generations.

We embrace sustainability and environmental education by:

• providing programs and curriculum to enable our students to become citizens who contribute towards a sustainable future
• implementing school sustainability education and management to achieve sustainability and environmental objectives in all our schools
• and managing school sites and resources sustainably.

From cook-offs to clean-ups, composting and koala counting - NSW public schools have been engaged in an astounding variety of sustainability activities throughout 2010, as part of the department's first Year of Learning for Sustainability.

Some of the most popular and widely implemented projects involved growing, cooking and eating fresh food.

Many schools designed, planned, grew and harvested locally sustainable foods from authentic bush tucker in Griffith to magical market gardens in Balmain High School.

At Bangalow, on the north coast, and in Sydney at Greystanes, Glebe and Waitara, students extended their cooking skills by learning to make delicious dishes from their own organic produce.

Other schools worked with local communities and businesses to clean up their local environment. For example, Canterbury Boys and Girls High Schools collected 50 bags of rubbish from the nearby Cooks River. Meadow Flat Public School, near Bathurst, planted a wildlife corridor, built composting bins and created a frog pond.

Student environmental leaders encouraged Ulladulla High students to save water and energy, as did Model Farms High students and Scarborough and Ramsgate Public Schools. Bankstown Girls High got active with great results in their fitness and energy levels.

Further west, students and staff from Gulgong High School, near Mudgee, engaged in many activities to make their school more sustainable. Some of their bright ideas included implementing recycling systems, creating bird feeders, growing a kitchen garden and planting a wildlife corridor.

Meanwhile, in another intrinsically Australian setting, the local koala population in Lismore found itself under close surveillance, as part of an ongoing wildlife conservation activity at Lismore High.

To the west at Merriwa Central School and in northern Sydney at Rydalmere East Public School students chose projects with a global focus. Year 8 students at Merriwa chose to assist endangered orangutans in Indonesia, while Rydalmere students put on a music and dance performance called "Repstravaganza" to help raise the funds needed to adopt an orangutan.

Many projects lead to results across the whole of the department. Check out the spotlights or contact your local school to find out more.

There's a lot happening in our offices and public schools across the state. We are:

• conducting resource audits to improve sustainable energy and water use
• installing solar panels and rainwater tanks
• purchasing GreenPower and installing energy efficient lights
• recycling our waste
• creating kitchen gardens and planting trees
• managing grounds to facilitate outdoor learning spaces, to value natural and cultural heritage, and to contribute to sustainable water catchments, healthy ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity
• and working with local communities on sustainability projects.

You are welcome to contact your local public school to find out more about local sustainability achievements.

We can all help to better protect our environment!

• Join in with your local school's initiatives...
• share your school's achievements...
• spread the word
• ... and here's some tips to help:
  • Get active for our future - one step @ a time!
  • Save energy for our future - one click @ a time!
  • Save water for our future - one drop @ a time!
  • Reduce, reuse, recycle for our future - one bag @ a time!
  • Value biodiversity for our future - one ecosystem @ a time!
  
  

For more information and to receive posters and bookmarks contact sustainability@det.nsw.edu.au.