Sustainability strategy

SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLMENTS

FAHAN School is implementing a sustainability initiative that is currently being rolled out across the school.

The Fahan School Management Team and Board offer strong leadership and effective management in the area of environmental sustainability.

Strategies to develop an environmentally sustainable learning environment include exploring options for effective resource management, and combining physical assets and the environment of the school to enhance food, garden, power, water and waste sustainability.

To begin the plan, Fahan is implementing a “four bin” system consisting of bins for recycling, compost, paper and landfill being placed in classrooms to educate students on managing their daily waste and encourage them to become global thinkers.

The bins will be rolled out gradually, starting with blue recycle bins and red landfill bins, before introducing yellow (co-mingled recycling) and finally green (organic waste) bins later.

“I think it is important to take responsibility for the waste we produce,” Year 10 student Hannah Finkelde said.

“Sustainability means looking after our planet so that future generations can have access to the same resources we have now,” she said.

Fellow Year 10 student Anabelle Skeggs explains: “Previously at Fahan, we have had only two types of bins, some for paper recycling while everything else went into landfill.

“The new eco-bins mean that as a school we will contribute less waste to landfill and more into recycling and compost bins,” Anabelle said.

As the school works towards becoming a zero-waste environment, the students have been asked to come up with ideas to help.

“These have included having a bathtub worm farm, building a tool shed made from recycled bottles as well as moving towards minimal packaging at the canteen and in lunch boxes,” senior student Kathryn Sypkes said.

Classmate Eliza Baddiley said: “By placing the bins around the school we hope to raise awareness and encourage people to be more sustainable.”

The initiative will be further enhanced with the commissioning of the Food Technology and Digital Technology Hub, currently under construction.

The new building’s commercial kitchen will house cooking and barista classes, mini courses, science and language lessons and food preparation for fundraising events.

The vision for the Hub is for it to complete the circle of sustainability across the school. Students will have their own kitchen gardens to grow produce in conjunction with their composting and recycling programs.

They will then be able to sell or cook the produce to fund the planting of new seeds. In time the vegetable gardens will be nourished using compost produced as a by-product.

“Teaching young people about sustainability has never been more important,” Fahan School Principal Tony Freeman said.

“It develops the knowledge, values and world views required to make certain that there’s enough for everyone,” Mr Freeman said.

“There is great merit in the goal of protecting natural environments and creating an ecologically balanced system through informed practical action,” he said.

The skills, values and knowledge Fahan students gain from participating in sustainability initiatives will hopefully equip them with the ability to address the ongoing human impact on the Earth and make positive contributions to its future.

The aim is for sustainability to become a link across all areas of learning, building on the innate interest students have in thinking critically, debating vigorously and acting creatively to discover better ways of using resources.