At St. Francis Xavier Primary School we offer a holistic approach to environmental education for an environmentally sustainable future. Environmental sustainability is about reducing our ecological footprint while simultaneously improving the quality of life that we value and the liveability of our society.
Our school is focused on creating a culture in which teaching and learning for environmental sustainability are continually reinforced. Our school fosters environmental practices and incentives within our community, such as wrapper free lunches, recycling, building with reclaimed materials, re-vegetating our unique wetlands and growing our own organic produce, with an aim to help build knowledge and access skills and tools. These practices equip students to act individually and collectively, in ways that can contribute to community, local and global environmental sustainability.
We anticipate that through our actions and incentives we may inspire a strong community spirit where the wider communities’ knowledge of environmental issues are also deepened, tools and practices are shared and environmental sustainability becomes a norm, rather than something extra that we have to think about.
Each week, the children participate in weekly Environmental Education lessons, which encourage children to think sustainably, reduce waste and care for the environment. These important concepts are also followed up in the classroom. Since the program’s inception in 2006, there has been many successes and achievements – all of which have come about through the commitment of the students and staff to making a difference.