Sustainablillity News

Beginning Term 3 :

Green Team (Sustainability Club)

National Tree Day 2026

This year, National Tree Day falls on Sunday 26 July 2026, with Schools Tree Day on Friday 24 July 2026. Accordingly, in Week 2 of Term 3, the Green Team gathered to plant the newest addition to our productive garden – a native Australian finger lime, which the students have named ‘Barry’, because apparently that name felt right! Special thanks to students Summer, Megan, Sheila, Nivedita, Athulya, Vinna, Shakti, Abigail, Lorena and Samantha for helping with the planting and naming Barry.

National Tree Day was started by Planet Ark in 1996 – 30 years ago! - and has grown into Australia’s largest community tree planting and nature care event. It is a call to action for all Australian’s to get their hands dirty and give back to the community. While we wore gloves to keep our hands from literally getting dirty, Barry will hopefully give back to the school community for many a year. Its fruit might end up being used in a Food Studies class, or being sold to a local café or restaurant via the VCE-Vocational Major’s Garden Program.

For now, Barry has been planted in the garden bed near our T-Block. Barry will be joined by a second and more well-established finger lime tree, which is currently being sourced by our College’s fabulous new gardener and Green Team member, Ildiko Tarjan.

The choice of a native Australian finger lime also acknowledges NAIDOC Week, which has recently past. While finger lime now graces the menus of many of top class restaurant and cocktail lists worldwide, First Nations peoples have been enjoying the ‘bush caviar’ for millennia. Finger limes are high in Vitamin C (great for staving off those nasty Winter colds). Originally native to the subtropical rainforests of southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales, they are now grown country-wide, including now here at our College.

Happy National Tree Day – the Green Team hopes you have the opportunity to plant something yourself at home too!

Jacinta Marlborough

Green Team Co-ordinator

Sustainable School Shop

Second-hand Textbooks and Uniforms📚 🎻 ⛹🏻‍♀️

We have partnered with Sustainable School Shop to provide families access to second-hand textbooks, uniforms, calculators, musical instruments, sports gear and much more!

Sustainable School Shop have preloaded items specific to our school onto their site. This makes it super easy to list your items for sale and to buy items.

👉🏼 See all the second-hand uniform items for sale here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/stocktake/south-oakleigh-college

👉🏼 See all the second-hand textbooks for sale here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/booklist/south-oakleigh-college

So jump onto the site, register and list your items for sale, you will be:

reusing items rather than adding to landfill
making money on items you sell
saving money on items you buy
providing another family in our school with cheaper items
helping to create a culture of contact amongst our school community families!

💻 Login or Register here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au

Second-hand Textbooks📚

We have partnered with Sustainable School Shop to provide families access to second-hand textbooks. 📚

Sustainable School Shop have preloaded items specific to our school onto their site. This makes it super easy to list your items for sale and to buy items.

👉🏼 See all the second-hand textbooks for sale here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/booklist/south-oakleigh-college

recycling items – great for our environment
helping & meeting other families in our school
making and saving money by buying and selling

💻 Login or Register: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au

Second-hand Uniforms

We have partnered with Sustainable School Shop to provide families access to second-hand uniforms including sports gear.

Sustainable School Shop have preloaded items specific to our school onto their site. This makes it super easy to list your items for sale and to buy items.

👉🏼 See all the second-hand uniform items for sale here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/stocktake/south-oakleigh-college

recycling items – great for our environment
helping & meeting other families in our school
making and saving money by buying and selling

💻 Login or Register: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au

Alison Jones

The Green Team Co-ordinator.