Sustainability

St Columba’s – finalists for 2 RSS School Awards!

Drum roll… St Columba’s has been nominated for not one but two categories at this year’s 2020 ResourceSmart School Awards - Victoria’s largest sustainability awards program for schools.

Our fabulous Steph Young has been nominated for Teacher of the Year (Primary) and our wonderful Green Team has been nominated as School Community Volunteer of the Year.

The Awards recognise and reward the outstanding sustainability efforts of Victorian primary and secondary schools that contribute to a better place – and we think Steph and the Green Team are very worthy winners!

Steph has played a pivotal role in St Columba’s establishing itself as a leading 5-star school–championing sustainability in the school, mentoring our student environmental leaders, promoting our school's achievements and leading engagement with the school and the broader community.

Steph oversees initiatives such as our STEAM Clean the Bay program, our popular Climate Change Choir, our Take 3 for the Sea clean up initiatives and our kitchen garden classroom. She has also been instrumental in minimising our landfill waste, encouraging nude food for students and staff and recycling or reusing items in classrooms.

St Columba’s Green Team was formed in 2014 and consists of a group of passionate parents, volunteering their time to contribute to our school’s sustainability efforts. The team has raised over $100K for energy and waste retrofits and environmental education in our school over the last 5 years, and in 2018/19 volunteered approximately 700 hours of their time! Our school simply wouldn’t be a 5-star school without them.

This year for the first time the awards ceremony will be held online, allowing everyone to be a part of the celebration. Mark Friday 5 June 2020 in your diary and stay tuned for further details on how you can cheer our finalists on!

Congratulations Steph and the Green Team for this fantastic achievement – we are very proud!