Steps towards your Cleaner Greener School Actions: Focus Areas:
Step 1:
Allocate a committee to drive overall actions. Environment Club, Green Team, Waste Warriors, Litter Legends, Compost Kids, Power Rangers etc
Litter Waste Water Energy Biodiversity
Step 2: Complete a resource investigation & share findings. Litter Audits, Waste Audits, Water Audit, Energy Audit, Biodiversity Audit and Other Resource Investigations
Step 3: Educate and/or create a campaign. Litter, Zero Waste Free Lunches, Compost, Recycling, Waste, Water, Energy etc
Step 4: Connect to extra/co-curricular, curriculum and community programs. Activities, organisations, action days, curriculum units, community days, sustainable school events etc
Step 5:
Monitor procedures and review actions throughout the year. Improvements of environmental actions to build on for next year.
All submissions will become the property of Keep Queensland Beautiful and will not be returned unless requested.
SCHOOLS MUST BE WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES; AND INFORMATION, INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHS, CONTAINED IN THE ENTRANTS BOOKLET AND TAKEN BY THE JUDGE MAY BE
REPRODUCED FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES EITHER IN PRINT PUBLICATIONS OR ON WEBSITES. SCHOOLS MAY BE ASKED TO PROVIDE FURTHER MATERIAL AND/OR FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSE.
SCHOOL CONTACT DETAILS
In case we need further information or clarification, please provide contact details for two representatives:
Please follow the 5 Steps below and complete your actions for each specific focus areas. Schools can enter any or all actions but to be eligible for 5 Star Accreditation as a Cleaner Greener School, you MUST involve your school in some way in the 5 steps. Some of these actions could already be in place at your school. Additional actions can be added by copying and pasting the action template for that specific area that your school has taken on (if you think they would benefit you application).
1.Allocate a committee to drive overall actions.
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) Action Project Management
Allocate a group, committee or subcommittee(s) to drive overall actions SEMP School Environmental Management Plan Facilitator and committee
Lunchtime 'Green Thumbs" Club
- Any Bell student on Monday and Tuesday 11:20 am to 11:50 am
SEMP Activities:
Litter
Waste
Other sustainable Practices
Year 6 / 7 Friday 1:50 pm to 2:25 pm
Year 8 Friday 2:25 pm to 3:05 pm
Meeting Monthly on Monday afternoon
school vegetable garden and whole school environment
Shared through newsletter, local media (student written report on Scrub Project), how to create a school garden produced by students-shared on
opeining day
Timeframe SEMP meetings commencing by end of Term 1, continue throughout the year
Resources Cleaner Greener Schools Resource Kit, contact closest Cleaner Greener School for additional assistance, local nursery
for assistance with garden and community project, local council for free trees, database created of parent
volunteer/expertise
Responsibility Jane Citizen (Sustainability Officer), other committee members, Year 6 & 7’s
Monitoring Procedure
Meeting minutes recorded, Cleaner Greener Action Plan followed and submitted by November 24th, review actions
2.Complete a resource investigation & share findings.
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Litt
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Action Project Management
Perform a Litter Audit (conducted at least twice for data comparison, if one hasn’t been done before) Count and cleanup of rural bin site. Student leadership saw the need to clean up this litter site followed by promoting prevention.
Reduction in litter from bins. School site audit/awareness and prevention posters. Plan for Neighbourhood Litter Audit
Litter audit and collection tasks for Neighbourhood sites
Timeframe 1st Clean Up in Term 3, one clean up per term after
Responsibility Litter Team from SEMP Committee, Jane Citizen and Don Smith
Monitoring Procedure
Complete litter collection site and report ton findings to team, community and council
Email Litter Data Collection Sheets to Cleaner Greener Schools to be recorded and updated
Compare data results after each clean up. Solutions?
School to look into Adopt A Spot Program with Keep Queensland Beautiful
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Action Project Management
Perform a Waste Audit (conducted at least twice for data comparison, if one hasn’t been done before) At the end of a defined school day all waste generated at the school will be collected, weighed and documented.
Classroom waste audit -All waste generated in the year 2 classroom over a week period will be collected, weighed and documented by
students.
A Lunch wrapper audit- Year 2 students will weigh their lunch wrapper for one day. This will occur during a SOSE lessons
Classroom Food scrap Generation Audit - All foodscraps generated in the Yr4/5 class will be weighed each day and documented.
Findings shared with the school in an assembly to promote No Wrapper Wednesday Initiative.
Perform a Biodiversity Audit (Please note that this action is optional for 1-4 Star Schools) [Please describe & how you shared findings)
Timeframe
Resources
Responsibility
Monitoring Procedure
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Action Project Management
Introduce a Litter Campaign A litter committee will be formed and student members will develop an Litter Reduction Action plan. Subcommittees will be developed to plan and
implement individual actions. Each committee will be required to develop a work schedule, and implement activities defined in the action plans
Timeframe Term 1 initiated, action plan will define other activities
Resources Cleaner Greener Resource Kit - Litter
Responsibility SEMP Litter Committee members, John Citizen
Monitoring Procedure
Litter Reduction plan saved in SEMP folder, Staff members, student body and parents will be updated on progress through
the documentation in the newsletter and presentations at assembly.
Introduce a waste campaign or educational program (signage, presentations etc) Peer teaching. Students inform other classes about how to dispose of waste at this school. Students will focus on reiterating which bins are used for
which waste. Students will also continue to compost suitable waste.
Develop a campaign to remind students to place fruit and veg scraps in compost bins rather than rubbish bins.
Timeframe Term 2 after Waste Audit results are completed
Resources Cleaner Greener Resource Kit, Signage for bins:
Introduce an energy campaign or educational program Management through education and sustainable practices. e.g. Introduction of digital thermometers in every room so air-cons are not used
until rooms reach 30 C. in Summer / Winter 10 C. Signage for air-con: Summer set at 25 C and Winter set at 18 C. "Last out lights off
policy.
Timeframe Already in place, continued from last year.
Resources
Responsibility
Monitoring Procedure
Use of monitoring and presentation of 'Hog Doll' for non-compliance.
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Action Project Management
Introduce a biodiversity educational program [Please describe & how you shard your info)
4.Connections to extra/co-curricular, curriculum and community programs.
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Litt
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Action Project Management
Engage in litter cleanup activities. Refer to ‘Perform a Litter Audit’ Action above – our litter audit site is now our Adopt A Spot registered site. Clean up occurs 4 times per
year.
Timeframe Clean up once per term
Resources Adopt A Spot provides clean up resources: tongues, bags, sharpes container, visibility vests as well as Data
Collection Sheet.
Responsibility Every year it will be Year 7 Class to register and clean up.Year 7 Class Teacher updates registration at beginning of
each year with new students’ names.
Monitoring Procedure
Data collection sheets sent in to Keep Queensland Beautiful, Data Collection Sheet saved in SEMP folder online,
Sign erected after 4 clean ups, newsletter and presentations celebrate and share findings/solutions
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Litt
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Action Project Management
Litter Prevention [Please describe & how you shared this]
5. Monitor procedures and evaluate actions. (Please note that you have already provided information on how you will monitor procedures for each action throughout the above steps).
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Action Project Management
Other- Initiate a Garden Project to improve biodiversity on grounds and to promote healthy eating.
Plan and create a vegetable garden area, a small orchard and herb garden. Use produce to make food items to encourage sustainable living practices and
healthy eating habits. Tuckshop will also use garden produced vegetables, fruit and herbs whenever possible.
Document the process and have a Garden Opening Day.
Timeframe Term 4
Resources Continue partnership with local council and use their expertise and resources as appropriate.
Responsibility Students that do not attend Year 10 Camp. Overseen by John and other Year 10 teachers. John to recruit parents
with expertise. Groundskeeper?
Monitoring Procedure
To do list created and kept in shed. Working Bee Days promoted in newsletter, classes on a rotation to keep care of
garden and to connect to curriculum. Database/roster of parents that are able to assist, kept in shed.
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Action Project Management
Improvements of environmental actions to build on for next year. Water and Energy and Biodiversity needs to be tackled at the school. Audits on all these focus areas are a priority for next year. Litter and
Waste Audits need to also occur as well. Data already collected from this year needs to be compared to for next year. Presentation of
findings. Council has been fantastic and are offering more support in our garden with composting workshops and free worm farms. Their
expertise and partnership is important to the garden. Further education and campaigns for each of the focus areas needs to occur – the
suggestion is to see how we can fit this in the curriculum more ie. Persuasive writing in Year 7 for Energy campaign. A few teachers also
expressed interest in starting a Sustainability Committee that would include and invite parents to assist with.
Additional comments/info: I will send supporting evidence in the form of pictures, newsletter articles as well as litter and waste audits in an email. Cheers, Jane
Please email your completed Cleaner Greener Schools action plan, including all supporting evidence by: Monday, 24th November 2014 to: [email protected] Or alternatively, send your submission on USB to: Cleaner Greener Schools PO Box 3260 SOUTH BRISBANE QLD 4101
Please scroll down to nominate student leaders and teachers, provide feedback and review the assessment (judging) criteria and further ideas for focus areas.
Feedback: Please provide any additional information that you feel will help us continue to improve Cleaner Greener Schools Accreditation Initiative.
Are there any additional resources that we could provide you with that would help you with the Cleaner Greener Schools or other programs at your school? If an Education Officer were to visit your school what type of sessions, learning or workshops would you be interested in? How can we improve Cleaner Greener Schools?
FEEDBACK (We want to improve!)
Cleaner Greener Schools has provided our students with opportunities to further manage litter and waste to become a Cleaner Greener
School.
Agree/Disagree
Cleaner Greener Schools has useful resources to assist our school (project ideas, videos, partnerships etc). Agree/Disagree
Our school has improved our practices in managing waste and litter by working through the Cleaner Greener Schools Action Plan. Agree/Disagree
Our school has reduced our waste and litter which has resulted in cost savings to our school. Agree/Disagree
The Cleaner Greener Action Plan and Resource Kit have supported me with our actions. Agree/Disagree
The Cleaner Greener Action Plan and Resource Kit have supported me in recognising areas that I can include for my own Teaching
Professional Development.
Agree/Disagree
The Cleaner Greener Action Plan and Resource Kit have supported my school in documenting and recognising areas that our school can use
for our overall Implementation Plan/Annual Report.
Focus Areas LITTER WASTE WATER ENERGY BIODIVERSITY
It's time to share knowledge and actively help others as your school community continues to improve its own processes. As a 5 Star school community, you'll maintain the whole school approach, resource reduction as well as previous star requirements, collecting data and the sharing of those findings. You'll also demonstrate significant leadership in all actions of the Cleaner Greener Action Plan in each of the focus areas –LITTER, WASTE WATER, ENERGY and BIODIVERSITY. Leadership for school communities means you've become role models for your wider community and can now show others how to start their own journey.
Sustaining the practices learnt and introduced at your school is the key to becoming a 4 Star School - along with making sure your school's actions are always being shared, monitored and reviewed. This will show how your school community (including staff, students, parents and the wider community) has developed its practices and knowledge along the way. You’ll be able to complete all actions of the Cleaner Greener Action Plan in all focus areas – LITTER, WASTE, WATER, ENERGY and BIODIVERSITY will need to be targeted, while you're still maintaining the previous star requirements along with data collection, analysing data and sharing of those findings. School communities who have completed all of this have now become stewards of their environment, habitat and community.
This stage is when your school community as a whole really starts to change the way it does things day-to-day. You'll be putting further thought into planning for the Cleaner Greener Action Plan for your school. Two focus areas within the action plan will need to be targeted, while still maintaining the previous star requirements along with your data collection and sharing. 3 Star is a time to look at what else your school community can do to further transform your school and how you can improve on what you're doing. Revisit your data? Do you have an environmental management plan or a waste management policy or plan? Take on further actions in the Cleaner Greener Action Plan and additional focus areas. (It's also time to look to your community for partnerships and continue to build the profile of your school).
The next stage is for your school to discover and actively engage in finding out more about how to be a Cleaner Greener School. Questions arise - what's around you and who might be able to help you on your journey. Students are invited to take on leadership roles, to take on actionsand to investigate and explore issues. The whole school community will now be on board to support your school’s Cleaner Greener Action Plan and is introduced to one of the focus areas: LITTER, WASTE , WATER, ENERGY or BIODIVERSITY or alternatively a number of areas at once (this will vary from school to school). Data collection is important to start at this stage and can be examined by litter audits, lunch waste, paper waste, resource waste and/or water, energy and biodiversity audits. 2 Star is the time to start investigating litter and introduce a litter prevention campaign.
This is the beginning of the Cleaner Greener School accreditation journey for your school. Individuals and groups guide actions and begin to understand and identify issues related to LITTER, WASTE WATER, ENERGY and BIODIVERSITY .The school sees a need to become cleaner and greener and includes this as a focal point for the school and its planning. At this stage your school willengagingin a variety of general actions using the Cleaner Greener Action Plan keeping focus areas in mind while gathering and establishing what data you want to collect to help you get on track with your action plan. You will track your progress through litter and waste audits and by investigating resources and their recycling value, and how much money you can save by reducing ’general waste’ collection costs. 1 Star is the time to bring everyone along on the journey together.
Litter Campaign: Literature, directional and informative signage, education programs, advertisements, curriculum studies on litter, packaging minimisation, attitudes to litter, impacts and effects of litter on the environment, “Chew it, wrap it, bin it”, other anti-litter programs, Green Land Diary Cleanup 2014, Adopt A Spot (Keep Queensland Beautiful) or council programs
Litter Prevention: Adequate, appropriate, and well-placed bins; adequate collections and maintenance of infrastructure, regular school and/or community clean ups, directional and instructive signage on bins, clean school grounds, fencing or other devices to manage litter blow, litter audits, data collection, present findings in newsletter, assembly, signage
Student and Teacher Leadership Award voluntary nomination completed in Cleaner Greener Action Plan submission. Partnerships and recognition with community programs, groups, other schools, businesses, associations etc. Knowledge is provided to community, schools, groups etc through documentation, data, processes Wrigley’s Education Resource website: www.chewitbinit.com, educational resources, videos, lesson plans, activities, games and action ideas
WASTE
Management Plan:
School has a Waste Management Plan or Policy at some level. It could be created through the committee describing your waste management, a past School Environment Management Plan, or School Planning Reporting & Review Framework.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle & Recovery:
Mulching, composting & reuse of green waste, collection and recycling (electronic waste, glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium, steel, plastic, oil and other materials), energy minimisation practices/devices, water efficient practices/devices, minimise plastic bag use; adequate, well-placed and promoted recycle bins/facilities, locations and events; refuse (avoid), reduce, reuse, recycle & dispose priorities, local council programs
Food & Packaging:
Brisbane Produce Market via website: www.brisbanemarkets.com.au, online subscription to their Fresh Source magazine, register for their Kids Education Program: promotions, resources and primary school visits promoting healthy food choices and healthy lunches (zero waste), get involved with the Stephanie Alexander Garden Foundation Schools, school gardens, bottle free days, educational resources dispersed to community
Student and Teacher Leadership recognition within the community, school, businesses, groups etc, Brisbane Produce Market’s Teacher Leadership Award & Wrigley’s Student Leadership Award nomination completed within Cleaner Greener Action Plan submission. Partnerships and recognition with community programs, groups, other schools, businesses, associations etc. Knowledge is provided to community, schools, groups etc through documents, data, processes followed
WATER
Increased awareness in the whole school community about the importance of saving water including the use of student communications and promotion Effective implementation of the Water component of the School Environmental Management Plan including water audits, student-led action planning and water curriculum Minimisation or reuse of water used such as the installation of automatic shut-off taps, dual flush toilets and tanks or the use of water-efficient grounds practices such as mulching, planting locally appropriate drought-tolerant plants, efficient watering techniques, reuse water
ENERGY
Solar schools program, planning for energy / carbon reduction, education and action programs; student communications and promotion, energy audits, recognition and reward programs, energy conservation lessons, alternative energy sources
Use of relevant education and action programs such as Water: Learn it for life, AuSSi, Earth Smart Science Schools or local council programs
Educational Programs such as Greening Australia, Earth Smart Science Schools, AuSSi, Landcare, Waterwatch, Bushcare, Voluntary Conservation Agreements, Land for Wildlife Commitment, Reef Guardian, International Year of Forests; school based and/or community education programs
