The school year has commenced and our plans are forming for the coming year. We have two Sustainability Staff Leaders this year, myself and Emily Aherne.

Student Leaders

We have met with our Year 12 Environmental Action Leaders to discuss our key focus which will be biodiversity. Sienna Hoult and Emma Allen have some exciting ideas and are looking forward to setting up the team, including leaders from each year level.

Year 8 Foreshore Program

The Year 8 Foreshore program will begin shortly and applications will be called for next week. This program allows up to 20 students to work with the Kingston Council Foreshore crew over six sessions in an area of the Mentone Foreshore. Students learn about the coastal ecosystem and practice skills in revegetation and care for the habitat. It is rewarding to see the successful work from previous years along the Foreshore.

Planting the Seed Project

Another project involving caring for the Foreshore is the Planting the Seed Project involving the Year 9 Environmental Science students. This collaboration with Ecology and Restoration Australia (https://eraus.com.au/index.php/planting-the-seed-program/) involves our school revegetating a designated area of degraded council land. We received grants from Junior Landcare and the Port Phillip Bay Fund to support this project.

Last year, we collected cuttings from local Indigenous plants and this year’s class will be propagating seeds and more cuttings in a couple of weeks, before our major planting day in April.

We look forward to sharing our news from these and other projects including work in our vegetable garden.

Sarah Avitabile
Sustainability Leader