Stories of Sustainability

Starting Thursday 20 August 4.00-5.00pm, Every Thursday until September 17

Stories of sustainability is a series of online professional learning webinars showcasing sustainability across the state. You’ll get to hear from a range of teachers who each have a have different perspective, different projects and different student communities.

These stories are shared to inspire, to reassure and to help you work on sustainability too!

Embedding sustainability in our schools will remain critical over the next decade. It will mean that our communities will have the skills, understanding and opportunities to thrive within the boundaries of the interdependent and dynamic systems that support all life on Earth.

Thursday 20 August 4.00-5.00pm

Future's thinking with Cyrelle Field

Future’s thinking can help us consider possible, probable and preferable futures to help support decision making and taking action. In regards to sustainability, futures thinking activities can also help identify knowledge gaps, prepare action plans, promote altruism and create a sense of hope about the future.

In this session Cyrelle will introduce you to the challenges and benefits of future’s thinking and demonstrate a participatory learning activity that can be replicated with students and your school community to encourage future’s thinking in schools.

Thursday 27 August 4.00pm-5.00pm

Paula McIntosh, Melbourne Girls College

Take out the bins

Reducing human impact on the planet and animals is key to ensuring pandemics do not occur in the future. Melbourne Girls College decided to take the bins out and involve the students in the process.

In this session Paula McIntosh will share why Melbourne Girls College decided to take out the bins and how the students were involved in the process. Find out what they did to support the move through extensive communication and education for the entire school community via the school’s wellbeing program and newsletter feeds. Paula will also share the impact of COVID 19 and how this has affected school initiatives and highlighted the absolute importance of reducing waste to landfill.

Thursday 03 September 4.00pm-5.00pm

Judith Stewart, Lowanna College

The wonders of wicking beds

Productive gardens are an asset to a school community and a great, living, learning space. They work best when the students are involved across all the seasons.

In session, Judith will share how the 40m2 wicking garden system was established at Lowanna College that includes an orchard, a butterfly garden and a growing indigenous food garden. The wicking garden system offers a 50% improvement on water efficiency and one square metre of planting space for each week of the school year, allowing students to plant vegetables on a seasonal basis. Learn about crop rotation techniques and companion planting, as well as vermiculture, and composting.

Stories of Sustainability is part of the Education for Sustainability Starts with Teachers project.

This project is funded by the Department of Education and Training's Strategic Partnerships Program (SPP).