A Student-Centred Approach to
Whole School Sustainability Transformation

Many schools aspire to the ideal of a sustainable campus but live with the reality of older buildings that weren't designed to the highest environmental standards. But there are multiple ways to improve the environmental performance of a campus, from energy efficient appliances to redesign retrofits, low-impact cleaning materials and green landscaping - and they're all a source of learning opportunities to supplement what's taught in the classroom.

To develop eco-literate students with the capacity to create and lead a sustainable society, we must do more than teach about sustainability, we must equip them with the skills and competencies to tackle real-world environmental challenges. A comprehensive experiential eco-literacy curriculum is embedded in the campus and everything the school does, from the way the buildings are designed, to the type of food served in the canteen and how decisions are made. There's material here for every subject and every grade level.

Sustainability is a community practice - it depends on a network of relationships inside and outside the school, relationships which require effective collaboration and cooperative decision-making to maintain.

These skills are among those the students will need to tackle our many environmental challenges. The road to becoming a sustainable school, therefore, offers many opportunities for staff and students to model and learn these skills.

Sustainable schools have a culture of sustainability. They do more than teach sustainability and model it in certain ways, their commitment to it is reflected in their mission and values, they integrate it into their governance and operations, including: long-term strategy, policy, decision-making, target-setting, partnerships with suppliers and daily practices, and they continuously engage a wide range of students, parents, staff and members of the external community in sustainabliity initiatives.

Sustainable schools understand the fundamental role of communication in supporting the other 4Cs and embedding sustainability in the ethos culture and everyday practises of the school community. Sustainable schools develop communication strategies, dialogues and narratives that facilitate and enrich their sustainability journey.