SENIOR SCHOOL
One Planet Guildford
The title ‘ One Planet Guildford ’ resulted from the discovery that as a school , we consume the energy and water , and produce the waste of 14 planets – this is horrifying and unsustainable . One Planet Guildford symbolises our school ’ s sustainability drive to create a just , loving and peaceful society where we only use our share of the resources .
The Year 9 Strive elective students participated in a course called , It ’ s green for go … Greening Guildford Grammar School . This was based around the principle of sustainable development . Students looked at how the principles were applied to a mega project – the London Olympic and Paralympic Games . They then looked to see how it can be applied to Guildford Grammar School to help us engage with our school purpose . Their academic work , alongside a group of staff members over this semester , has led to some significant understanding and preparation for this year . 2021 will be a significant year for us , as we celebrate 125 years of Guildford Grammar School , we also hope it can mark a year of living sustainably .
To achieve this , staff and students realised that we need to focus on several issues . Firstly , we require a behavioural and cultural change in student and staff attitudes to our environment and how they interact with it , as well as how we consume and dispose of waste . Secondly , we reviewed the actual processes and systems that makes our school one that respects the environment .
To date , we have attended Waste Wise Schools and Clean Schools programs at the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council ( EMRC ) from which we were able to put
together a framework to progress the collection of initial data .
Year 9 students participated in a very exciting , messy and aromatic waste audit in the Senior School . We were surprised that when the data was extrapolated , we discovered that we could recycle over 8000kg of waste that currently goes to land fill . Out of this , 150,000 items were a recyclable drink container of some sort . The Containers for Change scheme could enable a $ 15,000 return on drink containers each year alone !
Currently , we are registered with two schemes , should you wish to deposit your own containers and donate the money to our school sustainability project . The Senior School scheme ID is C10301194 and the Preparatory School scheme ID is C10296479 .
To our astonishment and sadness , was the discovery that there was enough whole food thrown out in one day to feed two students . Armed with this data , the Year 9 students organised a meeting to present their findings and aspirations to key stakeholders who we could partner with to process our waste more sustainably .
Spurred on and excited , our Year 9 students , combined with Year 10 students and the help of Hannah Fay who is undertaking research for Climate Clever , completed an environmental audit of the Senior School . The point was to understand not how much we spend on electricity , waste , water and gas ( we already have this data ) but what do we use it on ? Whilst the School has invested in PV panels , we know that our consumption habits mean that renewable energy can have more of an impact . We will have the results later this term and will start to develop projects to save carbon and money .
While this has been processing in the Senior School , the Preparatory School have been similarly involved . The Year 4 classes looked at Redcycle as part of their curriculum engagement and Year 2D assisted the Year 9 Strive students in the presentation to the Preparatory School of waste awareness . We look forward to this year and the opportunities to make some significant changes in our sustainability .
Mr Mike Burbridge and Rev ’ d Barry Moss
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