St Thomas Primary School celebrates 5-Star accolade

ST THOMAS Primary School Drysdale was recently certified as a 5-Star ResourceSmart School.

This is not bad for a school that, only 20 years ago, was an empty paddock.

Anyone who has the pleasure of visiting the school today will witness a school that has transformed a blank space to one of natural beauty and rich in biodiversity.

St Thomas has large areas for their students to play in, as well as wetlands, a creek bed, blue-gum forest, vegetable gardens for each year level, sheep and chooks.

Native birds (including ibis, swamp hens and native ducks) are attracted to their dam and indigenous plants, and happily wander the school’s grounds.

The environment is important to all members of the school community, and this is a school that models what the ResourceSmart School program is all about.

ResourceSmart Schools is an award-winning state government program managed by Sustainability Victoria that has engaged more than 1,300 government, Catholic and independent schools across Victoria since 2008.

The program assists schools to embed sustainability in everything they do, encourages real-life sustainability learning and helps schools save money.

The Farmer’s Place is the delivery partner for ResourceSmart Schools for the Barwon South West Region.

The facilitators who have worked with St Thomas over the past five years are incredibly proud, and recognise the enormous effort and dedication required by staff, parents and students who chose to take on the challenge and take action.

A formal presentation to celebrate St Thomas’ achievement was held last Monday.