St Therese celebrates being a ResourceSmart star

ST THERESE Catholic Primary School has celebrated its top-class sustainability, holding a special assembly on Tuesday to mark its recertification as a five-star ResourceSmart School.

Of the 2,500 schools in Victora, about 1,000 of them are participating in the ResourceSmart program, which helps schools to minimise waste, save energy and water, promote biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

ResourceSmart Schools co-ordinator and The Farmer’s Place education co-ordinator James McLennan said that of those 1,000 schools in the scheme, only 24 had gained the highest rating of five stars, putting St Therese among the top one per cent of all Victorian schools.

At the assembly, Barwon Water education officer Fernando Garcia also revealed the school had several placegetters in Barwon Water’s poster competition for primary school pupils during National Water Week. They were:

• Foundation – 1st Willow Gross, 2nd Alice Walsh
• Grades 3 and 4 – 2nd Molly Callahan
• Grades 5 and 6 – 2nd Bella O’Dwyer, 3rd Asha McMahon

As a category winner, Willow won $500 for St Therese.

Surf Coast Shire mayor Brian McKiterick and councillors Martin Duke and Carol McGregor were also at the assembly, along with representatives from Sustainability Victoria and Catholic Education Melbourne.

In September, St Therese was named as a finalist in the Biodiversity School of the Year (Primary) in the 2017 ResourceSmart School Awards.