St Mary’s Primary School kicking goals for the environment

By Meg Saultry

Nov 11, 2021

Superb effort: St Mary’s sustainibility co-ordinator Terrina Phelan and students Will Aitken, Charlie Sutton, Ned Kilborn, and Paddy Oliver were ecstatic to receive the goal kicking award and associated prizes from ResourceSmart Schools facilitator Robyn MacLean. Photo: Steve Huntley Photo by steve Huntley.

St Mary’s Primary School students are kicking goals when it comes to environmental sustainability work.

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The school has claimed top prize in ResourceSmart Loddon Mallee’s Sustainability Goal Kicking competition, which ran throughout Term Three of the school year.

The competition involved striving towards three sustainability-related goals each week throughout the term, with goals relating to actions in the ResourceSmart Schools sustainability framework.

Earning the top title, St Mary’s Primary wins wicking beds from Biofilta, nesting boxes made by Marong Men's Shed and a year's worth of seeds donated by Mr Fothergill Seeds.

St Mary’s’ sustainability co-ordinator Terrina Phelan said the school was thrilled to take out the competition.

“The prizes are fabulous but more importantly the competition gave us the opportunity to share with the school community the many components of sustainability we are striving to improve at St Mary’s,” Ms Phelan said.

“The main focus was improving biodiversity but there were also goals that needed to be kicked for waste, energy and water.

“We have our school community very much on board and amazing support from the wider community. It was also fantastic to see what other schools were doing and learn from them.”

ResourceSmart Schools facilitator Robyn MacLean said the team at St Mary's Primary School was leading the way in Echuca with regards to embedding sustainability and environmental education into the fabric of their school.

“This is vital as we know that our young people need to understand environmental and sustainability issues and, most importantly, know how to respond to them,” Ms MacLean said.

Ms Phelan and St Mary’s students were presented with the award by Ms MacLean at a school assembly on Tuesday, though in a sign of the times, the assembly was part in-person and part virtual, with several classes listening in via Zoom.