Over the past 3 Terms, Penola has embarked on a Sustainability journey. Riley and Max, our Captains of Sustainability have worked tirelessly to institute change and educate both staff and students along the way. Below is a recap of all that was achieved in 2025.

Term 1

• The institution of a weekly gardening club focusing on weeding,
• Purchasing and institution of compost bins in staffrooms and food technology rooms which will be emptied in compost bays that were designed and made by Gareth Henderson, our Sustainability coordinator
• Gareth was also responsible for designing our new can and bottle cage. This was introduced in term 1 to the Penola community and was used at both the Junior and Senior campuses
• Streamlined our waste management - installing large skips for paper/recycling, green/garden waste and common recycling which has significantly reduced the amount going to landfill and ensuring waste goes to the right place

Term 2

• Our Captains along with Tiana S. promoted the recycling of cans and bottles fortnightly during their lunch break, distributing snack size kit kat’s as an incentive to donate
• Gardening club did a lot this term! Growing vegetables, planting fruit trees and designing the landscaping of flower beds outside the Lois Kennedy building
• Regular audits of classrooms at the beginning of each day were completed by Mr Del Waller who joined the sustainability team to educate both staff and students about resource wastage – Thank you Del!
• CDS Vic School Champions event at Ceres in Brunswick attended by Sustainability captains and our student ambassadors from the Junior campus where students learnt about the Container deposit scheme, circular waste systems, and building confidence in advocacy and action planning
• Reengaged with the Resource Smart School program- run through the state government and CERES- to help the school reach their sustainability goals.

Term 3

• Posters were produced by one of our school captains, Katia A, reminding staff and students to turn off lights, heaters etc at the end of every lesson and these were laminated and placed in every classroom across the Junior and Senior campuses
• Harvesting of the vegetables from the Vegetable patch – plans in place to donated future produce to the community underway
• A competition is currently being held where students will have a chance to win a Coles Myer voucher if they guess the amount of cans/ bottles in the recycling cage. This will run at lunch times on September 2 and 9 along with further collection of cans and bottles. The winner will be announced at the Leadership handover assembly on Friday 12.
• Planting native plants in garden beds in front of Lois Kennedy building is to be completed on Monday 1 September.
• On 11 September, primary school students have been invited to the Senior campus to participate in a range of activities held by our student leaders with each holding their own activities. Riley and Max will run a colouring competition, multiple choice quiz, “Guess what is recycled” game and opportunities for students to pot their own plants to take with them.

This year has been an incredibly productive and fulfilling year and we couldn’t have done all that we did without the tireless efforts of Gareth, our Gardening club members, Del and most importantly our Captains of Sustainability Riley and Max. Thank you for contributions this year and for laying the foundation for future projects. We wish Riley and Max the very best as they embark on their year 12 exams.

Ms Leanne Attard
Sustainability portfolio advocate