The Sustainability Project has been an exciting opportunity for 20 of our Year 10 students throughout Terms 2, 3 and 4 of 2023.

In this project, students have been guided through a design-thinking process across many half and full day workshops to improve the indoor environmental quality and active use of the school library.

Specific activities that the students have engaged in includes:

• learning from experts in masterclasses on sustainability, data collection and presentation, design thinking, communication, and digital media production. This involved staff from the school and a local council representative as well as former staff members presenting information to the students through detailed presentations and case studies.

• designing a product or process to improve the environmental quality of the school library using sustainable solutions. One of the key goals of this was to ensure the library would be a space more likely to be used by students into the future. The students achieved this by working in groups of 4 and collaborating effectively to develop and design their sustainable solutions.
  

• testing their design ideas with a real audience and using their findings to improve their solution. Each group were responsible for designing and implementing a survey for members of the school community to assess needs required to make a positive change.

• recording and scripting a self-directed 'pitch' video in the library’s new recording studio space, under expert guidance from a professional videographer. This video would be used to present each groups ideas to the student body and staff alike.

• presenting their solution to all students and staff in the school to express the changes they wanted to implement in the library, explaining 'why, who, how, when and where' this would take place. The students explained throughout this process how they wanted to make the library a more sustainable and actively used space.

The successful team built an indoor garden and silent reading area in the library that will hopefully increase air quality and provide a calm and relaxing green space to promote mental and physical health. 

Congratulations to Mr. Andrew Peckham, who skillfully led this project and guided students through the entire process.

Andrew Walsh I Head Teacher Teaching and Learning