Taking the lead from our students

Jonathan Walter, Principal

Our impact on and relationship with the environment has become an important theme for our students. The current generations in our school, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Gen Alpha (2013–2025), are expressing real concern for the future. They are finding their voice and challenging us all to do better and seeking the opportunity to learn more about how we will meet the challenges of the future.

We’re also seeing that these concerns are supported by current research. The recently released Australia State of the Environment 2021 report identifies a ‘rapidly changing climate with unsustainable development and use of resources’. It describes the state of the environment of Australia as ‘poor and deteriorating as a result of increased pressure from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and resources extraction’.

The CSIRO’s ‘Our Future World’, July 2022, echoes these concerns. These headlines instil a sense of fear, especially for our students who are wondering just what kind of earth they will inherit.

As such, education has a key role to play in building hope and optimism about the future and showing our students that there are solutions to some of the challenges we face. Action can be taken to respond to the state of our environment.

Education has a key role to play in building hope and optimism about the future and showing our students that there are solutions to some of the challenges we face. Action can be taken to respond to the state of our environment.

How is Carey helping?

It is critical to develop opportunities for students, and the community more broadly, to effect change now.

Sustainability was one of the strong themes which emerged from the feedback received through the community inquiry we undertook throughout 2021. The report was released to the community last term. In response, this year we have undertaken a series of sustainability workshops to assess our impact as a school from an environmental perspective, including an audit of our usage and opportunities for change. We are gathering baseline data to be able to track improvements in the future, and we plan to share this journey with our students. Already, with the development of new facilities, there has been a significant reduction in power consumption because of better building management systems and more efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems.

One of our next projects is to make Toonallook an example solar energy site with the installation of solar technology to meet the power needs of the campus.

Our students also identified the issue of waste around our school and we are keen to address that. Our student Environmental Group has swelled in recent months and we look forward to harnessing their energy to tackle this and many more challenges before us.

Following the findings of our audit, we look forward to developing a plan with the support of our students which will lead us towards our ultimate ambition of becoming a carbon neutral school.

Wallaman Falls, a picturesque site visited by students on the recent Zero Program pilot experience.

The Zero Program

We have a variety of programs running throughout the School that provide opportunities to connect with the environment, build our understanding of our dependence upon it, develop a relationship with it and ultimately respond to some of the challenges we face. This starts with our Year 3 and 4 environmental programs and is supported by the extensive Outdoor Education offering and programs in the Middle School which see our students explore various land uses across our state. They provide a wonderful foundation of experiences which connect our young people to the natural world and develop an understanding of their place in it. This year, we have developed a further experience to be run in future with our Year 10s called the Zero Program.

Our Zero Program is a journey into Far North Queensland. The program extends and expands on student experiences in our existing Outdoor Education and co-curricular programs in Junior and Middle School and provides a culminating experience for our students. Students will learn and work on the Great Barrier Reef, at Mount Zero on a wilderness sanctuary run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) in partnership with Mungala Station and the Nywaigi community. It is an extended journey into some of northern Australia’s most pristine coastal and hinterland environments where our students play an active role in research and conservation work on the Reef and at Mount Zero, in support of AWC’s goal to re-wild areas of the Australian landscape to preserve some of Australia’s most critically endangered mammals.

Read more

A pilot Zero Program was run for this year for a group of 42 students. I encourage you to read the ’Find your place’ article on page 6 which details their experience as trailblazers and co-creators of the program. We look forward to developing it further in 2023 and offering it to all students in Year 10 from 2024 onwards.

Throughout this edition of Torch, you will also read about how each school section has integrated education about the environment and our responsibility to it. This education is powerfully reinforced and demonstrated in Outdoor Education (page 12), and Junior School students learn about caring for the earth from a young age (pages 10 and 14). On page 4, Julie Harris-Wetherbee, our Program Leader – Experiential Learning and Sustainable Practices, explains how the School’s strategic directions have been built around sustainability.