ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Robert Magner & Natalie O'Keefe | Loreto Kirribilli Sustainability Champions

Pope Francis in his second encyclical Laudato Si’ - On care for our common home, calls for urgent action to protect our beautiful planet. This year also marks the bicentenary of Mother Frances Teresa Mary Ball, with Loreto Sisters worldwide launching the Bicentenary Jubilee Ecology Project, inviting each province to undertake a significant environmental project.

Informed by these global initiatives, one of the significant projects in Loreto Kirribilli’s 2022 Strategic Plan is the development of an Environmental Sustainability Framework.

The framework will address the material topics of biodiversity, energy efficiency, carbon management, climate risk, food, transport, waste management, construction and refurbishment. Three student leaders have joined Board members and Executive, parent and staff representatives on our Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee. This collaboration provides our students with a unique opportunity to advocate at Board level.

Whilst work on the framework is underway, Loreto Kirribilli continues to implement sustainability initiatives, focusing on energy generation and consumption; waste and plastics reduction; and local environment improvement. The school has installed solar panels and rainwater tanks in the Junior School, converted to energy efficient LED lighting throughout the school buildings, and upgraded hundreds of windows to improve fresh air and natural ventilation. A vegetable garden has been established which provides fresh produce for use in the Canteen. In every corner of our campus we are finding ways to reduce, regenerate, reuse, and recycle. At our Senior School End of Year Awards Ceremony ex-student Ann Austin ('85), Head of Sustainability at Lendlease, inspired us with her address on the role we can all play in a sustainable future.

The design and construction of our campus’ newest building, the Innovation Centre, now known as Spiritus, is informed by green principles, from the sun-efficient design of the facade, to the futureproofed flexible design of its interiors, with energy-efficient lighting, innovative mechanically-assisted natural ventilation air circulation, and rainwater collection and reuse. These green principles are now incorporated into the school’s Master Plan for future projects.

The curriculum in both the Junior and Senior schools includes sustainability-themed project work across different subject areas.

Our Student Leaders have made a commitment to inspire our school community towards effective, realistic and meaningful targets. They are also extending their reach by lobbying Federal Members of Parliament in areas regarding environmental stewardship. Environmental sustainability is not just an ambitious goal, but a day-to-day commitment from students, staff and parents alike.

Read more on our website loreto.nsw.edu.au/sustainability

We are in what will be written up in future history books as the Green Revolution. The world is absolutely changing.