2023 Climate Choices Schools Award Winners

The Awards celebrate excellence across the Sustainable Schools Program focus areas of:

• biodiversity
• energy
• waste
• water
• curriculum integration.

Congratulations to all winners, highly commended and nominees of this year’s awards. Together you are helping to create our climate-ready city.

On 1 December 2023, 11 awards were presented across seven award categories.

Student Leadership Award (Primary) – Yuna Rougeaux

Yuna is a Year 5 student at Telopea Park School. She has been involved in sustainability at Telopea for several years. Yuna demonstrates her commitment to sustainability in many ways. She mentors younger students and regularly helps to maintain the school garden. Yuna has creative ideas for fundraising. She also organises events like ‘Zero waste in your lunch box’ day. Yuna was elected by her peers to be an Eco-Delegate for Telopea Park School. Yuna's commitment to sustainability is widely recognised. She has also received a Highly Commended prize by the Order of Australia!

Student Leadership Award (Secondary) – Matilda Ross

Matilda is the Sustainability Captain leading the student-run Sustainability at Merici (SAM) team. She has organised or supported a range of projects across the school. These include:

• Ride2School Day the Biodiversity Restoration project
• World Bee Day
• the Sw(op) shop
• Earth Hour
• World Environment Day
• Energy Use Awareness
• the Pallet Garden refresh.

Matilda models sustainable choices and inspires younger students. Her work ensures ongoing sustainability and climate action initiatives at Merici College.

Staff Leadership Award (Primary) – Catherine Fellows

Catherine is a teacher at Taylor Primary School who shows leadership and responsibility. She empowers students to take ownership of sustainability initiatives. Her passion for sustainability is evident in all that she does. Her actions to improve the school's sustainability are a testament to her dedication. Catherine established a comprehensive recycling program and a worm far. She also secured a community garden grant with the school P&C and runs a Garden Club. Catherine educates students, staff, and the entire school community on sustainability whenever possible.

Staff Leadership Award (Primary) – Emma Potter

Emma has influenced the sustainability habits of the entire Canberra Grammar School. She helps communities and businesses to improve waste management and other sustainability initiatives. Emma also helped set up the Green Team. This team leads and supports the wider school community with ongoing sustainability practices. She also created a sustainability policy for the school. This policy has helped to embed the sustainability cross-curriculum priority and circular economy principles into the everyday lives of the Canberra Grammar School community.

Team Leadership Award (Primary) – Franklin School Student Parliament

The Sustainability Ministers at Franklin School help reduce food waste from entering landfill. They do this through research, collaboration, teamwork, and being solutions focused. They take a whole school community approach. This includes working with the Early Learning Centre and local sustainability organisations. They educate their peers on composting and how to use a worm farm to show a circular economy.

Team Leadership Award (Secondary) – Canberra College Sustainability Action Group

The Canberra College Sustainability Action Group is creating long-lasting change at Canberra College. This year they introduced and encouraged better use of the new waste management system. The group developed a Canberra College Sustainability Action Plan. They also organised sustainability initiatives across the school. These included:

• an annual Environment Fortnight
• “Wear it green day”
• clothes and book swap stalls
• walk or ride to school days
• tree planting ceremonies
• electric vehicle displays.

Sustainable Project Award (Primary) – Birdlife Australia Habitat

Majura Primary School established a partnership with Birdlife Australia. The partnership focuses how the school community can support local bird species. Students planted ground cover grasses and canopy trees. This helps species like Willy Wagtails and the Scarlet Robin and Superb Parrot. Students learned about the importance of maintaining green spaces in urban areas.

Sustainable Project Award (Secondary) – Indigenous Garden

The Indigenous Garden project at Canberra High School is student-led. It's an excellent example of collaboration with and learning from local Indigenous community. Students led the design and planting of a range of local plants and trees. They learned about traditional plant use and sustainable garden design. The previous garden was water intensive, dominated by exotic plants, and lacked biodiversity. This shows how Canberra High School empowers students to be leaders in sustainability.

Energy Transformer Award – The Woden School

The Woden School is transitioning away from gas to become more energy efficient. They are paving the way for ACT schools to make the energy transition. The school has invested in renewable energy sources. It generates clean energy using solar panels and solar hot water systems. Switching to battery-powered maintenance equipment has also led to significant emissions reductions. The Woden School has embedded data collection and audit processes. This allows them to identify energy usage patterns and inefficiencies. The school is a wonderful model for sustainable practices in the Canberra community.

Leaps and Bounds Award – MacGregor Primary School

Corey is a passionate and dedicated Youth Support Worker at Macgregor Primary School. He has been instrumental in making the school a better and more sustainable place. Corey coordinates the weekly Green Team meetings. These meetings support student learning and wellbeing and improve the school grounds. This year, students who volunteered with the Green Team had many learning opportunities. They propagated and cared for plants and built gardens. They also protected tree roots and cleaned up the school by collecting litter and leaves. By being part of the Green Team, students help the community and build life skills. These include learning how to cook with produce from the school’s Eco Garden.

School of the Year Award – Radford College

Radford College has demonstrated sustainability leadership excellence in the Canberra school community. Sustainability is woven into the fabric of their school curriculum. The school employs a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach, ensuring holistic integration. Embracing a comprehensive approach to sustainability has yielded transformative outcomes. These are marked by cohesiveness, awareness, and collaborative engagement across the school community. A strategic but challenging roadmap has been charted. It outlines essential milestones for the coming years across school infrastructure and operations. It focuses on the areas of biodiversity, energy, waste, and water. The Sustainability Working group at Radford has developed a School Environment Management Plan. The working group meets twice a term. The College has also developed a sustainability website. This means they share their progress with the wider school community.