Well what a wonderful day, with over 270 students attending and some 35 teachers taking part in the day. RCE Gippsland is very grateful for Gippsland Grammar School’s St Anne’s Campusfor hosting the event, and for support from the Gippsland Climate Change Network, Gippsland Water and the Wellington Shire Council.

The RCE Board, made up of individuals from organisations such as Latrobe City; Federation University; Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning; Gippsland Waste & Resource Recovery Group; Wellington Shire; Catholic Education and support from Volunteers was very pleased with the outcomes. We have received good feedback and will use that for our next event.

Mark Yeowell- Head of Junior School – St Anne’s

Wellington Shire stall

The Expo had plenty of activities for students to get their hands on and in; from making blue banded bee homes to looking for water macro-invertebrates. Students also got to learn about indigenous lifestyles, composting and worm farms, energy use and generation, recycling, water in the environment and lots more.

searching for Macro- invertebrates

Macro-invertebrate under a microscope

They all came together to hear stories of sustainability and to share knowledge from school to school. Students got to interact with each other and share their personal experiences with practicing sustainability in their own schools.

Supported by many individuals and organisations, this was the second Sustainable Schools Expo that RCE Gippsland has organised.  After the first expo, we asked participating schools how to do things better and this is what we came up with: ideas to support the already existing work that is going on, to give kids hands on  experiences and a place to share and transfer knowledge.  The schools do not have many chances to gather around a particular topic. We provided the setting, topic leaders and time for them to come together, share and Learn.

This day would not have been as successful as it was without the help from Will Tait, from Planet Enterprises, with his expertise in conveying the message in context. Will spoke about the kids having a messy room concept and that they need to tell their parents to come and help clean up the mess- the room being planet earth and the mess being all the pollution, rubbish co2 etc that we have put into it.

The kids were engaged all day- with a good balance of activity and listening.