At St Simon Peter, we are committed to a sustainable future. Sustainability is a cross curriculum priority and it is taught through our intentional integrated teachings in the classroom which is supported by our daily practices. By teaching students ways to support and save the environment, students are given the knowledge to be lifelong learners, where they can apply these teachings by educating their families, their community and future generations.

Sustainability Centre

The School’s Sustainability Centre was established to meet the needs of the curriculum and to support students’ learning around sustainable practices. It contains a thriving garden, a chicken coop, compost bins and a worm farm. Each week the Year Five students come to the garden during their lunch break to assist with gardening, feeding the chickens and aerating the compost bins.

Nude for Food

Nude for Food has been an ongoing initiative at SSP for many years. Nude for Food is food that is not wrapped in foil, plastic or commercial packaging. The best type of Nude for Food consists mainly of fresh food which is healthy and nutritious plus environmentally friendly. Promoting Nude for Food empowers students to make conscious choices about what they eat and encourages them to think about their impact on the environment and their health. This initiative does not only benefit our school’s waste but by purchasing food in larger quantities and adding small portions to lunch boxes daily, you are reducing your rubbish at home and saving money. At each assembly, The Golden Lunch Box is presented to the class which has the highest percentage of Nude for Food lunch boxes. If you are after some inspiration for healthy Nude for Food lunch boxes, head to Pinterest or Facebook pages such as 'School Lunch Box’ which have plenty of ideas.

Recycling Centres

St Simon Peter has three recycling centres around the school. We collect batteries, ring pulls, bread tags and bottle caps. The staff room has a more extensive recycling centre where the staff can donate additional items such as coffee pods and stationery. These are collected and sent off to companies to be recycled or disposed of correctly.

School Waste System

At SSP our waste system reflects the City of Joondalup’s waste model. Every classroom is supplied with a recycling and general waste bin with clear labels and pictures to support all children, including those students who are unable to read yet. In addition, there are three buckets that sit next to the bins in the courtyard which allow children to sort their waste further into compost, Containers for Change and soft plastics.

As of 2021, the school recognised the importance and need for student Sustainability Leaders. These four appointed Year Six leaders assist daily with sorting our compost, Containers for Change and soft plastic buckets. Our compost scraps alone save over one tone of rubbish from landfill yearly.

Containers for Change

SSP has their own Containers for Change bins which are located outside the Sustainability Centre. If you wish to bring in your own containers to receive your refund, place your containers in a bag with your scheme ID attached.

Please note the eligible containers are aluminium cans, glass bottles and plastic/water bottles.

Crunch and Sip

All classes from Pre-Primary to Year Six participate in Crunch and Sip. Crunch and Sip is a break that provides an opportunity for children to drink water and eat an extra serve of vegetables or fruit to support good health and to help with learning and concentration in the classroom. In 2021, SSP became a registered Crunch and Sip school.

Integrated Sustainable Teachings

Sustainability is a cross-curricular priority of the SCSA curriculum. To compliment our sustainable teachings in the classrooms, each class participates in a fun and engaging incursion annually. The incursion complements the teachings of our waste systems at school as it teaches children using our infrastructure to reinforce our rubbish sorting.

Each year the Pre-Primary teachers complete the Egg Hatching Program which is approved through CEWA’s Animal Ethics Committee. The excitement and joy of watching hatchlings crack out of an egg is an experience you can’t teach! Students from all year levels enjoy coming into the Pre-Primary classrooms and watching this experience happen. The adult chickens in our chicken coop at the Sustainability Centre are the chicks we hatched from eggs as part of this program in 2018.

Sustainability teaching happens frequently at SSP as it compliments the teachings of Biological Science. In addition, teachers have shown ways to teach sustainability through projects such as art competitions, growing and harvesting plants, cooking with the garden’s produce, animal inquiries, writing topics and so much more.

SSP is accredited as a Waste Wise School. This allows the school to be eligible for grants. SSP has been fortunate enough to receive grants from Waste Sorted Schools and Woolworths Landcare Grants. In addition, SSP has received generous donations from Bunnings in Joondalup. We use this money and these donations to update our infrastructure to further support our sustainable teachings.

Our Staff Sustainability Team meets frequently to discuss our sustainable teachings and initiatives at SSP. We participate in online learning, organising waste audits, researching the school’s budget on waste collection and creating a school waste statement. In addition, members of the team attend professional development courses and engage with professional teaching networks to benefit the school’s practices. The team is passionate about sustainability and are always looking for new practices and ways to improve our sustainable teachings and initiatives at SSP.