Surfside Primary School is part of the ResourceSmart Schools program which is an is an award-winning Victorian Government program that assists schools to embed sustainability in everything they do.
The ResourceSmart Schools program provides practical support to schools to reduce resource use, make cost savings, integrate sustainability into the curriculum and share learnings beyond the school gate.
Since 2008, more than 1,400 schools have participated in the program. Together, they have:
- saved more than $41 million on bills
- planted 5,271,038 trees
- saved more than 118,000 tonnes CO2e greenhouse gas emissions
- diverted 194,000 cubic metres of waste from landfill
- saved 1,884,783 kilolitres of water.
The program features the following:
Facilitation and support
Sustainability experts support schools on their journey to embed sustainability into operations and provide support on how to measure and track their school’s progress. The service is free and open to every Victorian school.
Recognition
Schools can receive Sustainability Certification and can enter the ResourceSmart Schools Awards to be recognised and rewarded for school activities and achievements.
Savings
Schools learn to operate more sustainably; reducing costs to save on electricity, water and waste bills – and greenhouse gas emissions to minimise their impact on the environment.
Flexibility
Schools work through the ResourceSmart Schools program and create a unique environmental management system tailored to their needs.
Curriculum
Schools are assisted to embed sustainability into all learning areas and levels of the Victorian curriculum.
Star progression
The ResourceSmart Schools program recognises and rewards schools through Sustainability Certification.
Stars are obtained through completion of Modules and meeting benchmarks for resource use and are valid for four years.
Schools can progress from one Star up to 5 Stars and move towards becoming a Leadership School. Each of the 5 Stars has specific requirements for completion. Schools are required to complete additional actions in the Modules and to meet and maintain resource benchmarks.
Find out more about star progression
Find out more about ResourceSmart School modules
Sustainability at Surfside
The ResourceSmart program is supported at Surfside through the following initiatives:
Education components in classrooms
Waste reduction in and out of the classroom – recycling focus across multiple areas
Food Scrap Friday
Kitchen and Garden program
Energy reduction through the solar in school program
Biodiversity and ecosystem focus
Native planting and water waste reduction