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School programs on sustainability and the environment

About

  • This page has information on environmental and sustainability programs and resources for schools and early learning centres in Cardinia Shire.
  • It includes a number of free and paid incursions and excursions, programs and lesson plans. 

Free incursions and excursions

Waste incursions

  • Bookings can now be made with Council’s waste incursion provider Gould League. For more info and to book, visit the Gould League website and complete the booking request form.

Environment excursion

  • The Gould League is an independent not-for-profit organisation in Victoria delivering environment and sustainability education
  • The Peri-Urban Weed Management Partnership (funded by the Victorian Government) supports the Gould League to deliver Victorian Government curriculum-based excursions for Years 1-8 in the Beaconsfield Flora and Fauna reserve.
  • Topics covered: living connections in Cardinia, natural links in Cardinia, water in the world and place, space and interconnection of the reserve and wetlands
  • Schools can book directly with the Gould League

Paid incursions and excursions

Visit these websites for more information. 

Environment excursions 

  • PrimeSci is Swinburne University of Technology's science partner for Victotrian schools
  • Council and PrimeSci have joined together to offer a range of F-Year 10 excursion program at Deep Creek Reserve in Pakenham.
  • The programs are based around the themes of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathmatics), environment and sustainability.

For more information and bookings contact PrimSci.

Free programs

Garbage Guts Education

We are supporting a limited number of local pre-school and primary schools with subscriptions to Garbage Guts Education. 

Garbage Guts Education is a program that teaches pre-school and primary school aged children to put their waste in the right bins, through a series of short animated videos featuring waste munching monsters. 

To register your school's interest, go to the Garbage Guts in Cardinia website

ResourceSmart Schools 

A free, award-winning program offered by Sustainability Victoria to help schools embed sustainable practices, saving resources and money for the school. 
More info: Sustainability Victoria  

Clean up Australia  

  • Inspiring students to learn about the impact of rubbish on their local environment while playing an active role in the community. 
  • Offers free resources including gloves and bags for litter collection clean-up events.
  • Council can assist by disposing of litter you collect. Email the Waste Team at mail@cardinia.vic.gov.au at least 2 weeks before your clean up event. 

More info and to register your event: Clean up Australia 

Terracycle 

  • Schools and kindergartens can become collection points for items that are usually not recyclable or are hard to recycle. 
  • A range of free collections are available, and some will reward sites for their efforts. 
    More info:     Terracycle  

Planet Ark  

A range of programs and resources, including printer cartridge recycling, Schools Tree Day and National Recycling Week. 
More info: Planet Ark

Free downloadables

Free lesson plans

Gardens for wildlife - lesson plans

Council has worked with the Gould League to develop a set of Victorian Curriculum based lesson plans and factsheets suitable for level 3 and 4 as a resource for teachers

Download lesson plans

Thousands of free curriculum-linked resources and lessons plans on a huge range of sustainability topics. 

Related pages