Tinana State School has been part of the Queensland Sustainable Schools program since 2009. This program aims to support schools, their partners and the community in realising a positive environmental vision for their school. The first two core modules include the School Environmental Management Plan (SEMP) Builder and the Resource Use and Monitoring Tool which can be found on the Sustainable Schools website.
Our SEMP aims to integrate environmental education and action for sustainability into all aspects of our activities, including the classroom, the tuckshop, school grounds, travel to and from school, the office and resource centre.
As a sustainable school we hope to engage our whole community by adopting an engaging, practical and relevant way of learning and working together.
Sustainable Schools – Plan, Act, Review
We believe that a successful sustainable school requires a structured approach. At Tinana State School we have elected to take a ‘plan’, ‘act’ and ‘review’ approach.
Our Plan – whole school approach to embedding sustainability
At Tinana, through this structured approach, we have:
consulted our students and community through visioning activities
established an environment team
used the Schools Environmental Management Planning builder tool
encouraged curriculum links for environmental education for sustainability activities and investigations for students.
The School Environmental Management Plan has enabled the development of action plans for Tinana State School across five focus areas: curriculum, teaching and learning, resource management, school grounds, whole-school planning and school community participation.
Our Actions - supporting sustainability teaching and learning
Since 2009 our actions have been implemented according to the School Environmental Management Plan (SEMP).
See the latest report here.
Our Review – measuring, recording and celebrating our achievements
The SEMP has been integrated into our school's annual planning process, assisting us to record and describe our sustainability achievements.
The SEMP action plans include reporting descriptions, indicators of success and the time-frames for review. This SEMP development process has provided a focus for our school to celebrate before beginning a new planning cycle.
The sustainability achievements of Tinana State School have been linked to the wider community through the SEMP, including celebration and communication of important milestones for the school.
Robyn Yates - Earth Smart Science Key Teacher.