Sustainability at Frankston High School


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At Frankston High School sustainability is something we strive to achieve. Our values of empathy, integrity, optimism, persistence, respect and responsibility are certainly intertwined with sustainability to a significant degree. We particularly understand that not moving to becoming more sustainable will have an extremely detrimental impact on our students’ futures.

To help secure students’ futures, our school has a sustainability policy that requires audits of our systems, asks staff to consider sustainable procurement, encourages sustainability aspects to be covered across the curriculum and pushes for ongoing development of school sustainability practices.

On the 7-10 Campus we have a 100,000 litre water tank that provides water to our school oval and to student toilets. We also have LED lighting and sensors in most Junior School classrooms, enabling us to save a lot on electricity costs and to cut our emissions. The school booklist has a lot of mandated recycled products added to it in the interests of promoting a recycling culture. There are many other efforts that are in place, ongoing and being developed.

One of our biggest assets is the school’s student based Eco Team. They meet weekly in an effort to, among other things, discuss environmental issues, raise awareness in and outside of the school community, and support each other. They are always happy to welcome new members who are passionate about ‘being the change they would like to see in the world’. The team’s current focuses are micro-plastics and marine debris, reducing the school’s impact on the environment and educating students in and outside of Frankston High School.

Interested in joining our Eco Team?

Contact the school’s Sustainability Coordinator

Mr Brendan McKinnon    bmckinnon@fhs.vic.edu.au

SUSTAINABLE SUNDAY WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Read our school Sustainability Policy

SWEP (Schools Water Efficiency Program)

Frankston High School is also proud to be partnered with SWEP. This enables us to keep precise track of our water use. The program is accurate enough to help us locate leaks and to monitor the water being withdrawn from our 100,000 litre rainwater tank.
More information is available at http://www.myswep.com.au/

The school is always trying to become more energy efficient. Energy audits have identified our need to reduce costs associated with classroom lighting; this area is our biggest user of power. As a result LED lighting has replaced standard fluorescent light fittings (see comparative figures below) and sensors have been installed to turn lighting off automatically when nobody is utilising rooms. LED lights are energy efficient, safer, brighter and last far longer than traditional fluorescents. Since installation the junior school’s energy bills have been slashed.

Lighting Graph

Classrooms and office areas are signed with energy saving messages to remind staff, students and users of our facilities to turn them off when they are not necessary. These are gentle reminders that will go a long way to reducing our energy consumption – this could mean anything from heaters and air-conditioners through to microwaves and computers.
In celebration of world environment day new posters dealing with heating in classrooms will be distributed across the school.
Yoda on thermal comfort
The Avengers on thermal comfort
Mr-T-on-thermal-comfort.pdf
Katniss on thermal comfort
Gizmo on thermal comfort
Elsa on thermal comfort

Frankston High School supports the Don’t Palm Us Off campaign established by Zoos Victoria. The program is aimed at decreasing habitat loss caused by unsustainable palm oil plantations. Particularly targeted by the campaign are organisations who continue to mislabel palm oil on product ingredient lists.
For further information visit: http://www.zoo.org.au/get-involved/act-for-wildlife/dont-palm-us-off

Other sustainable initiatives at Frankston High School feature the reduction of paper use through double sided photocopying as well as supporting Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper sources, the creation of an online ‘Swap Shop’ where staff can share resources they may not need any more with someone who does, and collaboration with community groups such as the Frankston Environmental Friends Network.
For more information on the FSC visit http://au.fsc.org/

Tips from the Eco Team on how to be more sustainable / environmentally aware
• If you print documents use an Ecofont (www.ecofont.com) as it will decrease the amount of ink used in your print job. This has the added benefit of making your printer cartridge last longer, thus saving you money.
• Print double sided when possible (on home printers this is often titled ‘Duplex’ printing)
• Bring your old mobile phone into Frankston High School for recycling. Given there are more mobile phones than humans this is incredibly beneficial for the environment. They can be handed in at either general office. Please ensure all data is wiped and cards are removed. Unfortunately power supplies cannot be recycled at this stage.

SUSTAINABILITY VICTORIA / RESOURCESMART

Our school is proud to be partnered with Sustainability Victoria and ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic which gives us access to a fantastic online tracking system enabling us to chart our resource use. Gas, energy, paper, landfill and recycling all get tracked making it easier to pinpoint areas where we need to improve environmental efficiency.
More information is available at http://www.resourcesmartschools.vic.gov.au/about/

SusVicResSmart

To help increase the biodiversity of our grounds we regularly participate in Schools’ Tree Day. Frankston Council supports our efforts with donations of plants to help revegetate the more barren areas of our school. This year Schools’ Tree Day falls on Friday 31 July.
More information at http://treeday.planetark.org/schools/

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