The sustainability conference held at Edmund Rice on 25th August was a wonderful, community filled day.  Schools came together from the Illawarra and Sydney region to share ideas, collaborate, and discuss the issues our environment is faced with in 2023 and beyond. We were so blessed to have the General manager of Green Connect - Robert Servine, talk to us about the hardships they endured during the pandemic and how they are dealing with it. Green Connect is a not-for-profit social enterprise that employs young people and former refugees in jobs that help the planet and the community – reducing waste and growing fair food.

We also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Costa from Gardening Australia. He was one incredibly passionate person who shared his concerns and solutions with us. Our six Year 10 Joey’s students represented us with pride and enthusiasm - sharing our ideas but also gathering as much information as possible to help us implement some new ideas in the future. Some of the students said:

“I particularly enjoyed listening to the initiatives happening in other schools right now, as it allowed me to come up with new ideas on what we could implement at our school”

“I learnt about other schools and how they are dealing with sustainability. I was also taught a lot about how to be confident in my own mission to save the environment and that I shouldn’t let other people stop me.”