The Future is Sustainable

Environmental sustainability is a serious matter at Geelong Grammar School, not only because the School and its community face the responsibility shared across the planet of tackling the climate crisis, but also because of the location of the Corio and Timbertop campuses within areas of significant ecology. “Sustainability is critical to the School’s current and future success”, explained Andrew Cochrane, Geelong Grammar Foundation board member and past parent. “We want the School to go into the future confident and able to weather future challenges.”

With this in mind, the Foundation has supported the appointment of a sustainability manager to coordinate all aspects of the School’s response to environmental issues. Dale Martin, who commenced in 2022, is responsible for everything from providing environmentally sustainable design (ESD) advice for new buildings, to increasing biodiversity and indigenous planting across all four campuses. “The sustainability manager role moving forward is the sustainability conduit across each campus, the curriculum, and the community”, explained Dale. “By embedding sustainability across our other ‘three Cs’ [campus, curriculum, community] we are empowering the community to make effective decisions that will positively impact our society and environment.”

In his first year in the role, Dale implemented a four-phase programme, beginning with an initial scoping of the School’s current environmental impact and emissions baseline via a process of data analysis and community consultation. Based on Dale’s findings, a Sustainability Policy was drafted and endorsed by School Council in October 2022. Then, several short-term priorities were actioned, including the installation of solar panels at the said Dale. “As a business, sustainability makes cents. As educators, teaching and demonstrating sustainable business practices and lifestyles means we are arming our students with the tools to minimise their own ecological impact, preparing them for future careers that will demand this skill set.”

Toorak Campus and embedding sustainable design into the Corio masterplan. In the final phase, an annual action plan was developed to ensure the School maintains a balanced approach to tackling sustainability across operations, curriculum, student action and community engagement.

Students were closely involved with drafting the Sustainability Policy, and students of all ages are motivated and enthusiastic about addressing the challenges of meeting the School’s sustainability targets. “Their optimism can only be described as infectious, especially when you inform them that 332 solar panels and 400 LED lights were installed over their Christmas break!” A particularly exciting project was the redevelopment of the Middle School garden at Corio, when students helped to plant over 200 native grasses, trees and shrubs, which also laid the foundation for an ongoing Indigenous flora seed collection and propagation programme. This important work was recognised with the ‘best school garden exhibiting biodiversity’ award by the Victorian School Garden Program in 2022.

In particular, Dale works closely with Matt Limb from the Creative Education team in developing the leadership skills of the student-led Environmental Action Team (EAT). Last year, the EAT took up the banner of activism in response to Viva Energy’s proposal to build a floating gas terminal in Corio Bay. Students were concerned about many aspects of the proposal, including the threat to natural habitats around the bay, the apparent focus on non-renewable energy, and the associated health and safety risks of the refinery’s extension so close to the School. Led by Millie Forwood (EM’22) and Dan Tadmore (Cu’22), students attended a rally held in Geelong in April and created a video for the GGS community explaining their concerns. Along with Creative Education collaborator Matt Limb, Millie and Dan, Timo Lan (P’22) and Dibs Fitzgerald (Yr12 Fr), led a student panel that was invited to present to the state inquiry panel assessing Viva’s proposal. Their efforts were reported in national media channels, helping to draw public attention to this critical issue.

Dale is hopeful that as the sustainability programme continues to develop, increasing numbers of students will choose sustainability projects and hobbies, supporting the School to meet the ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2035. “For the Foundation to back this initiative demonstrates a commitment to the staff and students of Geelong Grammar School that their future is front and centre”, said Dale. “It means that staff are now supported in their decision making, ideas and aspirations by a resource with the core responsibility of bringing those ideas to life. Most importantly it demonstrates to the students that the Geelong Grammar School community cares about their future and that this fantastic institution will not only endure but thrive into the future.”

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