Redcliffe Special School is supercharging sustainability

Students and teachers at Redcliffe Special School are leading the way in sustainability, earning an award for their efforts and also learning skills that will set them up for life.

The school won a Moreton Bay City Council Sustainability Champions Award earlier this year, recognising efforts to reduce waste, reuse items, and increase composting and recycling to limit the amount going to landfill.

Teacher Michael Turnbull says Redcliffe Special School’s sustainability journey started about four years ago, when it received a $400,000 grant to establish a sensory garden in a void between the school’s buildings and its boundary with Redcliffe State High School.

The grant was used to create accessible garden beds and other structures.

The Plant Shack at Deception Bay has since donated thousands of dollars in plants, enabling students and staff to create a garden that embraces their sustainability goals but also provides a calm and cool space when needed.

In 2022, the school joined the Eco Marines environmental education program, which aims to inspire children to conserve freshwater, marine and land-based ecosystems and the wildlife that inhabits them.

“We’re the first special school as part of that program. They gave me the links to the Moreton Bay City Council educators in their waste minimisation team. Now, educators from both groups come out quite regularly to help teach the kids sustainable practices,” Michael says.

Since then, the school has supercharged sustainability efforts, slashing the amount disposed of in general waste bins by four tonnes in 2023.

“At the start, we were producing 13 wheelie bins of waste per week ... it was eight or nine full trucks per year .... 398 wheelie bins per year,” Michael says.

“In our interim audit (after about one year), we reduced that by three quarters.”

Every classroom has four bins to make it easier for students and staff to sort waste, and they conduct spot checks to ensure the correct material has been placed in each bin.

“The kids are taking on board what we’re teaching,” Michael says.

The school’s sustainable purchasing policy is reducing photocopying and preferencing products made with recycled content.

Redcliffe Special School has also introduced reusable cups and water bottles, Containers for Change recycling, a second-hand library drive, computer recycling program and recycling of used pens.

There are also worm farms and composting stations, with the output used in flower, vegetable and native plant gardens.

“I think it’s socially responsible. I think it’s what is expected these days. It’s not just a nicety anymore. I think it’s something the kids should know as part of their schooling and I try to provide that as best I can. It’s a skill they can take home,” Michael explains.

He believes students will be able to use the lessons learnt and skills developed throughout their lives to contribute to the community.

“We have a number of recycling programs that we run through ... we do the computer recycling where they recycle the desktop towers ... Endeavour also recycles desktop towers, so we have a direct work link from that to outside employment for some of our students,” Michael says.

There’s also the joy of being outside, enjoying nature and learning about gardening and plant growth.

“It’s an ongoing journey. It’s not the end,” Michael says.

“There’s always more for me to learn and the students to learn. By Year 12, they’re going to leave this place hopefully being good role models, being sustainable role models and being socially responsible. I think that’s what we want for everybody.”

Future plans include installing native bee hives and possum boxes to be placed in trees on the school grounds and establishing a bush tucker garden.