I would like to congratulate the efforts of Truganina South Primary School for their participation in the ResourceSmart Schools program run by Sustainability Victoria. I had the privilege of visiting the school last month to award them the fifth and final star of their sustainability certificate. I was incredibly proud of the school’s teachers, parents and students for achieving this milestone because Truganina South is one of only two schools in the western suburbs to do so—and I am even more proud that those schools are both in Wyndham.

It has taken years for the school to achieve this through a lot of hard work and effort on the part of the teachers and students, and I commend them for their ardent commitment to environmental sustainability and resource management. This is used school-wide for sustainability to be the key value for students to uphold. Students in grade 6 are appointed as science captains, and student-led ‘green teams’ run competitions, make videos and posters, hold fundraisers and hand out ‘war on waste’ tickets to students for picking up rubbish in the yard. Other initiatives involve students participating in school-wide initiatives such as National Tree Day, Clean Up Australia Day, nude food, war on waste and boomerang bags. The school has also implemented a science classroom as well as a vegetable garden and frog bog right next to it.

It is for these initiatives, among so many others, that Truganina South has been nominated as a finalist for two ResourceSmart Schools awards. I congratulate teacher Vanessa Smith, who has also been nominated as a finalist for primary teacher of the year.