Environmental Sustainability

We are committed to educating, empowering, and inspiring our community to be responsible citizens motivated to contribute to a sustainable future.

Our aim is to impart the skills, knowledge, and enduring commitment to practise sustainability within and beyond our community. We do this through our:

  • ​Curriculum
  • Student Engagement
  • Campus – Physical Environment and Operations
"Environmental issues loom larger than ever now and our students have many opportunities to learn about these issues, from simple ways to reduce energy use in Kindergarten to global climate or sustainable urban environments in Year 12."
This first appeared in a Spotlight Article by Ms Elizabeth Stone within the Queenwood News Weekly 22 October 2021. Read more here

Curriculum

 

Learning for sustainability is rigorously embedded across the curriculum and aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and capacity to respond effectively for the benefit of all.

Our curriculum goes beyond raising awareness and seeks to engage students with environmental issues from multiple perspectives through rigorous discourse based on sound research. Queenwood is committed to providing opportunities for students to learn about sustainability in the curriculum through:

  • Mapping and supporting environmental content across the curriculum

  • Ensuring curriculum content is rigorous

  • Looking at issues and solutions through multiple perspectives

  • Professional development for staff on sustainability

  • Indigenous educators sharing ancient and contemporary environmental wisdom

test
test

Students

 

A Queenwood education aims to motivate and equip young women to respond to complex environmental challenges.

This rests on our conviction that every student can be an agent of change through her individual and collective contributions. We encourage students to make sustainable, informed choices and Queenwood offers a range of projects to learn about sustainability beyond the curriculum. Some examples include:

  • Clean up events

  • School newsletter and magazine articles

  • Junior School sustainable garden

  • Senior School bush tucker garden

  • Earth Hour and consumption reduction campaigns

  • Fashion swaps and ethical fashion learning

  • Reuse campaigns to collect and donate products to our key charities

  • Whole school sustainability education through assembly presentations, guest speakers and Wellbeing sessions

  • Project based learning including:

    • Solar powered town in the Junior School

    • QUTE, a solar powered utility vehicle built by the Senior School Engineering Club

    • Solar Racing Club

  • A Sustainability Committee

Campus

 

We are committed to ensure sustainability on our physical campuses and in our daily operations.

Sustainability is at the forefront of our planning to maintain and develop our sites. This includes energy and water consumption, architecture, waste management, and operational processes. Queenwood is committed to responsible design and management of our facilities through:

  • Green energy providers for electricity

  • LED light bulbs across all campuses

  • Solar panel roll out

  • Reuse of used solar panels to build an EV charging station

  • Minimal use of heating and cooling systems

  • Green focus on new campus design

  • Modifications to existing buildings and systems to increase efficiency

  • Reduction of water use, utilising rainwater tanks and filtered water taps

  • Prioritising local, native plants and sustainable garden design

  • Monitoring use of non-renewable energy to ensure there is a downward trend

  • Selecting furniture and fittings with eco-credentials

 
We prioritise the efficient use of materials through:

  • Automatic lighting control systems to minimise electricity use

  • Moving towards paperless processes

  • Sustainable consumption of water

  • Canteen and catering prioritising the use of reusable and biodegradable materials

  • Waste-sorting bins and nude lunch campaigns

test
test

Support Us

 

If you would like to offer material support to our sustainability initiatives through the Building Fund, your contribution would be very welcome. Philanthropic support accelerates the pace at which we can deliver projects and we are grateful to the alumnae and parents who contribute. Donations can be made through the Support Us page linked below or contact development.office@queenwood.nsw.edu.au or contact +61 2 8968 7704.



Further reading