Standard+7.3.4

=Provide opportunities for the development of quality relationships between students, colleagues and the community. =

After becoming involved with the Eastern Suburbs Sustainable Schools’ Network where we had been discussing the involvement of students, I asked the representatives of our school Environment Committee to attend a meeting with me so they might be able to meet other interested students.

Very few other students attended that day but, in the course of discussion, H and S discussed the possibility of forming a student network much like the ESSSN. They put forward ideas about the way this group might communicate and the possibility of having combined meetings, possibly once per term. While I think that there was an expectation of social interaction, the girls thought this was an opportunity of some likeminded students getting together.

As a result of that meeting the council Education officers have set up a workshop for students who are involved in their school’s Environment Committees to come together to see what schools can do and give the students the leadership skills to initiate or further expand their school’s environmental programs. (See [|Email trail re Students attending Environment initiative])

A number of our girls attending are those who are instrumental in setting up the [|Year 11 Bio Wiki] on the Queen’s Beach ecology study. While a number are in my Biology class, not all are, yet they see this as a contribution to local knowledge, especially when the Wiki is at a stage when it can be published on the web.

I believe that this initiative can provide our students with an opportunity to relate to their local environment and their community, to build their leadership skills and give them an opportunity to use them. At the same time they will forge relationships with other students, other schools and the local council while becoming aware of local issues and being in a position to take some action in response to them.