Environment Programs

Throughout the Junior School, multiple opportunities exist for students to engage with the experiential learning cycle through its challenge, reflection, and planning components.   

From our youngest students in the ELC visiting the LUME to learn about our First Nations Peoples Connections to Country, Year 1 visiting Willam Warrain, through to visits to Healesville and Moonlit Sanctuary our students connect and engage with Country.  We enhance our knowledge of the environment through visits to CERES and the Port Phillip Eco centre. These excursions teach us about sustainability and highlight the opportunities we have to take action. Our belief in the ability to make a difference comes to fruition during the Year 4 Exhibition where the students investigate an issue of local significance and take action to make a difference in their community.    

Year 6 Canberra Trip

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the National Capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. 

An exciting program of activities includes visits to significant institutions such as The Royal Australian Mint, National Capital Exhibition Centre, The National Museum of Australia, Australian Electoral Commission and Old Parliament House to name a few.

Students are given opportunities to learn and reflect on the current and historical arrangements of the political and cultural structure of the country. The focus of environment on this experience is largely on the people and cultures of our land.

Years 5 to 9 Outdoor Education Camps – Awareness of Indigenous Culture

Each Outdoor Education Program explores a different facet of Indigenous culture and history, taking existing knowledge and expanding this into the environment and country they are currently exploring.

 Students reflect on how Indigenous culture has changed in recent times, challenges facing them today, and how they can help moving forwards. 

Community, Urban, Environment (CUE) Program

The Environment domain of the CUE program uses the belief of ‘think globally, act locally’. Throughout the year we will focus on the themes of protection and conservation, consumption and management, human impact, and action. The issues covered include waste and water management, the impact of tourism, protecting biodiversity, and coast care action. Environment CUE experiences include:  

Ricketts Point – An inquiry into why we need to protect and conserve our local coastal environments, marine sanctuaries, and ecosystems. Revegetation of the foreshore is completed in conjunction with the Department of Sustainability. 

Mordialloc – Students kayak down the creek and into Port Phillip Bay whilst investigating the effect of urban build and human impact on water quality along the creek. 

Waste Management – This involves discussions on waste management and recycling, focusing on the use of natural resources and human consumption that impact a sustainable future. As a class, they are responsible for helping to maintain the College recycling program. 

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Program – Year 9 to 12

Each ‘Adventurous Journey’ within the program must be organised with an environmental purpose at its heart.

Participants have the freedom to choose the focus of their journey.   

Past examples include exploring human impact in the form of visitor pressure in national parks; coastal flora and geology studies; exploring new environments as an extension of the core St Leonard’s outdoor education program; and completing a demanding journey by foot, bicycle and kayak.  

Curriculum-based Envrionmental Programs – Years 10 to 12, VCE and IB

Curriculum-based environment experiences in VCE and IB place students in real-world interactions that encourage considerations relating to sustainability, fiscal responsibility and implementation of theory-based concepts into reality. Students explore the world around them with a view to understanding how both the physical land and the societal understanding can impact future outcomes associated with planning, research, experience and design.

These environment experiences encourage students to embrace challenges, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills while allowing for deep reflection and self-discovery. The planning component empowers students to contribute to both the development and execution of ideas developed when on site and whilst interacting with experts in the field. By setting goals, students will measure the outcome of their results and learn from the experience in real time based on their designs and research. Students, through the challenge of the activity, learn how to reflect on the outcomes and hypothesise on future alternatives, creating a plan for improving and adjusting their knowledge through the lived experiences in the environment.

Year 11 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Camp

The aims of the Year 11 TOK camp focusing on Knowledge and Indigenous Societies were for students to:  

• Learn about different indigenous cultures, people and knowledge in situ  

• Learn and understand that there are commonalities but also differences in the language, culture and knowledge of different indigenous Australians and to appreciate some of the implications of these  

• Explore TOK themes: knowledge and the knower, indigenous knowledge, knowledge and language, knowledge and technology, and knowledge and politics  

• Examine perspectives on the indigenous voice to parliament by considering and interrogating TOK themes by interacting with indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in planned exploration and participation in cultural learning activities