Sustainability
The College is committed to sustainable best practice because it is the right thing to do. It forms part of our core values, our commitment to Round Square and the International Baccalaureate, and our role in delivering the Australian Curriculum.
One of the College’s core values is Stewardship, and sustainable practice is a primary example of maintaining the world for future generations.
The Round Square drives its activities through the IDEALS, an acronym of which E stands for Environment, L for Leadership, and Service, all of which contribute to a sustainable future.
The International Baccalaureate has sustainability at its core and as an IB global school, we are incorporating programs that demonstrate what it means to be internationally minded, responsible and ethical citizens.
Finally, the Australian Curriculum, which is mandated in all Australian schools, has Sustainability as one of its three cross curricular priorities.
To implement our sustainability programme, we operate through academic and co-curriculum spaces. Some academic examples include our Year 5 cross-curricular unit creating reusable bags that advertise the need to protect our oceans and their inhabitants; various iLearn units in the Middle School, and the Year 10 Geography Sustainable Living Spaces, a segment of which is run by a sustainability consultant. Co-curricular activities include working with Friends of Lake Claremont, Second Bite, and Cameron House recycling.
To help us establish best practice in our school, we also work with partners such as Chartwells, our catering and boarding house supplier. We have implemented the Birthday Bag project in the Junior School and the Second Bite Soup Kitchen is open to Middle and Senior School students.
The College ensures we are at the forefront of renewable energy with the 2018 installation of our solar power network as described in detail below. We also provide annual reports to the Town of Claremont and Friends of Lake Claremont as to our water and fertiliser use.
There is always more to do.
If you have ideas, or are interested in sustainability at Scotch, please email Richard Foster Richard.Foster@scotch.wa.edu.au
Rooftop Solar Project
Stewardship is a core value of the College and the recently installed rooftop solar project goes a long way to ensuring we are doing all that we can to provide clean energy for our College and do our part in reducing the environmental footprint of power generation.
The College recently installed 1,280 solar panels which is enough to cover ten tennis courts and provides 512 kilowatts of solar photovoltaics. This is expected to replace about 25 percent of grid electricity with onsite, emission free, renewable power.
From a clean energy perspective, it is expected that the system will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 576 tonnes a year which is the equivalent of taking 323 cars off the road. Perhaps more importantly than these statistics, the project is an example to our students as to what a diversified and distributed 21st century power system looks like.
The new system ensures that the College is in an excellent position to leverage off Perth’s sunny climate as well as uphold our focus on stewardship and being at the forefront of sustainable best practice.