RIVER DETECTIVES SCHOOL SHINES AT RESOURCESMART AWARDS

One of Corangamite CMA’s River Detectives schools, St James’ Parish School Sebastapol, has been named as a finalist in two categories of the 2024 ResourceSmart School Awards, which recognise and celebrate sustainability leadership among primary and secondary schools in Victoria.

The Ballarat school was named as a finalist in the Curriculum Leadership (Primary) School of the Year, and Community Leadership (Primary) School of the Year categories at the awards ceremony held at the MCG on 4 June.

Many River Detectives schools are recognised as ResourceSmart Schools (RSS), as the activities they do as part of River Detectives enhance their ability to achieve RSS goals, integrating their learning about waterways and catchments into their broader sustainability curriculum.

Each fortnight grade 5 and 6 students at St James’ Parish School visit the Yarrowee River to collect water quality data to enable the ongoing monitoring of the river’s waterway conditions and changes over time. Back in the classroom, students graph the data and explore potential implications of variations in water quality results.

Congratulations St James’ Parish School.

River Detectives is an exciting education initiative of Victoria’s Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs), inspiring teachers and students to understand, appreciate and care for their local waterway through engaging, cross-curricular, citizen-science activities.