Resource Smart School Awards 2027 Information Session video transcript

[Voice over]

Welcome to the Resource Smart School Awards 2027 Information Session. This year's theme is Our Actions, Our Future.

Today we'll be exploring the award categories, eligibility requirements, tips and tricks for writing a strong entry and the support available to help you through the process. We'll also spend some time reflecting on your school's sustainability achievements from the past year and identifying award opportunities that may be a good fit. If you're looking for support on how to navigate the awards portal,
Feel free to book a meeting or e-mail the Awards team with the links available on this website.

The ResourceSmart School Awards are Victoria's largest celebration of sustainability in schools. They are an opportunity to share the amazing sustainability work happening in schools right across Victoria and to celebrate the people making it happen. The annual awards provide a valuable opportunity to pause, reflect and recognise everything your school community has achieved in the past year.

It's a very good news channel. Entering the awards can help you reflect on your sustainability journey and progress. Celebrate students, teachers, volunteers and sustainability champions. Recognise excellence, leadership and innovation. Share successful projects and inspire other schools. Raise the profile of your sustainability work.

And importantly, attended an awards ceremony at the MCG alongside sustainability leaders and special guests.
The ResourceSmart School Awards assist schools to remain active in ResourceSmart Schools, meaning you can access a fully subsidised local facilitator who can help you through your sustainability journey.

If you're not yet active, joining ResourceSmart Schools is easy and completely free. So you can scan the QR code on the screen to sign up. One of the biggest benefits of ResourceSmart Schools is being connected with a dedicated facilitator, as I mentioned before, who can support your sustainability journey and help you identify opportunities for action.

You'll also become part of a community of more than 600 active schools across Victoria, sharing ideas, case studies and practical examples of what works. ResourceSmart Schools provides an online platform where schools can monitor and report measurable environmental outcomes and cost savings. The program is built around 5 modules.

A core module, waste, water, energy and biodiversity. Since 2008, ResourceSmart Schools has worked with around two-thirds of Victorian schools. Together, participating schools have saved more than $68 million in utility costs while achieving significant environmental, educational and community benefits.

So if you're not yet involved and you'd like to get started, we'd love to have you join us. You can do those, do so on the QR code on the screen.

So back to the ResourceSmart School Awards. So these are the key dates. So the entries will open on the 20th of October 2026. Opening during term 4 allows schools to incorporate award submissions into their end of year reflection activities and to capture achievements before the school year finishes. It's also a useful opportunity for staff who may be moving to schools to document and celebrate the work that they've contributed to.

The ResourceSmart School Awards team can give written feedback if you submit an entry on the awards portal before the 22nd of December. You can always go back into the awards portal and edit your entry all the way up until it closes on the 5th of March.
So finalists will be announced in April 2027 and the award ceremony is in June 2027 in line with World Environment Day.

To support equitable participation, the ResourceSmart Schools Program offers CRT, casual relief teacher support and travel subsidies. For schools that are unable to attend in person, or want to follow along as their classmates attend the ceremony, it is also live streamed so you can follow along the celebration.

These are some pictures of the award ceremonies over the years.

The award ceremony is an invite-only event held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground or the MCG. The event brings together award finalists, ResourceSmart School partners, sponsors, sustainability champions, environmental educators, government representatives and sustainability leaders across the state.

It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate achievements, share innovative projects, learn from peers,
build professional networks, showcase sustainability leadership. It's just a really good vibes, good news day. So if you'd like to see what the event looks like, you can have a look at the previous award videos that are linked on this website.

So if you're a Victorian primary or secondary school that undertook sustainability activities during 2026, you're eligible to enter the awards. So that is if you're newly involved, just becoming active or you've been active for a long time, we'd love to hear your story. So for child safety and administrative administrative and media consent purposes, we recommend that entries are submitted by a staff member on behalf of the school. There are 12 award categories to choose from.

And the categories marked with an asterisk have additional eligibility requirements. So these are Teacher of the Year, Primary and a Secondary category, so that's two. And the picture on the right there is actually winners of the Primary Teacher of the Year and they submitted as a teaching team. Then we have the Student Action Team and primary and secondary categories, two categories. The Curriculum Leadership School of the Year category, primary and secondary. Then we have the Emerging School of the Year.

So that's the school that has recently joined, and I'll go into the eligibility in a second, the School Volunteer of the Year, the CDS Vic Excellence Award, Primary and Secondary, and the ResourceSmart School of the Year.

So for the Emerging School of the Year, the school must have joined ResourceSmart Schools after the 1st of July 2025 or establish a baseline during that time. So if you join up the 5th of March, 2027, you're eligible for the Emerging School of the Year, because that's after July 1st, 2025.

For School Volunteer of the Year, nominees must be genuine volunteers who do not receive payment or any other forms of in-kind remuneration.

For the CDS Vic Excellence Awards, schools must be both an active ResourceSmart School and a registered CDS Vic donation partner. For the ResourceSmart School of the Year, schools must hold at least three ResourceSmart School stars. So if you're unsure about eligibility for any category, please contact us using the details provided on the website and we can direct you.

So the CDS Vic Excellence Award is sponsored by VicReturn and has been part of the awards program for the last three years. So this category celebrates schools that are using the container deposit scheme to achieve sustainability outcomes and engage their school communities in positive environmental action.

Judges are looking for examples of creativity, innovation, and leadership, both within the school and the broader community. These might include initiatives such as reducing waste, raising funds for sustainability projects, support local organisations, or encourage students to take action and lead change. As mentioned earlier, the schools entering this category must be both an active resource smart school and a registered CDS Vic donation partner.

There are plenty of resources available to help you prepare for a strong entry. So these include sample entries and scoring criteria, previous finalist stories, you can have a look on RSS online in your records and reports, you can ask your local facilitator, you can get advice from your project partners, or you can get one-to-one awards coaching which is available via a booking link on their website. So just put a note there about artificial intelligence or generative AI. So it can be useful to tool for brainstorming and drafting and refining responses.

However, we find that the strongest entries consistently demonstrate authentic impact, evidence and innovation. I think it's key to remember that the entries are judged by people and the judges value authenticity, specific examples, real outcomes and clear evidence. It's also really important to be mindful of the child safety, privacy and data security requirements when using AI tools.

You'll be entering your awards entry on the portal, and this is a snapshot of what it looks like. You can access the link on this website.

So most categories include three questions, while the School of the Year category includes 5 questions. So typically you'll be asked to tell us about the person, group or project, explain how the person, group or project has connected to the broader community, and provide a 50-word summary of impact, submit a photo and if needed, a consent form.

Some categories require additional evidence such as data or research, for example, the Curriculum Leadership School of the Year, Emerging School of the Year and the Student Action Team.

Some other categories may ask questions about impact, outcomes, leadership, innovation, teamwork, collaboration, knowledge sharing and curriculum integration. The award celebrates schools of all sizes, locations and backgrounds, so you don't need to be the biggest project or have the largest budget. Judges are looking for meaningful impact, innovation and collaboration. And this can look different.

So, if you're answering this question, this is moving into the tips and tricks of writing a good entry. So all categories will ask you to tell us about a person, group or project and explain how it or they have contributed to your school's sustainability goals.

So when thinking about this question, think what was the goal? Was there a problem to be solved and why? is it of interest to the school? So I've just put on the side there some examples. So the school might have wanted to encourage students to ride to school. A teacher might seek to increase awareness of diverse environmental career pathways. A student action team might aim to reduce landfill waste. A curriculum project might seek to embed First Nations perspectives.

A school might wish to increase parent engagement in sustainability activities. So and then how was this issue addressed? Or how was this problem tackled? Was there anything particularly innovative or special about the way the person group or project went about this issue? How did it contribute towards the goal? Were there outcomes and how has this changed your school?

All categories will also ask you to talk about how you've worked with others. So consider the partnerships and relationships you have leveraged to support your work. So for example, have you worked with local council on waste, climate or biodiversity initiatives? Partnered with First Nations organisations? Collaborated with Parks Victoria, Zoos Victoria, Landcare, River Detectives, Water Corps or Friends groups?

Involve parents, sporting clubs, local businesses, community organisations, the CDS scheme. Collaborated with other schools, participated in events such as Clean Up Australia Day or Earth Hour, contributed to national or global sustainability issues. So I put on the side there some examples. So we've got St. Patrick's Primary School in Port Fairy, which made and sold boomerang bags and donated proceeds to a social justice initiative in Tanzania.

We've got St. Monica's College Epping, which shared its wetlands biodiversity audit with Whittlesea City Council, and RDS South Primary School down the bottom in Sunshine West, who partnered with Brimbank City Council to help address urban heat island effect through vegetation.

Some categories will ask you to include evidence data or research. So you may like to include resource audits, survey results, student feedback, participation data, wastewater or energy data, biodiversity monitoring results, research that informs your project wellbeing or enrolment data where relevant.

Some categories may also require some supporting evidence, such as curriculum documents, newsletters, media coverage, photos, videos, presentations, strategic documents where possible. And if you can, compile these into a PDF document. It's also worth checking RSS online as you've will already have uploaded some really useful evidence there through your module progression.

So the example that's on the screen there is from Red Gum Waldorf School of Central Victoria in Muckleford, and they increased the biodiversity of their school, the number of birds, and the diversity of birds through their wetland project.
The school quoted the biodiversity audit results in their entry.

So every entry must include a photo and a short summary of impact, about 50 words. The photo is important because it helps tell the story and it may be used for communications and promotional purposes. So this summary isn't judged. It's like a complete or incomplete. And it just helps to quickly communicate what the project's achieved.and maybe using promotional materials.

So the judges won't be judging this. This will be the Awards team that will be saying tick, cross, and it will add to whether your entry is eligible or not. So what you can aim to include is a high quality image that's 2 megabytes, a clear connection to the project being discussed, the people involved in the project where appropriate, and completed consent forms.

So you can see at the top there, there's an a really great image. It shows off the project and the people working on it and it's really good for media. So what would be considered as an incomplete entry is it's a poor quality image, like from a PowerPoint or social media or screenshot, so it's a really low resolution. And the images don't have a clear connection to the project and it's missing consent forms. And the summary of impact is incomplete. The 50 words has either not been done or doesn't describe the project.

Now we're moving to the guided reflection section of the session. So I'll move through these slides fairly quickly, but feel free to pause if you're watching the recording and use the prompts as a brainstorming tool. The goal is to help you identify sustainability activities, projects and achievements that could form the basis of an award entry.

The first question I'm going to ask is who are the people involved in sustainability at your school? This might include students, teachers and or educators, school leaders, parents, carers, school council members, volunteers, administrative staff, grounds and maintenance staff, community organisations, environmental educators, local government partners. Yeah, many successful entries recognise the collective effort behind sustainability action.

So have you started or completed a ResourceSmart Schools module this year? A great place to begin is by reviewing your action checklist and RSS online records. You may discover activities you've forgotten about. So consider the resource use audits, sustainability projects linked to curriculum, student-led campaigns, Clean Up Australia Day activities, Environmental events. Behaviour change initiatives, sustainability signage, new policies and or procedures, operational improvements, the CDS.

Did you undertake any campus or infrastructure improvements and were students involved? Such as smart taps, sensitive lighting, food waste systems, worm farms, gardens, native plantings? Solar installations, double glazing, or window upgrades, or green power purchases.

Were there any learning areas involved in implementing activities related to sustainability? Students designing signage for new waste streams, STEM classes in building aquaponics systems, students creating stories inspired by local biodiversity, a dedicated sustainability learning week, partnerships with Council, University, Coast Care, River Detectives, participation in programs such as Oz Harvest or the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. Thinking about how sustainability learning has embedded into teaching and learning and the impact this has had on your students.

Did student groups, school captains or year levels in your school start a project or campaign related to sustainability? These might include green teams, student environmental leaders, peer mentoring programs, revegetation projects, using the CDS, biodiversity monitoring, presentations at conferences or events, book swaps. bike repair programs, second-hand uniform initiatives, and student-led assemblies.

Did you or a colleague lead and inspire the sustainability process of the school? So teachers are super welcome to nominate themselves. Any teacher or educator could be nominated for this category, from teachers supporting or leading sustainability activities to coordinators. They're all welcome to apply.

The entry could include leading school-wide sustainability practices such as starting policies, applying for grants, leading with the Green Team, organising school events or engaging in the school in external programs, engaging with the broader community by involving the school in national environmental celebrations, organising workshops and or educating peers.

And the nominee could be celebrated for a specific project or for their overall legacy, but please always emphasize the 2026 activities and the impact this nominee may have had during 2026 or 2027.

Did you receive volunteer support? So schools are often supported by highly motivated family members or neighbors. To enter this category, a nominee should be a genuine volunteer, someone who isn't remunerated for their support. Please also note this category could recognise an individual or a group.

So they might be involved in working bees, running a workshop for students, running fundraising activities, providing ongoing support with gardening activities, are some of the examples of previous finalists for this category. Some volunteers have played a key role in grant application, leading the involvement in programs like ResourceSmart Schools.

Have you undertaken a project or an activity that impacted and or engaged the broader community? So school might have partnered with the local environment groups and the council to study local waterways. The Green Team worked on a work with local council on planting and project and celebrating a national environment events.

Year 5 and six might have participated in a platypus project led by a local environment group, which goes to direct benefit of local fauna and therefore the community. Maybe the school organised a zero waste fate. There were local farmers who had the opportunity to promote their sustainable produce. These are just some examples. The event helped with raising awareness on plastic consumption or alike topics.

That's the end of the information session. Thank you for listening, and if you've got any other questions, feel free to make a booking with us via the ResourceSmart School Awards website. Thank you.