The judge is coming!

St Columba's Primary School in Elwood will be under the beauty spotlight on Thursday 21 April as Keep Victoria Beautifulâs (KVB) judge pays a visit to review the schools impressive sustainability efforts as part of its entry in the KVB Sustainable Cities Awards 2016.

The Elwood village school has entered their Caring for our Classrooms, Creek and Community initiative into the Active Schools category. The category recognises outstanding achievement by a school in implementing sustainable practices and programs that encourage mentoring and development of sustainability - both throughout the school and into the local community.

Since implementing their Caring for our Classrooms, Creek and Community initiative in 2014, St Columba's has worked closely with the Port Phillip EcoCentre and local community groups to achieve a:

• 50% reduction in school waste to landfill;
• 37% reduction in school electricity usage;
• mains water use below the Victorian Government school benchmark; and a
• reduction in local community litter and increase in litter awareness in the community.

Through the hard work of our students, teachers, parents and community partners, we have also achieved an increased sense of place, activated citizenship and encouraged people to understand and appreciate the value of personal contribution to sustainability, said Daniella Maddalena, Principal of St Columba's.

I am very proud of our school's efforts and we are looking forward to demonstrating to the judges just how our everyday actions have made Elwood a better place to learn, play, work and live.

This year's award winners will be announced on Friday 15 July 2016.