School programs on sustainability and the environment

  • This page has information on environmental and sustainability programs and resources for schools and early learning centres in Cardinia Shire.
  • It includes a number of free and paid incursions and excursions, programs and lesson plans. 

Waste incursions

  • A new range of free waste incursions are now available for 4 year old kindergartens and schools. Visit our incursion provider's webpage to find out more and submit an expression of interest.

Ecolinc excursions 

  • Ecolinc is a Victorian Government science excellence centre that runs environmental science excursions to Deep Creek Reserve in Pakenham.
  • Topics include frogs, native plants, and wetlands. Online sessions also available. 
  • Available for primary schools at the Deep Creek Reserve Pakenham. A wide range of environmental science excursions for year F-12 are also available at Ecolinc’s Bacchus Marsh site.   
  • Schools can book on the Ecolinc website  

Environment incursions 

  • A new range of free environment incursions are now available for 4 year old kindergartens.  Visit our incursion provider's webpage to find out more and submit an expression of interest.

Visit these websites for more information. 

Garbage Guts Education

We are supporting a limited number of local pre-school and primary schools with subscriptions to Garbage Guts Education. 

Garbage Guts Education is a program that teaches pre-school and primary school aged children to put their waste in the right bins, through a series of short animated videos featuring waste munching monsters. 

To register your school's interest, go to the Garbage Guts in Cardinia website

ResourceSmart Schools 

A free, award-winning program offered by Sustainability Victoria to help schools embed sustainable practices, saving resources and money for the school. 
More info: 
Sustainability Victoria  

Clean up Australia  

  • Inspiring students to learn about the impact of rubbish on their local environment while playing an active role in the community. 
  • Offers free resources including gloves and bags for litter collection clean-up events.
  • Council can assist by disposing of litter you collect. Email the Waste Team at mail@cardinia.vic.gov.au at least 2 weeks before your clean up event. 

More info and to register your event: Clean up Australia 

Terracycle 

  • Schools and kindergartens can become collection points for items that are usually not recyclable or are hard to recycle. 
  • A range of free collections are available, and some will reward sites for their efforts. 
    More info:
    Terracycle  

Planet Ark  

A range of programs and resources, including printer cartridge recycling, Schools Tree Day and National Recycling Week. 
More info:
Planet Ark

Gardens for wildlife - lesson plans

Council has worked with the Gould League to develop a set of lesson plans and factsheets suitable for level 3 and 4 as a resource for teachers

Download lesson plans

Thousands of free curriculum-linked resources and lessons plans on a huge range of sustainability topics.