'Your school is amazing!' 
'What a great way to celebrate!'
'The students are learning so much.'
'Your students are so articulate. They know what is going on and how it all works!'

That was just some of the feedback we had from our visitors to the school on Wednesday as we celebrated becoming a ResourceSmart 5-star school, the only one in the Western Suburbs. Member of Parliament for the District of Laverton, Sarah Connolly, four representatives from Environment Education Victoria, two representatives from Sustainability Victoria and two representatives from Brimbank Council attended the afternoon celebrations.

Testing the quality of the water of Kororoit Creek by checking the water bugs, looking at the compost bugs and worms, counting up the 10c containers around the school, viewing and counting the species of birds in the school yard, making nature art works, using bottle caps to make a 5-star and Albion logo mural and actively travelling around the oval on bikes and scooters were the activities students participated in during the afternoon's celebrations.

At 3:00pm, everyone gathered on the basketball court for the official presentation. The house captains and some of our year 5/6C students told us about the data collected from the activities we did and then we were presented with our 5 stars by Sarah Connolly.

It was a wonderful celebration and thanks to all of the parents who helped with the activities and who came along to support the students and the school. Many thanks to the staff who support and encourage this work. 

Well done to Alexandra and Noah, two of the house captains, who led the tour for our visitors.

Congratulations to Marita Ryan, who has led the way on our sustainability journey. We did it!

Most importantly, to our students -  we are doing this for you. We want you to experience the joys and beauty of the land around us on which we live, grow, learn and play. In order for that to happen, we need to learn to be sustainable. We hope that what we are doing at school will embed the good practices so that as you grow and become adults, they become second nature to you.

We still have a lot to learn and do to continue to improve our sustainability practices but we have worked and succeeded in achieving this milestone.

Congratulations to everyone!