This year's celebration of National Tree Day was an opportunity for CEDoW schools to pray for and take action on behalf of native forests, wildlife and the protection of habitats.

When the students at St Justin's Oran Park came back to school in Term 3 they were gifted with the lovely sight of a brand new garden space. Over the holiday break a number of keen staff members got together to kick start the SJOP garden.

Schools across our diocese recently celebrated World Environment Day through prayers and actions that invited their communities to take ownership of their environment and actively engage in the protection of our earth.

During Laudato Si’ Week, the Holy Spirit united Catholics on six continents, where we deepened our connection with each other and creation by participating in webinars and local activities. Many of our CEDoW schools joined in too. At St Thomas More Ruse, they did not let remote learning get in the way of celebrating.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si', Pope Francis has invited Catholics to participate in Laudato Si' Week, a nine-day global campaign taking place May 16-24, 2020.

Social distancing, remote learning and the restraints of COVID-19 have not stopped our school communities from seeking ways to stay connected. One initiative is 'Growing Together Through COVID-19' which has been introduced at Holy Family Ingleburn and Stella Maris Shellharbour.

Congratulations to St John the Evangelist Primary School Campbelltown on their record haul of containers for the Vinnies Return and Earn Container Deposit Scheme.

A proud community gathered together in solidarity at St Brigid’s Catholic Primary School, Gwynneville on Monday 3 March, to celebrate the blessing of the school’s recently installed 42kW Solar Photovoltaic system. Thanks to the outstanding fundraising efforts of the school community, St Brigid’s has now become the first virtually-electricity independent school in the Illawarra.  

In 2020 Clean Up Australia celebrates 30 years of campaigning encouraging Australians to clean up, fix up and conserve our environment. As usual many of our CEDoW schools have joined in to do their bit to "care for our common home".

Following the devastating bushfires and drought in their region, the community at St Michael's Nowra is responding in a practical way to fire-affected animals and native birds. 

In 2019, through the Return and Earn partnership with Vinnies, our schools have recycled 75,317 containers raising much needed funds for Vinnies social works.

This means that we have reduced the amount of rubbish going to landfill and we have also raised money for the St Vincent de Paul Society who assist those people in our community who need a helping hand.

The recent bushfires have had a devastating impact on our local communities – including on our native wildlife and their habitats. The students and staff at Holy Family Ingleburn have been keen to do their bit to support the recovery efforts, answering Pope Francis’ call to “hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”.  

St Francis Catholic College, Edmondson Park was very pleased to welcome members of the local Bunnings Warehouse team to the school last week to help students and staff learn about all the different herbs and veggies now growing in their gardens. The school community is now skilled up and ready to look after its new and improved horticultural setup.

The students at St Paul's Albion Park have been 'busy bees', coming up with a solution to reduce the amount of single use plastics at their school.

The Year 5 Environmental Warriors – after some research into sustainable alternatives to single use plastics such as cling wrap and zip lock bags – decided to make sustainable Beeswax Wraps. 

Throughout September our Catholic Schools have joined with the Global Catholic community and other Faith traditions to pray, reflect on our lifestyles, and undertake prophetic actions to mark the Season of Creation. 

The following stories are just a taste of some of the ways our schools have celebrated...

The Holy Cross Helensburgh school community recently celebrated National Tree Day with a "Tree Liturgy" that included a presentation of a plant to each class and the office staff to look after until the tree is ready to be presented back to the Gardening Club to plant into the school grounds. 

CEDoW students in the Diocese of Wollongong have joined millions of people around the world to celebrate World Environment Day. Schools embraced the 2019 theme of ‘Beat Air Pollution’ to draw attention to this pressing environmental concern and how we can all do our part to improve the quality of the air we breathe.

Here are 10 ways to celebrate World Environment Day, as actioned by our wonderful students and staff across the diocese...

It’s the lunchbox that's ticking boxes for both parents and kids – colourful, leak-proof, airtight, flexible compartments, cost-effective and an easy lunch-packing solution that reduces our waste and impact on the environment.

Now, the Kindergarten students at Mary Immaculate, Eagle Vale are all proud owners of these special ‘rubbish free lunchboxes’, thanks to a CEDoW Environmental Education Grant.

There’s a lot more to the gardening club at Holy Cross Helensburgh than the beautiful gardens they’ve planted and nurtured – it’s a welcoming environment where friendships blossom and students are supported to grow; where the seeds of stewardship are sewn through many aspects of school life, and learning from nature and getting your hands dirty is valued like study from books.

Read more about the school's impressive horticultural setup: a vegetable garden known as ‘The Patch’, an orchard, their Yalunga Garden (a peaceful native garden space), and their latest venture – bush tucker plants now also growing in The Patch.

With staff keep cups, no plastic cutlery in the canteen, reusable or biodegradable containers for lunches and refillable water bottles, the 'green' spirit is alive and well amongst the staff and students at Holy Spirit College, Bellambi.

Congratulations to St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Moss Vale, whose lovingly-grown tomatoes from the school’s fruit and vegetable gardens have won two 2nd place prizes at the Moss Vale Show this month!

The award-winning produce – including the tastiest varieties of grape, cherry and gourmet tomatoes – caught the keen eye of the show’s judges to win runner up in both the ‘best of all tomatoes’ and the broader ‘best of all vegetables’ categories.

Thousands of students from across the Diocese have gloved up over the past two weeks for Schools Clean Up Australia Day. From clean ups of school grounds and local parks to themed classroom learning and activities raising awareness amongst students and staff, our schools have embraced this year’s theme, ‘Change Starts With You’ by taking action to protect and care for their local environment.

St Joseph’s Albion Park War on Waste (WoW) Club members have joined forces with community environment groups, Two Week Red Bin Challenge and Oceans in Focus, to clean up over nine large garbage bags full of plastics and rubbish around local Barrack Point beach spot, Little Lake.

A targeted school-wide campaign to streamline waste management by increasing recycling and composting, and reducing the rubbish going to landfill, has earned St Michael’s, Thirroul official recognition and praise - the school being awarded a Wollongong City Council ‘Rise and Shine Environment Award’.

During Nude Food October and Enviroweek, two clever Year 6 students from St Columbkille’s, Corrimal won a national competition, earning a Nude Food Grant.

Saskia McIntyre and Emily Fenton recognised that there is too much packaging on food brought in from home by the students at their school and that by coming to school at least one day a week trash free with ‘nude food’, they could help beat plastic pollution and encourage their community to live more sustainably.

St Joseph’s, Albion Park has used this year’s EnviroWeek to celebrate and further their fantastic efforts to build environmental awareness, action and a strong school spirit around caring for creation.

From Helensburgh to Moss Vale, Unanderra to Ingleburn, our CEDoW schools have celebrated World Environment Day, encouraging awareness and positive action to protect our environment. Students have embraced this year’s theme, ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ in many effective and creative ways - a call to action for all of us to come together to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time.

St Pius X Unanderra have been working on the installation of a mural, composed of plastic bags woven into a pre-existing chain link fence.  This creative re-use of plastic bags, speaks directly to Pope Francis’ call to alter the contemporary ‘throwaway culture’ (Laudato Si, 22). 

The Environment Club at St Joseph’s Albion Park, now called the War on Waste (WOW) Club has been working hard this year to reduce the amount of waste the school is sending to landfill by introducing recycling to the school.

St Joseph's Albion Park are Winners of the 'Schools' Participation Prize' for the Illawarra Green Flicks Film Competition!

Our schools have taken up the challenges and considerations from Laudato Si’ and responded in a myriad of ways.