Schools across the Wollongong Diocese have marked the seventh anniversary of Pope Francis' environmental encyclical Laudato Si' by joining with the Australian Church in celebrating Laudato Si' Week.

This has been a time for schools to take part in opportunities for prayer, reflection and conversation around the beauty and diversity of God's creation and think about how we can better care for our common home.

St Clare's Catholic Primary School, Narellan Vale used Laudato Si’ week, to introduce the school to new white bins for soft plastics, such as chip wrappers, glad wrap and zip lock bags that can be recycled as part of the REDcycle program, keeping them out of landfill. A special song was written to remind students of what to put in the soft plastics bin - doing the scrunch test! Scrunch it Up!

At St John's Catholic Primary School, Campbelltown Kindergarten and Year 1 celebrated World Bee Day, which is an important day where we are encouraged to think about the role bees play in the world and their importance in ensuring biodiversity. They created beautiful art works to remind us to care for the bees!

The students at Good Samaritan Fairy Meadow celebrated with a special Laudato Si' Week Liturgy.

The Kindergarten students at St Anthony's Picton made a list of ecological actions that as a class they will try to do...

St Benedict's Oran Park and Holy Spirit College marked Laudato Si' Week with daily reflections and prayers which led to greater understanding of the connection people have to the whole of creation and that caring for Earth's community is central to our mission. “All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents” (LS#14).

At Mt Carmel Catholic College students were encouraged to make their classrooms, places of action, and awareness of our call to look after our common home by participating in some activities such as: Writing a persuasive letter to a friend about reuse, repurposing, or recycling as a theme, Conducting a classroom audit of how students live out reuse, repurposing, or recycling in their homes, Going on a walk around the College grounds and appreciating nature, Visiting the labyrinth, Doing an extra cleanup of the grounds near their classroom, Discussing the notion of a sustainable lifestyle, Choosing not to photocopy a handout and being aware of energy use.