A Leader In Sustainability Education

Written by Mr Dwayne Ganci (Head of Sustainability & Agriculture)

18 May 2026

Text and images from Star Weekly online and the Resource Smart Schools website.

Aitken College has been shortlisted as the Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Secondary) in the Sustainability Victoria’s Resource Smart School of the Year Awards. Since joining Resource Smart Schools in 2008, the College has saved an estimated $750,000 and is considered A Leader In Sustainbility Education.

The school takes sustainability very seriously. It’s part of everything that we do, it’s in the curriculum, it’s in our forward planning.

Being shortlisted is a recognition of all the great work that we do and the teachers that put all that effort in to run these programs and include them in the curriculum.

We’ve got Brodies Creek running through our property so we’ve contributed to its revegetation in partnership with Melbourne Water for several years now. Last year we planted over 3000 plants along the creek to try and get it back to how it was originally.

The school has collaborated with NASA in a unique project called Growing Beyond Earth. One of the students said "They’ve given us this little chamber that mimics what would be up in space and we’re trying to grow food crops in there. It's pretty cool."

The students have taken sustainability into their own hands and often talk about starting up a veggie patch at home, or focusing more on recycling as opposed to just chucking everything in the bin. It’s about educating parents and getting everyone on board so it flows back into the community.

The 2026 Resource Smart School of the Year Award winners will be announced at a ceremony on 11 June.