West Island School is committed to our learners embracing our core values of strength from diversity, commitment to excellence and global citizenship. These values include collective action for well-being, sustainable development and shared guardianship of the planet, which underpin our ongoing commitment to crafting and building initiatives that catalyse our school in reaching a more sustainable future. Through our sustainability initiatives and advocacy, students have been able to foster skills and experiences relating to social and environmental aspects of sustainability.

We have implemented recycling awareness and waste reduction measures. Recycling bins can be found throughout all convenient areas of the school, and all single-use plastics have been banned in the cafeteria. The school has worked with our catering partners to make the swap to reusable plates and encourage students to bring their own cutlery. Additionally, we have invested in a food composter in 2019. Student groups have been working towards reviving this project and are looking towards working with external organisations.

WISustain is West Island School’s official student environmental council. As the student advisory body for school sustainability composed of students across all year groups, they oversee and enhance environmental progress at our school, which includes planning events like Eco Week, fundraising stalls and school-wide sustainability competitions including the Sustainability Multimedia Challenge. The group has raised over 16,000 dollars in the 2023-2024 academic year for environmental NGO Eco Drive and engaged over 300+ students in their activities. They also create social media content for their growing Instagram page, their reels reaching over 40,000 views. Their members have also collaborated with Redress to organise clothing upcycling drives and workshops, educating our community on the importance of a circular economy.

Many of our students are also involved in the ESF Sustainability Alliance as leaders and committee members. The Alliance is involved with ESF Headquarters in driving sustainable practices and advocating for policies that embrace the SDGs. An initiative that has emerged from this collaboration has been the Entrak Data Project. Students from WIS have taken the lead in working with key stakeholders of the school to source the database and are currently working towards making this data more accessible to students of the school through visuals and simplifying the data, in order to strengthen the understanding of sustainability in energy efficiency across the school community and further promote full transparency in the communication of the school’s energy usage – a critical aspect of our sustainability commitment seen with our current use of energy efficient LED lighting systems.

Although West Island has taken steps towards ensuring a sustainable future, challenges have also presented themselves along the journey. Hence, we strongly believe that our alliance with TASS will catalyse the school’s development and only strengthen our community’s collective commitment to sustainability impact and social responsibility. We look forward to implementing and fostering environmental stewardship within our learners and driving changes across small and large scales.