Caring for our common home

Sustainability at John XXIII is a culture, shaped by our College motto, Seek Justice, and by the conviction that justice must extend to the earth itself. Here is a glimpse of what that looks like in practice.

Planting hope: The Carnaby’s Cockatoo Project

Perhaps the most visible expression of our sustainability commitment is the work we have done for one of Western Australia’s most beloved and most threatened species: the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo. Over the past five years, students, staff, and families have come together during biennial community days to plant hundreds of native species across the College grounds, banksias, hakeas, marri trees, and almond, macadamia and pecan trees that provide essential food sources for these endangered birds.

The Carnaby's themselves have responded, and the broader community has taken notice. In 2024, the College was awarded the Quality Catholic Education Award in the Sustainability category, and the $5,000 prize was invested in a Cockitrough®: an automated watering tower that refills twice daily with fresh, clean water, giving Carnaby’s and other visiting bird species a safe place to drink.

This winter, the program takes another significant step forward. The College is collaborating with Professor Kingsley Dixon from Curtin University and the ‘Corridors for Carnaby’s’ initiative to plant a further 1,000 banksias along the College’s northern boundary. The Carnaby’s have already begun visiting to feed. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis reminds us that ‘each creature has its own purpose.’ Our students are learning, with their own hands, what it means to protect that purpose.

Rethinking waste, one bin at a time

Integral ecology, the framework central to Laudato Si’, asks us to see environmental responsibility as an expression of who we are. At John XXIII, that philosophy is embedded in even the smallest operational decisions.

Since 2024, the College has replaced all internal plastic bin liners with plant-based, compostable alternatives, keeping thousands of single-use plastics out of landfill each year. Compost tubes installed in the garden beds around the commercial kitchen, stocked with composting worms, now process nearly all organic food waste from the canteen and food technologies classes. Even our approach to pest management has changed: the College has switched to Gen 1 rat baits that significantly reduce the risk of inadvertent harm to possums, owls, and raptors, the very creatures our native planting program is designed to support.

Across the campus, dedicated bins for Containers for Change, batteries, paper and stationery bring recycling into daily routines. All milk used across the College, in the commercial kitchen, food technologies classes, the Circle of Friends Café, and the staffroom, now comes in recyclable cardboard packaging rather than plastic. These are steady, faithful choices that add up.

Wearing it well: sustainable uniforms

Sustainability reaches into the Uniform Shop, too. The College’s second-hand uniform program gives quality pre-loved items a second life, reducing waste while making uniforms more affordable for families. Items not suitable for resale are directed to Clutterbugs, a dedicated WA-based recycling service that has been repurposing unwanted clothing since 2001.

The College has also partnered with Make Good, a Perth-based brand offering school shoes crafted from plant-based materials, including mycelium fibres, cellulose, natural latex, and organic cotton, a biodegradable alternative to conventional leather. Families can try on samples in the Uniform Shop and order online via a QR code.

For added convenience, those wishing to buy or sell second-hand uniforms and resources can do so directly through the College's partnership with Sustainable School Shop, a free, easy-to-use platform that connects College families.

Each year, the College also hosts a Second-Hand Book Sale, giving families the opportunity to purchase pre-loved curriculum books at a fraction of the original cost. It is a practical, popular initiative that eases the financial load for families while keeping quality resources in use and out of landfill, a simple idea with a meaningful impact.

Student leaders: the heart of the movement

Laudato Si’ addresses each of us, and nowhere is that more evident than in the College’s Sustainability Club. Taking place after school and during lunch times and facilitated by the College’s Sustainability Captain from the Year 12 Student Representative Council, the Club gives students the space to learn about environmental issues and to take real, practical action in response. Planting days, recycling drives, and conservation projects are among their contributions.

These young people are not waiting for someone else to act. They are discovering, as Pope Francis hoped, that caring for the earth is not separate from seeking justice; it is one of its most urgent expressions.

That spirit is perhaps most joyfully on display during John XXIII Day, when the Sustainability Club hosts a second-hand clothing stall as part of the celebrations. Students and staff donate quality items, which are sold on the day, giving clothing a second life and raising awareness of conscious consumption in a festive, communal way that is entirely in keeping with the College’s values. Funds raised are donated to our Loreto and Jesuit fundraising causes, meaning every purchase supports both the planet and people. It is a small stall with a big message: every choice to reuse, rather than discard, is an act of care for our common home.

A living response to a living challenge

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis writes that ‘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.’ At John XXIII College, we are doing exactly that, through the hands of students planting banksias, through the choices of families buying second-hand items, through the quiet dedication of staff who sort recycling and install composting worms in garden beds.

We do not have all the answers. But we are asking the right questions, and we are asking them together. That, perhaps, is where every great journey begins.