World Cleanup Day is one of the biggest civic movements of our time, uniting 1919 countries across the world for a cleaner planet. Every year, our Catholic Schools participate in Clean Up Australia Day. This event inspires and empowers communities to clean up, fix up and conserve our environment.

Hear from some of our schools about their Clean Up Australia Day initiatives:

St Francis Catholic School, Ayr

This Schools Clean Up Day, St Francis Catholic School Ayr is responding to the goals of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’. Our school is adopting a simple lifestyle choice and sustainable practice by being responsible for our own waste. The School Clean Up Day at St Francis is being led by our school committee, the Planet Protectors. This group was created to recognise the cry of the Earth. Our students will be collecting recyclable material like plastic bottles which will be put into the Containers For Change Program. All money raised by the program will go to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society to acknowledge the cry of the poor in our local community. Initiatives like Clean up Australia Day and Schools Clean Up Day, create great opportunities for our St Francis family to take action to clean up our common home - the Earth.

Popi Loizou
Year 6 Planet Protector

Southern Cross Catholic College, Annandale 

At Southern Cross we pride ourselves on the amazing community we have created. As we approached Clean Up Australia Day we knew that we needed to come together as a school and help keep our beautiful environment clean. Recently we held our very first Riverbed Ramble. With just under 30 attendees, we were able to move through gullies, grassland and roadsides surrounding the school. In this, we were able to successfully keep our waterways clean and avoid sending rubbish and debris off into our oceans. As well as this, on Sunday the 12th of March we are partnering with Tangaroa Blue and another local school to host our quarterly Beach Clean Up at Pallarenda, with dozens of people already signed up we can’t wait to SHINE. 

Lucy Robinson
Stewardship & Sustainability Ministry Group Leader

St Anthony's Catholic College, Deeragun

Australia is our home, and so every year on March 5th, we clean it up. That day is called Clean up Australia day. With pollution increasing the effects of global warming, we can at least help slow it down. You don’t have to do it just one day in the year, for we can do it every single day. When you see it or leave it, it doesn’t hurt to pick it up. The environment needs to be clean and stay clean. So when you're outside playing with your friend or walking down the street, if you see rubbish, don’t leave it for someone else to pick up. So, as soon as a Smiths chip packet enters your view, or a Maccas cup is on the ground, pick it up and help the environment. Keep our home clean, and always put your rubbish in the bin.  Padua Campus had its own Clean Up Australia on March 3rd to clean up our Primary school.

Lily Moriarty
Year 6 Student 

St Joseph's Catholic School, Mundingburra

Our school extended our Clean Up area to include the soccer fields next to our school and we invited our parents to join in with their child's class. Our Reef Guardians did activities around Clean Up Australia Day. We watched a video on the different types of waste we might find around a school and how it can be reduced, reused or recycled. Some of our Reef Guardians pledged to 'Step Up and Clean Up' this year. Our Reef Guardians group has expanded significantly this year! The group of more than 60 students meet weekly with some of our Reefy Teachers; Mrs Lazzaroni, Miss Dani, Mrs Huxley and Mrs Bortignon. Reef Guardians will be analysing a sample of the rubbish collected to inform our sustainability initiatives and priorities for the rest of the year.

Thank you for the happy snaps - St Francis Catholic School, Ayr - Southern Cross Catholic College, Annandale - St Joseph's Catholic School, Mundingburra - St Anthony's Catholic College, Deergun and St Peter's Catholic School, Halifax.