Category: MIL-OSI

In brief:

• The first students are now attending Canberra’s newest public school – Aunty Agnes Shea High School.
• The school is named after late senior Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Agnes Shea.
• This week, over 50,000 students return to public schools across the ACT.

---

The brand-new Aunty Agnes Shea High School in Taylor welcomes its first students this week.

The ACT’s 92nd public school, it will cater to up to 800 years 7–10 students in the growing suburbs of north Gungahlin.

The new school’s students are among over 50,000 returning to public schools across Canberra.

Named for a great Canberran

The new school’s name honours late senior Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Agnes Shea.

The school’s logo and uniform design derive from the artwork ‘Journeys’ about Aunty Agnes Shea.

Artist Selina Walker is Aunty Agnes Shea’s granddaughter. She gifted ‘Journeys’ to the school.

The logo was co-designed with Aunty Agnes Shea’s family. The school’s first cohort of students and their families also contributed to how ‘Journeys’ is shown on the school uniform.

Contemporary facilities

The school features state-of-the-art learning spaces. It is also fully electric in its operations. The buildings use sustainable materials and a large solar panel array.

Students can also enjoy:

• a double gym with basketball, netball, futsal, volleyball and badminton markings
• a covered hard court suitable for basketball and netball
• kickabout spaces for ball sports
• external fitness equipment.

Spaces in the school are available for community use.

Aunty Agnes Shea OAM

Aunty Agnes Josephine Shea OAM dedicated most of her life to bettering the world for future generations of Aboriginal Australians.

She worked tirelessly in many different roles for the varying range of communities that call Ngunnawal Country home.

Aunty Agnes Shea’s achievements and dedication have been recognised over the years.

In 2001 she was awarded the Centenary Medal. In 2004, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia.

In 2010 she was awarded an ACT Senior Citizen of the Year award. She also gained a place on the ACT Honour Walk that same year.

Find more on the Aunty Agnes Shea High School website.

^{The brand-new school offers state-of-the-art facilities.}

Read more like this:

---

Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter:

Subscribe to Our CBR

In brief:

• The ACT Government will provide one free school camp at Birrigai for every student during their primary years.
• The free camps will be held at Birrigai Outdoor School from term 1 this year.

---

The ACT Government will provide one free school camp at Birrigai for every primary school student, with free camps starting in term 1 this year.

Camps will be held at Birrigai Outdoor School, near Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.

It’s expected that one year group from each ACT public primary school will attend a free camp each year.

This will allow all ACT primary school students to attend a free camp during their primary school years.

Allowing everyone to participate

This new program means families won’t have to miss out due to cost.

School camps are an important part of the educational experience. The program ensures all students can attend.

The program roll out

It’s anticipated that more than 1000 students will benefit from the program in the first half of the year.

Additional school bookings will open in the coming weeks.

Work is underway to support the roll out of the program’s first phase in the first half of 2025. 

Schools will communicate to their school communities as plans are finalised.

Semester 1 2025 bookings are subject to availability.

Ensuring equity in education

Equity is one of the four principles of the ACT Government’s Future of Education Strategy.

The program comes in addition to other initiatives aimed at helping Canberra families with school costs. These include:

• free three-year-old preschool
• the Future of Education Equity Fund
• a Chromebook for every public secondary school student.

Find out more at education.act.gov.au

Read more like this

---

Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter:

Subscribe to Our CBR

In brief:

• A new recycling facility for the ACT will be built in Hume.
• Veolia will partner with the ACT Government to design, build and operate the new facility.
• The facility will have world-leading technology to recover and sort recyclable materials.
• It is expected to be operational in 2028.

---

A new recycling facility for Canberra is on the way.

Veolia will partner with the ACT Government to design, build and operate the new facility.

This will be built within the current bounds of the Hume Resource Recovery Estate on Recycling Road in Hume.

Construction is expected to begin in 2026.

World-leading technology

The Government selected Veolia as its industry partner after a competitive procurement process last year.

Veolia is a leader in water, energy, and waste management. It will bring world-leading technology to Canberra to build one of the country’s most advanced materials recovery facilities.

Veolia will run the facility under a long-term contract for 20 years, once it is operational.

A state-of-the-art facility

The new facility will be able to sort paper and cardboard, glass, plastic, steel and aluminium.

Its sophisticated technology will increase recovery rates, producing high purity in materials for recycling and resource recovery.

Technology includes:

• a glass purification plant
• sophisticated automatic recognition
• screens to separate paper
• laser optical identification with air jets to separate plastics
• powerful magnets to extract metals.

Supporting Canberra and its future

The new, larger facility will be able to process up to 115,000 tonnes of mixed recyclables per year.

This supports a growing Canberra and changing consumer behaviour that is contributing to increases in recoverable material over time.

Additional benefits

The project will create more than 130 new jobs.

Removing the need to transport the ACT’s recyclable materials interstate will have a further environmental impact.

A new education space will also be built. This will allow the community and school groups to visit and learn about how recyclable products are processed, to be transformed into renewed items.

Capabilities and features of the new facility include:

Improved recycling facilities

• Sorting: advanced optical sorting to better separate, identify, sort and segregate recycling to higher purity levels, reducing contaminants for better quality end market products.
• Glass recycling: glass crushing and washing facilities to provide better quality crushed glass that can be used in a wider range of products.
• Container recycling: improved and expanded baling processes for Container Deposit Scheme materials.

Improved environmental aspects

• Greenstar rating: the building will be designed to meet specific Greenstar requirements to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint.
• Wastewater management: wastewater capture treatment and reuse with stormwater management infrastructure to achieve environmental compliance.

Advanced management systems

• Fire management: advanced fire detection and suppression systems.
• Data collection: sophisticated data collection, management, and analysis systems.
• Flexibility to incorporate new innovations, improvements in technology and adapt to changing recycling priorities and materials.

State-of-the-art fire detection, mitigation and control systems will safeguard the site from fires. These can be caused by items such as lithium batteries or gas bottles finding their way into the recycling stream.

Non-recyclable or flammable items should not be put in recycling bins. This does happen from time to time, though, warranting the need for these extra safety measures.

Interim recycling

Canberrans can rest assured that the items they put in their yellow household bins are still being recycled.

Until the new facility is complete, recycling services will continue to be delivered by the current contractor, Re.Group.

The new recycling facility is funded via a joint investment of $26 million from the ACT and Australian governments.

The construction program includes the demolition of the previous material recovery facility, which is expected to commence around mid-2025.

The facility is expected to be operational in 2028.

Read more like this

---

Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter:

Subscribe to Our CBR

---

In Brief:

• The Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grants program is now open for applications.
• The program supports projects that make urban areas cooler using plants and natural materials.
• This story describes eligibility criteria and projects that have secured funding from previous rounds.

---

Grants are now open for the ‘Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb’ program.

What is the program for?

The grants support innovative projects to make the hottest areas in Canberra cooler.

A total of $150,000 in grant funding is now available for local projects that:

• use plants and natural materials to make urban areas cooler
• protect suburbs from the harsh impacts of climate change.

As the heat continues to rise, Canberrans are more likely to suffer from ‘urban heat island effect’. This is when surfaces and infrastructure like pavement, roads and buildings soak up the heat from the sun. It then radiates back into suburbs.

What kind of projects are eligible for funding?

Up to $50,000 per project is available for projects that will benefit the community through:

• providing natural shade
• capturing rainwater
• improving water absorption
• showcasing creative ways to keep suburbs cool.

These projects may include:

• replacing hard and hot surfaces with plants and natural materials
• installing a combination of shade structures and plants, or
• installing landscaping features that retain water, like swales.

Up to $10,000 is also available for eligible organisations to conduct feasibility studies that explore new ways to make an area cooler with nature-based solutions.

Which projects have received grant funding before?

Three Mills Bakery is a local business that received funding in the last round of the program. They are working to transform an urban concrete hotspot in Woden into a publicly accessible oasis.

They are installing canopy trees and other plants in planter boxes. The vegetation and planters will reduce urban heat and retain water.

“The external environment plays a huge role in creating remarkable hospitality experiences”, Jarrod Deaton, founder of Three Mills Bakery said.

“The Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grant will help us to transform a harsh concrete environment into a softer, greener space that people can enjoy.”

How can I find out more?

An online information session will be held on 12 December 2024 for those who are interested in applying for a grant and wish to find out more about the program and application process. 

Applications for the 2024-25 ‘Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb’ grants program are now open until midnight 9 February 2025.

For more information on the grant program and how to apply, visit the Everyday Climate Choices website.

---

Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter:

Subscribe to Our CBR