This is the beginning of the Cleaner Greener School accreditation journey for your school.

Individuals and groups guide actions and begin to understand and identify issues related to litter, recycling, waste management and resource recovery, separation of waste streams, and other sustainable practices. The school sees a need to become cleaner and greener and includes this as a focal point for the school and its planning. At this stage your school will engage in a variety of actions using the Cleaner Greener Action Plan keeping focus areas in mind while gathering and establishing what data you want to collect to help you get on track with your action plan. You will track your progress through waste counts and by investigating resources and their recycling value, and how much money you can save by reducing “general waste” collection costs.

1 Star is the time to bring everyone along on the journey together.

The next stage is for your school to discover and actively engage in finding out more about how to be a Cleaner Greener School.

Questions arise - what's around you and who might be able to help you on your journey. Students are invited to take on leadership roles, to take on actions, and to investigate and explore issues. The whole school community will now be on board to support your school’s Cleaner Greener Action Plan and is introduced to one of the focus areas: litter, waste management, and other sustainable practices. Data collection is important to start at this stage and can be examined by collecting and counting litter, lunch waste, paper waste and resource waste.

2 Star is the time to start investigating litter and introduce a litter prevention campaign.

This stage is when your school community as a whole really starts to change the way it does things day-to-day.

You'll be putting further thought into planning for the Cleaner Greener Action Plan for your school. Two focus areas within the action plan will need to be targeted, while still maintaining the previous star requirements along with your data collection and sharing.

3 Star is a time to look at what else your school community can do to further transform your school and how you can improve on what you're doing. Revisit your data? Do you have a waste management policy or plan? Take on further actions in the Cleaner Greener Action Plan and additional focus areas. It's also time to look to your community for partnerships and continue to build the profile of your school.

Sustaining the practices learnt and introduced at your school is the key to becoming a 4 Star School - along with making sure your school's programs, curriculum, extra/co-curricular and management, are always being monitored and reviewed. This will show how your school community (including staff, students, parents and the wider community) has developed its practices and knowledge along the way.

You’ll be able to complete all actions of the Cleaner Greener Action Plan in all three focus areas:

• litter, with litter campaigns and prevention

• a waste management plan, keeping in mind the four R's (Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) as well as food and packaging

• other sustainable practices in water, energy and biodiversity

School communities who have completed all of this have now become stewards of their environment, habitat and community.

It's time to share knowledge and actively help others as your school community continues to improve its own processes.

As a 5 Star school community, you'll maintain the whole school approach, resource reduction as well as previous star requirements, collecting data and the sharing of those findings. You'll also demonstrate significant leadership in all actions of the Cleaner Greener Action Plan in each of the 3 focus areas:

• litter, with litter campaigns and prevention

• a waste management plan, keeping in mind the four R's (Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) as well as food and packaging

• other sustainable practices in water, energy and biodiversity

Leadership for school communities means you've become role models for your wider community and can now show others how to start their own journey.