Holland Park State School (Grade 5)
Just a short distance from Brisbane’s CBD, Holland Park State School is showing its students that even one idea can grow into something with a lasting impact. Home to around 800 students from Prep to Year 6, the school has been part of the Holland Park community for almost a century. It opened on 28 January 1929 with just three classrooms and 118 students and, while much has changed since then, elements of the school’s original architectural character remain today. Across that history, generations of students and families have helped shape the school community. Today, curiosity, creativity and taking action are at the heart of learning – particularly when it comes to sustainability. That philosophy is now being brought to life on the school grounds, with Holland Park State School named Queensland’s state winner in Keep Australia Beautiful’s Paint Australia Beautiful campaign.
From one student’s idea to a school mural
The mural began as a design challenge inviting students to explore biodiversity, caring for the environment and what a beautiful, sustainable Australia could look like. From those ideas, a design by Year 5 student Reeva was selected as Queensland’s winning entry. Now, around 15 Year 5 students will help transform that concept into a permanent mural, supported by teachers Cassie Walker, Clair Savage and Kelsey Kudeborg. For the school, seeing a student’s idea progress from a classroom design to something that will become part of the physical school environment embodies an important message: young people’s ideas can make a difference.
The mural itself tells a story of connection between people, communities and the natural environment. Moving between the city and the coast, the design challenges the idea that our different environments exist in isolation. The beach represents the natural places people enjoy and value, while the city is a reminder that choices made where we live can affect environments much further away – including our waterways and oceans. Trees, wildlife and marine life reinforce the importance of biodiversity and the connections between these environments. At its heart is a simple idea: if we want to continue enjoying Australia’s special places, caring for them begins with the choices we make in our own communities.
Where the mural finds its home
That message is particularly fitting for the space where the mural will live. Despite being close to central Brisbane, Holland Park students are surrounded by pockets of nature, including nearby Whites Hill Reserve and the Norman Creek catchment. Nature also finds its way directly onto the school grounds. Students regularly encounter kookaburras, rainbow lorikeets, magpies, crows, tawny frogmouths, possums, insects and a resident bush turkey. Occasionally, they are even lucky enough to spot a koala. The new mural will become part of Gribbin Green, the school’s developing outdoor learning space, which includes a dedicated wildlife observation area. Designed as a place where students can slow down, observe and learn from the plants and animals around them, Gribbin Green provides a natural home for a mural celebrating the relationship between people and nature.
Turning environmental learning into action
At Holland Park State School, sustainability extends well beyond the mural. It is embedded throughout the school’s ESTAS – Entrepreneurial Science, Technology and Sustainability – program, which brings together science, technology, environmental learning and entrepreneurship. Rather than simply learning about real-world issues, students are encouraged to investigate problems, gather evidence, develop solutions and take action. Through this approach, students explore topics including biodiversity, threatened species, waste, water, sustainable consumption and reef health. They participate in citizen science and contribute to initiatives including EcoWarriors, Waste Warriors, school gardens and the development of Gribbin Green.
Their projects have also taken their learning far beyond the school grounds. Students have raised funds to support threatened Australian species, contributed to the Great Reef Census and designed water filtration solutions connected with a community in Kupang. They have also created Reef Rivals, an educational reef conservation game that has been shared locally, nationally and internationally.
For Holland Park, these projects reflect an evolution in its sustainability journey – from activities happening within the school to authentic, student-led projects connecting young people with scientists, community organisations and communities around the world. The school’s approach has also been recognised by the Queensland Department of Education, which recently featured Holland Park State School as an example of sustainability in action.
Giving students a genuine audience
Paint Australia Beautiful was a natural extension of that philosophy. The campaign gave students another opportunity to explore a real environmental question, develop their own response and communicate it creatively to an audience beyond the classroom.
Cassie Walker, Entrepreneurial Science, Technology and Sustainability (ESTAS) Teacher tells us that “Being named Queensland’s state winner has created a sense of pride and excitement across the school, but its significance goes beyond the recognition itself. Students have watched an idea grow from a design challenge into something tangible – a mural that their classmates, teachers and future generations of students will encounter in their everyday lives.”
“Along the way, the project has prompted conversations about biodiversity, the environments students value and the responsibility we all share for protecting them. It has also encouraged students to think beyond what they can immediately see – including how actions taken in a city can ultimately affect waterways, coastlines and oceans. Once completed, the mural will continue those conversations from its home in Gribbin Green.”
The school hopes it will inspire future students to notice what is around them, ask questions and take action to protect the environment. Most importantly, Holland Park State School hopes students will see what can happen when their ideas are taken seriously and given a genuine audience. One Year 5 student began with an idea about what a beautiful and sustainable Australia could look like. Now, that idea will become part of the school for years to come.