Ontario​ EcoSchools is an environmental education and certification program for grades K-12 that helps school communities develop both ecological literacy and environmental practices to become environmentally responsible citizens and reduce the ecological footprint of schools. The program is focused on both student learning and school operations.

The 4 pillars of Ontario EcoSchools are:

• Ecological Literacy
• Energy Conservation
• Waste Minimization
• School Ground Greening​​

Created by the eco-team of St. John XXIII:

 We are cool…

• We have a mother duck who lays her eggs in our courtyard. Every spring, the whole school walks the duck family to the nearby pond.
• We are a PeaceQuest school. This year we celebrated the International Day of Peace (September 25) by having a Peace Play Day!
• We have a Hydroponic/Aeroponic Water Tower that is growing vegetables through the winter.
• Chosen students annually go to the Best Foot Forward Eco-conference.
• We are a 'gold' status school.

• We keep our yard clean
• We compost
• We reuse paper (Good on One Side=GOOS)
• We recycle paper, juice boxes, plastics, tin cans, milk cartons, etc.
• We reuse and recycle items for creating our school play(s)
• We turn off the lights and Smartboards
  
  

And we are green…

• We have a vegetable garden in the courtyard
• We planted shade trees for the courtyard and to give to our mothers on Mother's Day
• We will be planting native plants for our mother duck and ducklings
• We have an Elkay Water Station that filters our water. We grew mint to put in our water bottles.