Enhancing biodiversity at Christies Beach
Schools
With the support of Green Adelaide, a student environment group at St John the Apostle Parish School has been caring for fragile flora and fauna at Christies Beach.
To raise student and community awareness of local biodiversity, the group decided to build a frog pond and native garden.
Some of the leadership responsibilities that students took on included researching which local plants were suitable for their garden; designing and constructing the garden space; visiting their local plant nursery to meet the grower; and writing applications for two grants to fund their project.
Throughout the process student leaders regularly visited all classes in the school to involve them and posted weekly updates on the school Facebook page.
Staff explored the learning benefits that the site provides, including the study of life cycles, food webs and ecosystems.
The next step for the student leaders was to take the project beyond the school grounds. Building on the knowledge they had gained they teamed up with the local council and adopted a patch of their local coastal dune system.
Ongoing activities led by the students will include revegetation, watering newly planted seedlings, weeding and other maintenance.
Multiple classes from the school have even decorated the cardboard tree guards used in this year’s plantings.
The adjacent Christie Creek is also the focus of outdoor learning for the whole school.
Starting next term, the student leaders will be running regular excursions for every class. They will provide hands-on learning opportunities and undertake actions to help improve the local environment.
APRIM Jamie Mulcahy said the project was aligned to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and its call to care for our common home.
Jump to next article
Comments
Show comments Hide comments