24th Oct 2023 |

A quick recap of what we were up to last term, as well as what we have coming up as part of our Education Program. 

Workshops

• At the beginning of term we ran a tree planting session with East Derwent Primary School. As a whole school over 100 trees were planted, which is a smashing effort!
• As a part of our relationship with 24 Carrot Gardens, we developed an exhibition on backyard flora and fauna monitoring for their Science Week Enquiry Session, for high school students from around Greater Hobart.
• For Cambridge Primary grades 1 and 2 we ran a couple of workshops as a part of their bush school, in which we introduced kids to fun tools to learn about the birds in their backyard, and investigated water bugs in their local creek.
• We collaborated with Hobart Bushcare on a little excursion and weeding session with Mount Carmel year 9 students around South Hobart Rivulet. The kids were stoked when we spotted a platypus!

We are planning to hold plenty more workshops over term 4, including a waste audit with Mount Carmel year 10 students, and a couple of weed ID workshops with year 1 and 2 students with Longford Primary.

If you think there’s a Landcare angle to your teaching plans for this term, reach out! We have heaps of content for all grades that can be adapted to fit into your lesson plan. Personally I’m trying to convince the boss to save up for an electron microscope so we can get really into the nitty gritty science and take some cool pics along the way, but so far no dice.

Know Your Local Patch

Over the holidays we ran three holiday program events across the state as a part of our Know Your Local Patch program.

• In Dodges Ferry we collaborated with Southern Beaches Coastcare to explore their beautiful flora park.
• We worked with Girl Guides Tasmania to highlight the natural values of their local reserve, as well as trying out some bush tucker.
• We joined Ulverstone Coastcare to explore Button’s Creek, with the kids enjoying the local birds putting on a great show in the good weather.

For the summer holidays and beyond we are planning a huge range of events as a part of Know Your Local Patch. We’re aiming for bigger and better, and highlighting the great work done in communities across the state. If things go to plan, we’re hoping to start targeting age groups and interests with some exciting events, including guided walks and botanical art tutorials for high school students, and potentially a landcare fun fair for younger kids. Watch this space!

School Farm Visits

We have received further funding to provide schools in the north of the state with excursions to local Landcare farms. We have a couple of farms already on board, either side of Launceston, and we are developing some educational activities that will highlight how agriculture can benefit from and improve soil health, habitat for native animals, and biodiversity of native plants. If you’re a northern school and would like to organise an excursion, please reach out for more details!

Grants

We are in the process of completing LAP and small plant grants for a wide range of fantastic projects. If you applied for your school and were successful we will be in touch. I'm looking forward to seeing all the great work that happens as a result of these grants!

Australian Organic Schools also reached out to us to share a schools grant of $4,000 for practical learning activities surrounding organic agriculture. More details here. If you’re looking for someone to brainstorm ideas with or look over your application I’m happy to help!

That’s everything we’ve got going on as a part of our education program over the remainder of the year. I’d like to hear from you now! What are your plans for term 4? Are there ways that the team at Landcare Tasmania could help you? Please reach out! We want to hear from you, and we are keen to grow in the ways we support our member schools.

Our 2023 Education Program is supported by the JM Roberts Charitable Trust and donations to the Tasmanian Landcare Fund. The Know Your Local Patch School Holiday program is funded by the Department of Premier and Cabinet under the Premier’s Fund for Children and Young People.