Scotch College

Our Year 3 river keepers

Learning in their local river environment has been a wonderful experience for Year 3 boys.

Words: KATRINA ELLIS (YEAR 3 COORDINATOR) and GILLIAN COMPORT (YEAR 3 TEACHER)

Year 3 Scotch boys, in conjunction with Year 11 boys, have been working to restore biodiversity to the Yarra riverbank area bordering Scotch by regenerating the habitat area. It has been a wonderful experience for the boys, because their learning has had real purpose. Learning in their local environment has given the boys personal ownership.

 

L-R: Alex Xia, Jeremy Moros, William Symington, William Sylivris

 

L-R: Max Bernard, Guy Starkins, Marcus Ma

L-R: Jack Murphy, Alex Brooke

The aim of our term 3 ‘river keepers’ unit was to support students from knowledge acquisition to advocacy. Armed with notepaper and clipboards, the Year 3 boys visited the Yarra riverbank early in term 3 and made their first observations. They quickly discovered that things were not looking too good at the Yarra riverbank. Miss Ellis explained to the boys what had been happening over the years to this once proud river.

After initial observation and research the Year 3 boys decided that they would like to help regenerate the banks of the river and restore biodiversity to the area. Once this decision was made, each class accessed the Department of the Environment and Water Resources website and located the environmental reporting tool (ERT). We used the ERT to enter our postcode to find a list of endangered or threatened animals in the Hawthorn area. We were shocked to find so many indigenous animals listed. It was time for action!

A solution was brainstormed, ideas and methods were discussed and a plan was formulated. The boys, armed with gardening gloves and old shoes, set about preparing the riverbank behind the Scotch tennis courts.

The first step was to eradicate weeds and rubbish. We soon realised that this first step would be an ongoing task. During term 3, the Year 3 boys planted around 200 indigenous plants, shrubs and grasses. As part of a technology unit the boys also began constructing nesting boxes to encourage the reintroduction of a variety of indigenous animals to the area.

In this task, we were lucky to have the expert guidance of David Bennett and David te Boekhorst from School maintenance, and assistance from several Year 11 mentors. These nesting boxes will be placed appropriately around the riverbank in the coming months.

 

Hamish Bawden, Vincent Jiang

 

Jaimon Yuen, Senior School boy, Jeremy Moros

 

Lucas Russell, Denzel Cherian

 

Rupert Kudelka, Senior School boy, Lucas Russell

Ciaran Ho

Along the way many others have helped the boys learn about looking after our valuable river systems. We have had visits from Darren Bird, a ranger from Parks Victoria, Trish Grant, an educational officer from Melbourne Water, who helped us carry out water quality testing, and Ms Jillian Staton (the mother of Finn Whittaker) was a special guest speaker.

Each of these people carefully explained the needs of our local flora and fauna and the importance of looking after our river. In class the boys completed research using a variety of resources. Each boy studied a particular threatened or endangered animal indigenous to the Hawthorn area, and shared his newfound understanding with his class.

It was an extremely rewarding term for the Year 3 boys, because learning in their local environment has given the boys personal ownership. We hope that this will generate positive action and hope for the future. The Year 3 boys and teachers wish to sincerely thank those who have helped, stimulated and guided us through this exciting adventure.