Even bad weather couldn’t stop the Healesville Primary School students from putting their love for the local environment into practice.
Grade 3 and 4 students gathered at Coronation Park on Tuesday 17 June, to revegetate the area.
Healesville Environment Watch Inc (HEWI) and Healesville Primary School have been planting at Coronation Park and Queens Park for 25 years thanks to the support from Yarra Ranges Council and Melbourne Water.
Students were divided into two groups for a planting exercise and a nature walk.
HEWI secretary Karen Garth led the nature walk.
“We’ve found some local birds, we’ve seen where we can go back looking for platypus, and we’ve seen some ringtail possum nests in the trees,” she said.
“A lot of what we’re doing is to protect all that habitat for those animals.”
Despite the rainy weather, students enjoyed the activities.
This was the second time Grade 4 students Zoe R, Zoe C, and Toby participated in the program.
“I found it really nice because I feel like I’m participating in helping the local environment, especially our land and animals,” Zoe R said.
“It’s really good, we’re helping all the birds and insects here,” Toby said.
“It’s really fun to help the environment by growing more trees and creating fresher air for animals,” Zoe C said.
Over 70 students participated in the program.
Among those students, there were a few whose parents had also been involved in the same program when they attended the school.
Grade 3/4 teacher Marlene Williams said it’s a wonderful thing for the children to be involved in the environment which helps raise a sense of belonging and pride in their own community.
“It is their local environment. They have to live here, and they can be proud of it,” she said.
“And the students in the past have come back, and they’ve had a look at the trees and the bushes that they’ve planted to see how they’re going, and they do know that it helps the wildlife and the bird life.”
