A helping hand for nature

Lucien Poole, Persephone Wytkamp and Koko Boyd plant a tree. 159201

THE Bellarine Secondary College had a tree planting day just before the term finished.
The day was organised by teachers Ms Hall, Ms Cassar-Smith, Maddie Glynn from Barwon Coast and Matt Crawley from Bellarine Catchment Management.
Students attended workshops run by various community groups to learn about the environment and the biodiversity in our backyards.
This year marked the 11th anniversary of the school’s partnership with these groups and was celebrated by planting a tree.
Bryon Powell from the Wadawurrung opened the day with a Welcome to Country smoking ceremony. He also ran an exciting workshop that celebrated Aboriginal culture.
One of the workshops was led by VCE environmental science students and the VET music students ran a session on song writing with an environmental theme.
Other presentations were from Barwon Coast who showed the students on the importance of our local surroundings.
The Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre educated the students on fish and their environment.
Matt Crawley and Sophie Small from Bellarine Landcare Group got the students planting trees at Yarram Creek, which is the main tributary that flows into Swan Bay – which is listed as a Ramsar Wetland of international significance.
A smaller group of students were able to participate in a workshop at Ecolinc in Bacchus Marsh.