Nature Play SA and Hallett Cove South at Forktree

A great day at The Forktree Project last week with Hallett Cove South Primary School and Abe and Cam from Nature Play SA .

The Yr 5/6 students planted a range of pink gum community species to enrich habitat on a high, north-facing slope and prepared a lower, gully-side site by positioning stakes in planting clusters for red gum community species. Thank you, HCSPS!

Central to the Forktree education program is a belief in the power of learning by doing, so fantastic to receive this feedback from the students themselves on what they learned and how to apply it:

"We learned about communities, biodiversity and symbiosis - we can use this knowledge to help us create a more biodiverse environment when planning what to do next."

"Learning how to clear the ground to support plant growth, how far plants need to be from each other, and how far down they need to be planted."

"How to care for plant roots and to plant in wells to help them collect water. We can use this in our butterfly garden and veggie garden projects. And make sure we are doing our best to support the plants properly."

"Learning how plant communities work and how plants need each other to grow well and create a biodiverse environment. We want to look at our garden and planting to make sure we have created the plant communities to support biodiversity."

"Learning how to bang in stakes and space out plants. We could try doing this when we go to plant veggies and plants to make sure we are giving the plants the correct space and are making plant communities."

"Looking at some natural and man-made bird boxes made from recycled materials gave me some ideas for how we could make our bird boxes."

And from Nature Play SA: "it was a wonderful inflection point for their learning... The most interesting part for us was how the kids were able to transfer what they learned with you back to the school context... They had thoughtfully staked [their school planting project], dug the holes and planted and boxed just the way you taught them. It was a long day, but again, the sense of pride and ownership was gold."

Amazing! Well done, HCSPS Yr 5/6s!