Nossal News 2024

NEST News

NEST Summit 2023

On a slightly rainy Wednesday 30 August, Nossal’s Environmental and Sustainability Team hosted the much-anticipated Casey Regional Environmental Summit (CRES) for the seventh year in a row. In comparison to previous summits, this year’s in-person event was among the largest in the school’s history, with over 50 attendees from six schools across Casey and the Melbourne region. It was a pleasure to host students from Kambrya, Mac.Rob, St. Margaret’s Berwick Grammar and even Suzanne Cory in Melbourne’s west! 

This year’s theme, Flora and Fauna for the Future, was chosen in consideration of the important role of plants and animals in our day-to-day lives, especially going into a hotter, drier future for the Melbourne region.

 

Our NEST members kicked off the day with team-building icebreakers before welcoming our first guest speaker from the City of Casey. Cameron MacLeod, Team Leader for the Council’s Urban Forest Strategy, ran us through the dire situation of treeless suburbs in Casey and really outlined the importance of trees for wildlife, energy efficiency and our health and wellbeing. For those interested, you can find more information and contact Cameron here: https://conversations.casey.vic.gov.au/city-casey-urban-forest-strategy. 

Shortly afterwards, we invited Nicole from the City of Greater Dandenong to give us a look into one of the most successful citizen science platforms in the world. iNaturalist is essentially a social media network for sharing observations about the natural world—flowers, fish, animal tracks and even bird calls—with other citizen scientists and to provide valuable sighting data to researchers. 

 

She brought us outside as soon as the rain stopped to give us a live demonstration, and within about thirty minutes, we recorded over 100 animal and plant sightings around Nossal High School! This was one of our most well-received workshops, with our attendees now eager to observe and record wildlife for the current Biodiversity Blitz competition (1-30 September) between 10 councils of southern Victoria. See who’s taking the lead and join here: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2023-melbourne. 

 

Among our other presenters, Amanda Knights, Learning Facilitator for STEM from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, brought us into deeper appreciation for Nature’s ingenuity with her interactive workshop on biomimicry. We marvelled at the efficiency of wetland water filtration systems and the fireproofed seed pods of Banksia, before launching into an artistic design challenge inspired by various natural artefacts, including pinecones.

Our attendees were finally treated to the expertise of Simonette from the City of Casey on the very successful Casey Gardens for Wildlife Program. Aiming to provide insight into how best to design your garden to cater for birds, pollinators and marsupials, the program offers consultative visits from volunteers, plenty of gardening advice and even vouchers to purchase seeds and rootstock! Many thanks to Simonette for presenting and handing out informative booklets at the end of the session, where more information can be found here: https://www.casey.vic.gov.au/g4w. 

 

Recess refreshments and fresh fruit were gladly supplied by Berwick Woolworths (many thanks to them!), while our delicious lunch platters were prepared by Subway. Students began navigating the complex Scavenger Hunt for plants around the school during these breaks. It did prove to be difficult, with only three groups completing the challenge!

We rounded off the day with a creative DIY birdfeeder workshop using recycled glass bottles and twine, and announced the winners for our icebreakers and Scavenger Hunt. The winning group received a packet of native Australian wildflower seeds, as well as a family pass graciously donated by Moonlit Sanctuary from Pearcedale! 

 

This year’s Summit was many months in the making, so we extend thanks to everyone involved in organising the summit, including our diligent NEST planning team, all four of the presenters that attended, and our donors for the event. Special thanks go to Ms Anita Coffa for supervision and making sure we didn’t go over budget, and to each and every student and teacher that came along!

 

All in all, CRES aimed to improve our understanding of biodiverse environments, learn about how we are improving levels of biodiversity and facilitate interschool networking. We received very positive reception from all attendees and hope to do even better next year!

 

Alisha Gupta, Pahal Dandiya, Harvey Lam -

NEST Leaders

Nicole explains how to take observations of wildlife in Nossal's Indigenous Garden.
Nicole explains how to take observations of wildlife in Nossal's Indigenous Garden.
Amanda from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ran a biomimicry design challenge.
Amanda from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ran a biomimicry design challenge.
The number of observations around Nossal soared over 100 after our iNaturalist demonstration!
The number of observations around Nossal soared over 100 after our iNaturalist demonstration!
The Native vs. Introduced Species Kahoot was a lot more difficult than students expected!
The Native vs. Introduced Species Kahoot was a lot more difficult than students expected!
Students conversing and taking observations of wildlife during Nicole's iNaturalist workshop.
Students conversing and taking observations of wildlife during Nicole's iNaturalist workshop.
Simonette Charles talked about the Casey Gardens for Wildlife Program and wildlife corridors.
Simonette Charles talked about the Casey Gardens for Wildlife Program and wildlife corridors.