VCE-VM Conservation Excursions

The VCE-VM Unit 2 curriculum asks students to address community issues, explore features of effective community engagement and work collaboratively to implement a community engagement activity.

After completing several school-based activities such as a litter audit and research into the impacts of waste on our local environments, the class expressed a desire to continue this inquiry via a workshop at the Melbourne Zoo titled Connecting Community with Conservation. It was during this excursion that students discovered the urgent need for greater conservation efforts around Melbourne, partly due to the impacts that litter has on waterways and marine life.

Now equipped with a clear purpose, the students set about launching a beach clean-up excursion. They established roles and created a checklist of tasks to make this day a reality, from writing and publishing the event on Compass, to emailing our school nurse requesting supplies, and then researching the most viable beach to tidy up. After discovering the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary in Williamstown, the class decided that this was the most suitable place to further protect from the impacts of, well, us!

After collecting the supplies and planning our journey, we caught the train out to Williamstown Beach and methodically worked our way across the sand, rubbish claws in hand, and (quite disturbingly) filled our bin bags with all sorts of litter – the most common items being cigarette butts, bottle caps, baby wipes, soft plastics, children’s toys, and fishing lines. The students even collected and disposed of a discarded beach umbrella and soccer ball. Interested locals queried the students about their activity, to which they proudly replied that they were raising awareness about marine conservation and, importantly, walking the talk!

Satisfied with their morning’s work, the students took a stroll through Jawbone Marine Sanctuary just as the sun came out, learning about the local wildlife along the way, before rewarding themselves with Maccas for lunch.

A successful and rewarding way to finish their (and UHS’s) first year of VCE-VM.

Trent Ogden - Personal Development Skills Teacher