The Regional Engagement Enterprise

TREE – ‘Rethinking Learning’

TREE is busily preparing for projects in Term 3 while also conducting projects in Year 1, Year 3, Information Software Technology, Industrial Technology, Art and Agriculture. The below gives you a brief update for the last two weeks. To hear more, become a follower of our blog theregionalengagemententerprise.com or follow us on Instagram (tree_kws).

Tree Planting at Leurella – Year 7 and 8 Boarders

On Sunday 27th May, 28 boarding students from Year 7 and 8 headed to our Leurella property in Blayney to plant 240 trees as part of the LLS grant secured in 2017. The students worked their socks off in planting, mulching, watering and fencing the saplings into a 300m tree line. This tree line was requested by the farm steering committee to act as a windbreak. Hopefully these students can return in the years to come to reap the fruits of their labour.

Mount Canobolas ‘Then and Now’– Year 3

Year 3 spent Friday 1st June exploring the history and heritage of Mount Canobolas. They began the day at Borenore caves, investigating its indigenous heritage as a site of high cultural importance and the cave formation following the last volcanic eruption.

Following this they moved onto Swinging Bridge Vineyard, at which current parent Tom Ward taught the students about the move to viticulture related agri-tourism on the mountain. The students learnt about pruning, collected soil samples and calculated the mathematics involved in grape production.

From here they headed to Mandagery Creek Venison, where current parents Sophie and Tim Hansen educated the students about venison farming. The students observed deer in the yards, measured the heights of the unusually large fences and investigated the export market for venison. Tim was kind enough to give them all a piece of antler to take home!

Now back at school, the students are building replica models of Mount Canobolas as part of a STEM project to showcase its change of usage through the ages.

Paddock to Plate – Year 1

Year 1 spent Monday 4th June exploring the Paddock to Plate concept for Apple and Cherry Production.

They started the day with a visit to the Orange Regional Museum where students participated in activities identifying equipment and the stages involved in fruit production.

They then moved onto Balmoral Orchard where Mr and Mrs West spent time showing them what it takes to produce top quality apples. Students learned the reasons why apples are suited to our region and how apples are graded, packaged and where they finally end up (in more places than we thought!). Students left with apples in hand (and pockets) to continue their paddock to plate journey.

They then travelled to Caernarvon (Biteriot) where current parents Mr and Mrs Hall spent time showing the students their magnificent packing facility. They were introduced to new technology involving cameras that take 300 pictures of the fruit every second to decide where they will end up on the production chain. Students sampled cherry juice and learned about exports, packaging and how many people it takes to produce cherries from paddock to plate.

What a fantastic day and a great introduction to our journey of discovery into the food of our region. The students are now designing paddock to plate stories that will feature on a selection of Biteriot cherry boxes at christmas time.

Tom Riley

Director of TREE