Sustainability

Year 4 Stewardship

We had a simply delightful day at Tirhatuan Park Reserve on Wednesday for our excursion learning about water quality testing and the health of Dandenong Creek. A short bus ride from St Justin's with our teachers and two very generous parent helpers saw us arrive at Tirhatuan Park around 9:40. The students immediately began to explore the park marveling at the amount of green space in which to run and frolic. 

After a quick debrief about safety, we began the learning session from Melbourne Water. We went for a short walk to the creek's edge observing the water flow, colour, smell and turbidity. The students detailed their observations on their worksheets and discussed their observations with the Melbourne Water staff.

The students learnt that the sign of a healthy creek can be evaluated by observing the life within. So, they investigated samples of water taken from the the creek and identified the different water bugs found within. Creatures such as mosquito fish, water boatmen, shrimp, water tigers, flatworms, and Gordian worms were just some of the many different types of water bugs found. This activity raised much discussion and great excitement as the creatures jumped out of the water in their efforts to catch and observe them!

After a morning of great learning and activity, the students enjoyed some free time using the facilities at the reserve, playing on the equipment and running free on the vast grasslands. We were blessed with the weather and consider ourselves very fortunate to have such beautiful waterways and parklands within our local community. It is our collective job to ensure these spaces are maintained to be as healthy as they can be for all living beings. We thank the staff from Melbourne Water for their time and for the learning they shared with us. 

Year 3 Kitchen Garden

On Tuesday we are inviting the parents of the year 3 students to an afternoon tea at 3pm to find out about their kitchen garden experience. The parents will be offered scones and a cuppa and will be able to discuss with students what recipes they made and other aspects of the program. 

Open Day

We were very fortunate to have the help of some year 6 students who made pizza pastries and offered these to our touring visitors. They were great ambassadors for our school sharing the story about the Kitchen Garden program. The visitors to our school seemed very impressed not only with these students but also with the way they spoke about our school in such a positive and excitable way.