Djeembana Program

Djeembana and Village Zero Sandringham - pollinator garden project

In August the Year 9 Djeembana students began work on creating a pollinator garden on the Holloway Road Campus as part of their studies learning about the importance of native pollinators in the ecosystem. 

The project has been coordinated by Village Zero Sandringham (https://villagezero.com.au/), whose members include many parents of current Sandy students. They invited Dr Luis Mata, ecologist (Melbourne University) and Sandringham local to speak with the Djeembana students about his work on native bees and pollinator plants, including sharing some of his extraordinary photography (example here of one of his photos of the blue-banded bee). Building a pollinator garden on campus will link in with a much larger project to create pollinator corridors around Melbourne.

Native plants chosen for their role in attracting native pollinators were supplied by the Bayside Community Nursery, with funding from the local Bendigo Bank. The students spent a productive day turning what was a bare area of grass into the start of a new pollinator garden. Many thanks must also go to the volunteers from Village Zero Sandringham who helped with the initial plant out and mulching. 

The garden continues to grow and is expected to reach its full flowering stage in around 2 years. Future Djeembana program students will continue to look after the garden, working with Village Zero Sandringham and Dr Mata to observe the pollinators that begin to make the garden their home.

Ms Treacey, Mr Anderson, Mr Poulis

Djeembana teaching team.