Team Foundation News
Royal Botanic Gardens Excursion
Our eagerly anticipated excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens finally took place on Monday 27th May. FKJ and Foundation students from Bellevue Primary, two teachers and four enthusiastic parents boarded the bus and took off through the city. The views were magnificent and the weather was a perfect Autumn day; a crisp, cool morning with bursts of sunshine in the afternoon.
Our first stop was the Education Centre where we ate our morning snack and met our guide for the day. We participated in the highly recommended Seasonal Garden Discovery Program. The focus was to introduce students to the wondrous world of plants and the history and stories of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The Foundation students began the session by giving thanks to the traditional elders of this land. Students learnt who lived on this land before European settlement and how these people cared for this land.
The next activity was an exploration of the Kitchen Garden, which was located inside the Children’s Garden. The students were introduced to many different varieties of vegetables and herbs. They walked around the garden, trying to find fruit and vegetables growing. Students found beans, cucumbers, flowers, eggplant, papaya and leafy greens. They learnt what plants need to survive and stay healthy and discovered the different jobs that are done each day to maintain this garden.
In our second activity, we had an opportunity to plant our own indigenous plant into a pot to take home to our own gardens. These plants were of the native daisy variety called Billy Buttons. They are a plant with a spherical head of up to 200 daisy-like "flowers". We learnt how to look after these plants by watering them every couple of days and also were reminded to plant them in a sunny position in our garden.
Next the children explored the Ian Potter Children’s Garden. A specially designed garden where children can play, explore, climb and hide. There's lots of fun places to explore including the Ruin Garden, the Meeting Place (which has a water feature that sprays up out of the ground in summer!), a Wetland Area with a 80cm deep pond, Bamboo Forest, The Gorge, ancient redgum which is nearly 10,000 years old, Plant Tunnel, Kitchen Garden and The Rill (a gentle waterway that runs through the Garden).
Our last activity was to go and explore the large herb garden. This garden is full of plants that can be used in our homes to: cook, clean or use for medicinal purposes. After we learnt about the different ways that we could use these plants in our home we made a potpourri bag to take home. This bag was full of dried rose and lavender petals. We found out that if we placed this bag into our sock draw it would make our socks smell like a flower garden!
During the excursion, we learnt about the history of the Gardens, and discovered that the Gardens are 178 years old! Incredible!
After lunch we went on a self-guided tour of the Gardens exploring the wondrous plants and creatures and encountering a range of native animals including ducks and water hen. As a group, we journeyed from Guilfoyle’s Volcano to the Arid Garden, Fern Gully, the Lightning Tree and back to the Education Centre.
We were told the story of the amazing survival of the Lightning Tree. In 1972, one of the great big oaks, located in the gardens, was struck by lightning. The electricity zapped through its water and sap, forming an enormous split in its trunk. The arborist, a tree doctor, decided that she would try and save the tree and so with lots of metal cables was able to re-join the trunk and stop it from dying. You can still see the metal cables holding this tree together!
The bus ride was much quieter on the way home and we’re sure the students, parents and teachers all slept well afterwards.
We feel very grateful to have spent such a lovely day together. What a treasured part of Melbourne’s culture!
A BIG thank you goes out to Julie, Mozhgan and Zara (mothers of Heather, Tida and Adrian) for volunteering their time and energy to come on this excursion.
Echi Echidna Term 2
Week 6 Echi Adventures - Anny
In Week 6 Anny took Echi home and had so many exciting adventures together! Anny and Echi drew pictures, explored her garden and basked in the warm sunshine, watched television shows and played together before going to sleep.Well done Anny for sharing these lovely adventures with Echi! We all enjoyed listening to you share the fun times that you had with our furry friend. Great job!
Thank you to Anny's parents and big brother for their support in organising these adventures! We look forward to hearing more adventures soon!