Snorkelling Excursion

On Wednesday 15th of December students participated in a snorkelling session at Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary. The session was part of program in BEST where the marine environment at Ricketts Point was a focus site for studying our local species as part of our ‘Classification’ unit. We were very lucky having almost perfect weather to explore the shallow reefs and sea grass beds at Ricketts Point. A highlight for many groups was being able to see some smooth rays or banjo sharks (type of ray) gracefully gliding past. Handling and learning about the Purple Urchins and Eleven Arm Stars was also a highlight for many students.

Back in the classroom, students have looked at the scientific groupings and classification of these organisms. During their Project Based Learning Task students created fact sheets and ID cards to identify the different species found in this environment. Students were also required to create food webs for many of the marine species they have experienced during this unit. In the future their understanding of the ecosystem at Ricketts Point will be invaluable as students continue to explore this area and make many new connections in their learning.

The other focus of the snorkelling session was to develop our student’s skills to safely and confidently participate in snorkelling. This involved instructors from Bayplay covering safety procedures for snorkelling and basic water competence skills such as clearing a mask, finning and submerging and resurfacing while snorkelling. These are skills that will support our student’s participation in our College's snorkelling programs in the years ahead. We are really looking forward to continuing our adventure with snorkelling sessions planned as part of our Year 8 program.