Sustainability

Seed2Tree 2013 Excursion 2013

The Seed2Tree program is run by the Hotrock organisation. Seed2Tree immerses students in nature through native seedling germination and planting program. It takes them through the journey of growing their own native seeds and then planting them in degraded farmland. Students gain local indigenous knowledge and participate in the process of restoring local ecosystems.

They gain a sense of place within the local environment and come to realise that they are a part of the solution. This program is supported by resources that are aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

On Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th of this week, 24 of our students and 4 teachers attended an overnight excursion to the Wheat belt, joining a second class from South Fremantle High School.

The bus departed John XXIII College at 8.15 Monday morning, making its way to the Karrakin Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre. A the Centre the students had a tour of the facilities, they learned all about the Black Cockatoo, they got to see them living in their habitat, they heard of the dangers they face and about what they can do to help.

From there they travelled 2 hours to Talbot Brook Hall to set up their camp for the night, had lunch and listened to an information session about the background to Seed2tree from a very passionate Hotrock leader Richard.

Then it was off to do some planting. The planting site was about 20 minutes' drive from the community hall and is managed by Oral McGuire for land rehabilitation. Oral is a Balladong Noongar man who conducted a smoking ceremony and welcomed our students onto his land.

Students worked very hard over the 2 days, everyone got stuck into the job at hand and planted trees in the rain and mud but thankfully the sun did shine at times. Students camped on the floor of a community hall on Monday night; they had dinner and sat by the camp fire reflecting on their hard day's work.

The Seed2Tree project was a great experience for our students, they had the opportunity to go to the Wheat belt, see the beautiful country side, do their bit for the environment and give back to their community through fun and hard work. Our students planted almost 5,000 trees in 2 days. What a huge achievement!

Thank you to Hotrock, John XXIII College teachers and the students, who should be all very proud. We are already looking forward to taking part in Seed2Tree next year...

The Students who attended the Seed2Tree excursion were:

Year 10
Ciara Nalty - Ward

Bonnie McManus - Ward

Georgina Gillman - Ward

Billy McDonald - Loyala

Gabrielle Young - Ward

Tahani Riches - Ward

John Fairweather - Loreto

Calum MacIntyre - Campion

Jacob Diffen - Ward

Abbey Vlahov - Ward

Olivia Cervi - Koolyangarra

Tim Gummer - Koolyangarra

Antony Pearce - Koolyangarra

Amber Durack - St Louis

Lachlan Waller - Campion

Antonio Magaraggia - Loreto

Olivia Kelly - Campion

Year 11
Samara Treacy - Loreto

Grace Thompson - Loreto

Matthew Gray - Loreto

Liam Fitzgerald - Campion

Cameron Dinnes - Campion

John Alderson - Loreto

Stefan Hill - Campion

Teachers:
Mrs Linda Reilly

Ms Tamara Weston

Ms Beatrice Pritchard

Mr Danny Platts

If can contribute some sustainable ideas or suggestions for the College please feel free to email me reilly.linda@johnxxiii.edu.au

Let's work together to make a noticeable improvement in the area of sustainability at John XXIII College.

Linda Reilly (Kiernan)
Sustainability Coordinator