By Mikayla van Loon
Students from both Cire Community School campuses in Lilydale and Mount Evelyn took to beautifying each school’s grounds by getting involved in National Tree Day on Friday 29 July.
With donations generously given from Yarra Valley and Croydon Toyota, Candlebark Community Nursery, Karwarra Australian Plant Garden and Nursery and Bunnings, students were decked out with all the equipment needed to begin planting.
Assistant principal Bradley Turner said it was a great initiative to get students outside, enjoy the sunshine and experience a different way of learning about horticulture and biodiversity.
“We were wanting to give students the opportunity to do some hands-on learning and work with biodiversity and get a sense of some of our native plants,” he said.
“But also it was a great opportunity to connect with something in the local community, connect with local businesses and be involved in something bigger than just what’s happening here on campus.”
For middle years students Logan and Kobi, it was an opportunity to leave their mark on the school.
“I made a garden in the corner. So that will grow and look nice. It will be pretty interesting to come back later when it’s all grown and see what it looks like,” Kobi said.
“I feel like it’s going to make the school look nicer with all the other trees and plants,” Logan said.
Mr Turner said for students to have that personal connection to the school itself was a wonderful outcome for the day.
“One of the things I really appreciate about an opportunity like this is the students having the chance to contribute to the look of the school so it’s not a team that comes up with this plan and makes it happen, it gets students involved as well.”
In total 50 plants were donated for the two campuses to use, along with plant protectors, soil and mulch.
Representatives from Bayswater and Lilydale Bunnings, Karen and Emily, were on hand to help with any planting questions students had and helped with education around planting practices.
Mr Turner said although taking part in Planet Ark’s National Tree Planting day was about joining with the 3000 other schools that participate each year, it also builds connections between students and teachers, while touching on important parts of the curriculum.
It was the first National Tree Day Kobi, Logan and Mr Turner had taken part in, all of them saying it was fun to do something different.
