Friday 29 July was Schools Tree Day, a national event where schools across Australia are invited to plant native species for use in bush tucker gardens, natural playscapes and for the provision of natural habitat for wildlife. At Woodleigh School Senior Campus, we took great pride in focusing on the former.

Earlier this year we were successful in obtaining a grant from Planet Ark’s seedling bank initiative which enabled us to order over 900 native seedlings from the Conservation Collective Nursery in Hastings. These seedlings were to be used in a revegetation project within the Brian Henderson Wildlife Reserve and the gardens of our Sustainability Centre on the Woodleigh Farm.

A major reason for this planting was not only to revegetate recently weeded areas of the reserve, but also to provide habitat for our new Southern Brown Bandicoots. The grasses, shrubs and other plants will provide suitable shelter for small marsupials; not only bandicoots but also the other small denizens of the reserve such as bettongs.

Planting began with the Activities group on Friday 29 July, commemorating Schools Tree Day with the establishment of a revegetation zone on the borders of the reserve lake in the west.

On Tuesday 2 August we received a huge amount of support and contribution from the Spring Park Primary groups and the Year 8 Community Partnerships program. We look forward to continuing our planting in the Brian Henderson Wildlife Reserve and to start our planting in the Sustainability Centre during Activity sessions and lunchtimes during the remainder of Term 3.

THOMAS HENNESSY
Land and Animal Management Assistant