Schools for Wildlife Program

The Schools for Wildlife Program is designed to help students design and create a fully planted, wildlife-friendly garden at your school.

Schools for Wildlife

Program details

Year Level
Years 3-10, Staff
(Group of 30 students)

Delivery
Site assessment
1 x Teacher PD (online)
1 x Student Incursion (online)
2 x Student Incursions (in-person)
1 x Student Excursion

Cost
Funded program for eligible schools.

The Schools for Wildlife Program is designed to help students design and create a fully planted, wildlife friendly-garden at your school, consisting of online and face-to-face sessions for both students and staff.

Activities

The program is comprised of six activities:

  • Site assessment (to assess garden site, no student involvement)
  • Teacher Professional Development Workshop (1hr webinar)
  • Online student incursion (a one-hour webinar) to build knowledge
  • In-person student incursion (two 45min sessions) to design and plan for planting
  • In-person student incursion (two 45min sessions) to plant garden at school
  • In-person student excursion (one 45min session) to participate in a community planting in a local public space.

A selection of a group of no more than 30 students from Years 3–10 to engage in three incursions.

A CERES educator will work with your school to participate in this exciting new program, engaging your students in the outdoors and positively influence their behaviours towards the natural environment.

Student incursions will include three sessions, structured as follows:

  • Incursion 1: 1 x one-hour online session
    • Students explore the importance of biodiversity, how living things are interconnected and why wildlife species are disappearing in urban areas to consider ways to protect ecosystems
    • Students engage in a habitat survey to determine what habitat is already available for local wildlife at their school (post-incursion activity)

  • Incursion 2: Two x 45 minute sessions (in person)

    • Students explore how wildlife gardens are structured to provide habitat for lots of different wildlife species
    • Students are introduced to various indigenous plants that provide habitat for local wildlife species
    • Students engage in soil tests to check the soil PH, type and water absorption prior to planting
    • Students are supported to create a to scale design of their garden space
  • Incursion 3: Two x 45 minute sessions (in person)
    • Students learn about gardening tools and how to use them safely
    • Students plant indigenous seedlings to create the wildlife garden
    • Students learn about about the needs of a newly planted garden and make a plan for how to ensure the garden is able to establish and flourish
    • Students consider ‘future additions’ to their garden to continue to increase the biodiversity of their school and improve habitat for wildlife

Location: At your school, and via an online platform

Cost: If your school is located in the Banyule, Darebin, Hume or Merri-bek council areas you are eligible to participate in this program for FREE. If you are from a school outside of these areas, please contact us.

This program links to curriculum areas of:

  • Ethical Capability
  • Geography
  • Science
  • Mathematics
  • Design and Technology.

Schools for Wildlife Curriculum Links document

You will be provided with instructions for the online Teacher Professional and Student Incursion session components of this program.

How the virtual sessions will run:
  • We use Zoom video conferencing to deliver virtual learning sessions and can use other platforms (e.g. webex)
  • The session will open 10 minutes before the scheduled start
  • Q & A will be left open for students to communicate with CERES educators during the webinar
What you’ll receive:
  • You will be sent a unique URL a week prior to the session to be shared with participating students
What you need for the session:
  • Tablet or mobile device – download the free Zoom app
  • PC, laptop or smartboard – allow the Zoom extension file download request
  • For in-school student webinars, we recommend one smartboard and a minimum of one device per three students

For more information and pricing details, please contact the Student Programs bookings team studentprograms@ceres.org.au

Download a copy of the Schools for Wildlife Flyer

Schools for Wildlife was an amazing opportunity for our school to build the biodiversity of our area. The students and myself have so much more knowledge of native plants to our area and have also leant what the planting process involves and how we can grow gardens in the future. The whole school has been immersed in this project and we’re so proud to have a new garden to show off to our local community.

Solway Primary School

The incursions were so well-thought out and engaging, even for students who were not originally interested in biodiversity and wildlife. Allowing the students to design their own garden from the knowledge they learnt made them extremely excited to plant the real thing!

Camberwell Primary School