text: Immersive nature education for Newbery Park Primary School kids
  Over the past couple of months, Newbery Park Primary School, from Millicent in S.A., have joined NGT’s Jess on a variety of excursions, to learn all about the local natural environment.
  First the year 3/4 class headed to Mount Burr Swamp for the day. The group was greeted by sunny weather and Uncle Doug, local First Nations elder, who spoke to us about the local seasonal calendar. We were in Egg and Orchid Time. The group discussed current environmental conditions and how they relate to food supply, for example, the conditions determine how many eggs Emus and other animals lay. The group discussed how it’s important to listen to the environment and hear what it’s telling us.
  We went on a walk around the swamp edge, spotting a brown snake along the way (from a safe distance), and found a quiet, shady place to sit and listen. The students then shared something they had heard or seen whilst quietly observing nature. There were lots of birds, and frogs, the sound of the wind through the trees, ants crawling and even a small lizard in a hiding place. Uncle Doug talked about how taking the time to do this regularly can help us understand the environment.
  After lunch the students took part in an aquatic macroinvertebrate (water bug) session with Jess. The students were eager to learn about what aquatic macroinvertebrates are, why they’re important and how they can help us listen to the environment. After a dry winter, the water levels in the main swamp are currently quite low, but we still managed to discover a few ‘cool’ things. One of those was a copepod, which hasn’t been found in the swamp before (unfortunately we didn’t get a picture, but they look something like this). A variety of tadpoles species were also found, which kept the students excited throughout the session.
  Next the year 1/2 class met Jess at Southend Beach for a beach-combing exploration. The students were eager to get out and after taking only 3 steps onto the beach, found our first exciting things to talk about. We found quite a few cockle/pipi shells with holes, which if you’ve ever been on a beach walk or rockpool ramble with Jess you would know the story (if you haven’t, you’ll have to join one to find out). The students also found lots of different seaweeds and looked at it more closely through their magnifying viewers, as well as lots of different snail shells and some empty crab carapaces. Each of these treasures had an interesting story to go with it, which Jess shared with the group.
  To top it off, a Great Crested Grebe, was fishing just past the small braking waves, much to NGT’s nursery coordinator, Ange’s delight. This Grebe is a migratory bird listed as rare in South Australia, and is not usually seen at the beach. At the end of the session the students took a moment to do some nature journaling, where they drew or wrote about something they had learned during the day, and we all enjoyed a little paddle in the shallows.
  These excursions are possible thanks to Newbery Park Primary School’s Grassroots Grant through the Limestone Coast Landscapes Board.