Term 2 Highlights with Angela

17 July 2023

By Angela Lord | Education Support Officer

As the newest member of the Education team, I’ve learned so much over the last term and have enjoyed engaging with many local school groups, as well as others camping along the Great Ocean Road. It’s been a privilege to introduce students to the amazing diversity of flora and fauna that inhabit the surf coast and explore these natural places with them.

A particular highlight has been working with the Grade 5/6 students from Lisieux Catholic Primary School. Our first session, at Aireys Inlet, was on one of the wettest, windiest days of the year so far! Luckily, this group is a resilient bunch and still managed to get the most out of their day, exploring the cliff tops and learning about the adaptations of coastal flora and fauna. Battling the challenging situation with constant smiles, the group enjoyed observing, touching, and tasting some of the local vegetation and getting up close to some treasures from the sea. Fortunately, Mother Nature was on our side for our second session, this time at Fishermans Beach.

Students eagerly rolled up their sleeves and used their strength and determination to help remove Marram grass from the dunes at Fisherman’s Beach. Marram grass is an introduced species of grass that grows rapidly, dominates plant communities, and alters the natural formation of our dunes. I was so impressed with their hard work that will help to prevent large cliffs from forming and will provide resident shorebirds like the hooded plover with improved access to the dunes.

Groups also took part in a replica dune building and management activity, complete with replica signs, fences and bins to use as they saw fit. This led to some great discussions around the positive behaviours student and the wider community can carry out to help look after our natural coastal spaces. This is the first time we have completed these activities with primary aged students, and we were very impressed with their efforts.