Congratulations to the teachers and students at Manly Village Public School
for their innovative environmental education work.
While the school is a long way from any snow or ice, these Sydney
students have been on a fascinating journey to help the smallest of the
world’s penguin’s return to Manly and Shelly beaches for
breeding.
The Manly Harbour area is home to the last remaining mainland
colony of Little Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins, in NSW.
During a six-week program with Taronga Zoo’s Education Department, the
students learned the skills required for penguin habitat protection and
developed materials to tell the community about how to help penguins survive.
The students were briefed by Taronga’s keepers about the threats to
penguins and learned how to get involved in securing a future for these little
creatures in the Manly community.
The Years 5 and 6 students created penguin rescue diaries and when they
visited Shelly Beach last term, they looked at the existing habitat, rated the
suitability of the surrounds as a penguin habitation and made recommendations to
make the site more suitable to the penguins’ needs.
The beach audit is part of the Little Penguin Project, developed by Taronga
Zoo’s education team and relates to the Department of Education and
Training’s Environmental Education Policy.
The students have also conducted an Environmental Expo at Taronga Zoo and
attended guest speaker presentations by experts from Taronga’s Marine
Mammal and Penguin Division, local council bush regeneration, National Parks and
Wildlife Service and Manly Environment Council.
Overall, the project aims to encourage students to educate their communities
about sustainable living and to give them a love for and an understanding of
wildlife.
It has also provided the school and its community with some practical advice
about smart ways to be involved in the protection of local wildlife and really
make a difference.
Is your school involved with a unique
learning project? If you would like to share the achievements of your team,
email the details to jeremym@minniscomms.com.au |
