Fighting Extinction schools showcase

Year Four, Five and Six students from Torquay Coast Primary School have been learning about e-waste and the negative impact it has on the environment. After discovering the lack of drop of points in their local area, the students decided to take action. They developed a video to encourage their local community to recycle their old mobile phones and to raise awareness of the Zoos Victoria ‘They’re Calling On You’ program.

Watch the amazing video they created.  

Students joined the Fighting Extinctions Program to take actions that improve awareness and habitat for the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum.

When students found a colony of sugar gliders living on the school property, this became the focus for investigating the needs and behaviours of these animals. As students explored this, they became aware of the critical status of the Leadbeater’s Possum. By participating in a number of Web Conferences run by Zoos Victoria, the students gained a greater understanding of how they could make a difference.

Students have produced a range of posters to raise awareness of the link between forestry activities for papermaking and habitat destruction, and are promoting “Wipe for Wildlife”. The Patch Primary School now uses only recycled toilet paper and paper towel in all amenities, while encouraging others to do the same.

Grade 4 students, Isabelle and Sophia Moonee Ponds West Primary School ran a lemonade stall after engaging in a sustainability and recycling focus in class. The girls raised an incredible $302 for the Seal the Loop campaign and presented their efforts at their assembly to inspire their school community and raise awareness about marine debris and its impact on wildlife.

Middle Park Primary School students have been conducting beach clean ups at their local beach for the past few years, originally as part of Seal the Loop Action day. They now collect marine debris and contribute the data to the nationwide Tangaroa Blue database. As part of their Grade 4 inquiry, they looked at innovative ways to reduce and manage marine plastics, as well as focusing on the impact of introduced species such as cats, foxes and camels on the native wildlife and habitats to discover what they can do to help reduce these threats.

Following our zoo visit Bullarto Primary School students undertook an investigation process and decided they would like to research and expose three local species to the broader community, that are threatened in our schools very own backyard. As our school is nestled in the Wombat State Forest the children explored local animals after being inspired by the ‘Love Your Locals’ initiative run by Zoos Victoria Fighting Extinction Program. The children introduced our community to The Greater Glider, Brush Tailed Phascogale and the Powerful Owl. Our school is committed to continue the exposure of these three animals to help prevent their extinction in the future.

OLSH Bentleigh created Fighting Extinction (FE) species puppets that they had created as part of the STEM conference at Melbourne Zoo, which they later highlighted at the FE schools showcase day. Some of their puppets included a Tassie Devil (with a very cute top hat), Leadbeater’s possum, Southern Bent Wing Bat and a Plain’s Wanderer.  As people visited their table, students discussed their designs in detail, shared the stories behind their FE species and encouraged visitors to sign a banner titled “You’re the Voice” – encouraging everyone to raise awareness and spread the love for our endangered local species. By the end of the day, this banner was full of signatures! Amazing work Bentleigh West!

We have had another fabulous Inquiry this year, it is becoming a rite of passage for our seniors now and students cannot wait to get to 5/6 to have a Zoos Victoria experience and build on the tradition.

This year we aimed to raise awareness about Don’t Palm Us Off at our annual fete using information, creativity and palm oil free recipes! We also host a community bus tour each year, the purpose of which is to build relationships and engage with our new migrant families in some aspects of their kids' learning.

We decided on Werribee Zoo this year as many have not been, and we were able to talk to parents about how the zoo links to the learning we are doing at school through our inquiries. Cannot wait for next year!

Following their excursion to Melbourne Zoo, Grade 4 students at Oakleigh Primary School integrated their learning back at school throughout the semester. The students set their minds on a special threatened species project focused around our locally endangered species. Through research and reflection, they produced a series of radio podcasts on five of the Zoo’s priority species and uploaded their thoughts and learnings on their radio station. Listen now

Bungaree students have been investigating one of their local species, the Growling Grass Frog (GGF).

Every student in the school researched and developed an animal fact card about the GGF. They learned about information texts using the frog’s life cycle, created felted frogs in art, decorated frog cupcakes, made bookmarks about the frog to share and collected five-cent pieces in a “Fiver for a Frog”. They even went frogging in a local dam (founding tadpoles, frogspawn and multiple macroinvertebrates), listened to frog calls, and completed mindfulness colouring with a frogging theme, created a (super) video about the GGF and showed their work to friends and family, as well as the Fighting Extinction Showcase at Melbourne Zoo.

We are still going strong - with works underway to create a Growling Grass Frog mural around our Art Room! Thank you to the Zoo for helping enable this wonderful project and the inspiration to love one of our locals.

Beeac Primary School have done an amazing job tracking all brolga sightings in their local region, including engaging the local community about recording the sightings through citizen science by creating a text line to report in any sightings from surrounding areas. Students also created a large map displaying all the sightings in local areas and a brolga display made from natural resources placed by roadways and in town to raise awareness.

All students have partaken in reading stories and brolga dancing to celebrate these gorgeous local bird species - a twist on the love Your Locals campaign.

For the past two years St Aloysius grades 5 and 6 students have participated in monthly marine debris beach clean ups at Maytone Beach, sending their data to Tangaroa Blue where it is added to the national database.

Students claim, “It is very important that we do this so that people everywhere are informed about what is happening on our beaches and it helps people find out how to solve some of the problems on our beaches. Our findings tell us what kinds of plastics and rubbish are on the beach, also how far down in the sand the micro plastics are”. They also added, “We read a scientific publication by Jen Lavers so we developed a plan to excavate 10am and 20cm below the surface at the high tide mark to search for micro plastics”.

St Aloysius were awarded a first prize at the ResourceSmart awards as Curriculum Leader Primary School.

Congratulations to Warrnambool East Primary School who were recently awarded ResourceSmart Community Leadership School of the Year. They have been working with Zoos Victoria for seven years, making a huge positive impact on their local environment through Beach Clean-up Events, as well as other environmental initiatives. Kerry McCarthy has also been a mentor teacher to other local schools to help them become more active with environmental actions.

On the far eastern corner of the Victorian Coastline, the Year 7 team from Mallacoota P12 College have just returned from their annual Gabo Island adventure. Seven students (the whole year level) spent 3 days exploring, adventuring and getting close and personal with the island and all of its inhabitants. While there they completed a beach clean-up after looking at the currents and ocean conditions, deciding that the Harbour would be the natural collection point on the island. They found an amazing array of items from the standard straw, thong, fishing gear, rope, plastic bottles to a weather balloon.