Mayor John Giardina said, “More than 500 youth from 10 schools in the City of Kalamunda have been working together since March to adopt their local patch of bushland through the City’s new Adopt-a-Patch program.”

“The program is increasing students understanding and awareness of the unique natural world around them and give them new skills and an interest in taking environmental action on local reserves within the City of Kalamunda.”

Students from yr1 to yr11 have been learning about the six Noongar seasons, the impact of waste on the environment and which native animals live in their local bushland area. Over the next two years they will continue to learn about environmental topics including waste management, bird identification and the impact of Phytophthora Dieback on local bushland.

“Adopt-a-Patch has strong curricular links and is designed to be extended into the local community, with students of all ages encouraged to work with local Friends Groups to volunteer their time working on local bushland reserves.”

Since the program inception in March, more than 250 native plants planted to improve local habitat and a large quantity of rubbish removed from local reserves and local school grounds. 16 school incursions have now been undertaken to improve student’s environmental awareness – and this is just in the first half of the first year of the program!

To further support student learning, each school is receiving a resource pack to support students learning, including Virtual Reality (VR) goggles, flora, fauna and fungi identification guides, posters explaining Noongar seasons and language, macro-lenses for photographing bugs, leaves and mosses and more!

Strong partnerships with local Friends Groups and an inclusive approach to delivering the program has been highly effective in engaging with local schools. The City has collaborated with the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council and Noongar Elder Uncle Neville Collard to deliver the program.

Using this integrated community approach, Adopt-a-Patch supports the City of Kalamunda’s Strategic Business Plan, Local Environment Strategy and Local Biodiversity Strategy, as well as the Kalamunda Connected - Active Citizens Strategy.

The program is set to grow in 2020, with two more local schools set to join. Schools within the City of Kalamunda should email environment@kalamunda.wa.gov.au.