https://visit12apostles.com.au/explore/nature-wildlife/treasure-the-land-we-love/love-letters-to-the-land/
As part of the TAP, we are incredibly fortunate to work with such generous, enthusiastic and creative partners such as HDLN and the team at the Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre. Inspired by a story in the Cobden Timboon Coast Times on the Year 3/4 ‘Love Letters to the Land’ Junior Landcare activity, Nina Devlin from the Information Centre contacted us to share this creative experience with visitors to our region. The respect and thanks for Kirrae Whurrong stewardship voices in the students’ letters resonated with the Tourism team and they believe that the youth voice for environment is of interest to visitors who share these values and can be a potential moderator for visitor behaviour in our local environment. Nina fashioned a BLOG on the visit 12 Apostles website to highlight the care and respect for nature held by our local youth as part of the content developed for the Twelve Apostles Trail and the Treasure the Land we love campaigns, check it out. https://visit12apostles.com.au/explore/nature-wildlife/treasure-the-land-we-love/love-letters-to-the-land/ As our Year 7 Science students have been comparing renewable vs non renewable resources, sustainability, and water use efficiencies, we took them on a field trip to better understand how farmers manage their resources. Sam and Peter, from Doolan Farms, described their sustainability pathway with a focus on Landcare and energy innovations including an energy upgrade, efficient power supply monitoring systems, load shifting milk cooling, thermal storage using an underground water tank and extensive solar panels. Students investigated how Doolans managed their effluent, utilized dams to store water, flood washed the dairy yard, used pivot irrigation to water their paddocks and improved the biodiversity on their farm by applying compost and creating plantations. These innovations have resulted in substantial soil and environmental improvements and long-term financial benefits, helping make the business a template for efficient, sustainable dairy farming in our region. As one of the many career exploration activities facilitated by the Neil Porter Legacy (NPL), in September this year several of our female students in Years 9 - 12 attended an open day at the Iona Gas Plant as part of the Women in Trade series. Originally perceived as a male career pathway, our students explored the site and learnt about the variety of career opportunities available in this innovative and interesting workplace. Recently, the NPL have created some community engagement material promoting their activities whilst seeking support and our group were chosen to represent regional students and activities. What a great partnership to be involved in, thanks Matt. As part of their ‘Growing Well’ Science studies, our Preps conducted a series of experiments to learn more about plants. The students planted grass and bean seeds and observed the parts of the plants that appeared first and tracked their development. The plant components were recorded and the similarities and differences between the two species were discussed. During TAP’s On! the students’ grass heads and scientific observations were on display - what budding scientists – definite pun intended, we are cultivating! To contextualise their classroom learning about genetics and genomics our Year 10 Science students undertook a field trip to Nick, Simone and Will Renyard’s Meon Valley dairy farm. Students heard about the Renyard’s career progression and inspected the new rotary dairy that was built to replace their 30 year old platform with an emphasis on using technology to increase both cow / worker comfort and ease of operation. The Renyard’s mating program was summarised with an emphasis on using genetics to improve cow health, farm production and the importance of breeding an efficient, healthy animal. John Ryan from The Vet Group described how mating programs had evolved and the benefits of synchronizing herds to calve to suit the farm’s feed profile. Embryo transfers were discussed as was the use of world class genetics to select sires, the potential of genomics to identify animals with the most potential in a herd and the use of sexed semen to ensure that potentially 90% of the calves would be female as technology has enabled this technology to be just slightly less reliable than conventional semen. The use of cow collars and apps linked to phones and their computer system was detailed with the collars sending data on cow mobility, heath and fertility through rumination and activity sensors on the collars. Nick showed how this data was used to manage the whole herd health by sending alerts to identify individual cows that may become unwell, for example lame, not ruminating properly, ill or starting to calve. The most accurate feature of the collars is their ability to pick cows on heat and draft cohorts of cows for mating. John then demonstrated how cows are preg tested with students being able to detect a foetal heart beat on a monitor. This field trip was able to reveal how technology is at the cutting edge of agriculture with an exciting, practical application of science and technology in our regional dairy industry. Today is National Ag Day 2023 and with the 'Grow you Good Thing' slogan we celebrate the incredible food and fibre Aussie farmers grow. We want to acknowledge our wonderful community of educators as celebrated at TAP's On! 2023, where we welcomed students, parents, industry and visiting teachers to explore the innovative TAP agriculture / community curriculum. Almost like speed dating on agriculture and community, students rotated through a series of peer lead STEAM workshops elaborating on their understanding of the abundant TAP curriculum outcomes. For more details check out the http://timboonagproject.weebly.com/tap-blog #AgDayAu The importance of sustainability and looking after habitats for mini beasts has been a focus for our Year 1/2 classes this term as part of their Schoolyard Safari science unit. Inspired by their Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant acquisitions, the students have been hard at work improving the Year 1/2 garden area that includes a birdbath, worm farm, watertank and new garden beds with healthy soil and compost. What a wonderfully practical way to learn, anybody need an enthusiastic gardening team?! Now that they have a pretty good understanding of parts of a plant and how things grow, we decided to take our Preps out to see how this works outside the school grounds. The Preps walked to the Heytesbury & District Landcare Network’s nursery where Michelle Leech, Lyndell Driscoll and Kate Leslie showed them different types of plants including trees, shrubs and grasses. After reviewing what plants need, Kate talked about the about the role of trees to provide shade, shelter, habitat, and the importance of a range of trees in a plantation. The fortunate Preps planted seedlings in pots including eucalyptus, tea tree, wattle, prickly moses and native grasses that they are going to plant on the school grounds. (It's a bit cool when your Grannie is one of the special presenters too!) At Timboon Berry World, Heather Nicholls talked to students about the strawberry plants and the students learnt that the strawberries grow from the flower buds and that the green caps are called calyx. Heather stressed the important role that bees play in pollinating plants and that it was really important to keep the soil healthy to grow healthy plants. The lucky Preps were then able to pick the red ripe strawberries into tubs to be taken back to school and home for their families Thanks Michelle, Lyndell, Kate, and Heather for bringing our learning to life and to David Pope for donating the bus ride back to school for the excited, but weary Prep students. TAP's On! was a wonderful celebration of the TAP curriculum and our very supportive community and industry partners who also posted about their involvement in our curriculum expo on social media. Thanks to Timboon Fire Brigade, Agri-tech Education and Innovation, South West TAFE, Oonagh Kilpatrick, the Chair of Food and Fibre Great South Coast (FFGSC), Richard Riordan MP, Simpson Primary School and CFA South West ...What brilliant partners we have, we love working with you too! It’s not often you see #FarmVR or #FarmAR, opposite a tram conductor, near Royal chooks, with a tractor and bandicoots, calves, SES scenarios, horses, or a fire truck, in the proximity of a dog vs drone challenge or a FarmBot encounter juxtaposed with BBQ smokers or a potential biosecurity outbreak whilst doing a water bug boogie, before being told numerous Duck Tales or a Story of a River. That doesn’t even include the versatile vegies, transitory rock stories, indigenous collages, camembert comparisons, GPS cows, Arduino achieves, workplace communication challenges, or AI exercises. Our 2023 TAP’s On! curriculum expo had it all, and even more for students, teachers and visitors. Just over 450 students from Timboon P-12 School and Simpson Primary School participated in a series of peer lead workshops held at Timboon on Thursday in a celebration of the exciting curriculum based around agriculture and community at Timboon P-12 School. Jess and Cameron from THINK.DIGITAL were our feature guests and they shared numerous immersive and interactive technologies that highlighted the role that digital technologies can play to inspire, engage and teach people more about the potential of agriculture. Children from the Timboon Kindergarten and the Kardinia Learning Centre explored our curriculum workstations visiting a range of activities around the School campus. Students also enjoyed FM Milk from Saputo, Stringers courtesy of Bega and Mainland Cheese portions from Fonterra. After our main workshops, and as an extra activity for our Preps and Year 3/4 students, they were visited by Roberto from The Connies who shared a range of cards and stories featuring local flora, fauna and biodiversity stories. The TAP in 2022-2022 was supported by the Gall, Lane, Jones, Uebergang and Vedmore Foundations with TAP’s On! sponsored by Westpac Bank and the Secondary Schools Agriculture Fund (SSAF). Thank you to our wonderful student presenters, teachers, mentors, parents, visiting educators, industry and community guests for helping us celebrate TAP's On! 2023 |
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