Rededication of the Wetlands
The Wetlands area was officially re-opened on Tuesday 31st October by Kaye Johnson, who taught at this school for 24 years. Fifteen years ago, Kaye worked with our local TAFE, parents, children and our school council to establish our wetlands in the boggy land at the rear of the school. This year, our school council built a beautiful jetty providing fantastic access to all to this special place and our generous sponsors, Steve Wait from the Beaconsfield Veterinary Centre, Home Hardware Beaconsfield, Julie Weatherhead from Peppermint Ridge Farm, Sue Simmons from Green Circle Nursery provided donations of money, plants and materials necessary for the huge undertaking.
We honoured Kaye’s amazing contribution. We thanked Peter Mills, Paul Mills, Daniella Mills and Trish White who volunteered their time and effort to bring this all together.
The Wetlands provides a quiet sanctuary for children away from the hurley-burley of the busy playground and like the budding fisherman below, with their makeshift rods of sticks, strings and stones; it provides a place to sit, dangle a line and enjoy their own thoughts, listening to the frogs and finding the odd yabby!
I do my yard duty each Friday, down in the Wetlands and it is one of the great pleasures of teaching life to enjoy the outdoors with my students. I reflect upon how lucky I am to have worked with so many wonderful people over the years. Every generation has its champion, Kaye Johnson was a hero for the wetlands in 2002; and now in 2017, it is Trish White who casts a caring eye over our gardens, organising working bees, projects, plantings and watering rosters with the children. Thank you Trish!
Voltaire, a French poet wrote: “The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”
Thank you to everyone who has played a part in creating this little paradise.
Gary Methven
Principal
