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Update on FROGZONE from State Coordinator - Craig Cleeland |
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VICTORIA
There are three Victorian schools involved as official pilot schools for FROG ZONE.
They are: Aquinas College, Warranwood Primary School and Kilsyth Primary School." |
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Aquinas College is a Catholic, regional, co-educational College (High-school)
constituted to serve the needs of students residing in the parishes of the outer-eastern
suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. |
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PRINCIPAL : Tony O’Byrne |
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Address: |
Great Ryrie Street, Ringwood. Victoria. 3134. Australia. |
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Mail: |
P.O. Box 190 Ringwood. 3134 |
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Telephone: |
9259-3000 |
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Fax: |
9259-3092 |
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Initial construction of the first FROG ZONE area at Aquinas College. |
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5 months later the completed FROG ZONE has already attracted a number of macro invertebrates
and Brown Tree Frog tadpoles |
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The second FROG ZONE site at the college. Year 7 students under the direction of
science teacher Adam Prime are planning to make a Frog Zone of this garden bed in
the middle of the 7/8 campus. |
Latest News
Aquinas College Land Care Group has been successful in gaining a Melbourne Water
/ Land Care grant to take the Frog Zone concept into a local community reserve near
the college. Maroondah Council Bushland and Open Space co-ordinators are supporting
the project along with the local community nursery. Due to begin in early 2004,
this project will establish a significant breeding habitat for frogs in the local
area. |
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Warranwood Primary School is located in a rapidly growing residential
area in the eastern metropolitan area between Warrandyte and Ringwood. Formerly
known as Warrandyte South, the school relocated to its present site in totally new
buildings from the commencement of term 2. 1996. The school is committed to ensuring
the environment allows each child to develop a genuine sense of belonging, competence
and worth. |
PRINCIPAL : Geoff Taylor
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: Gayle Linsell |
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Address: |
1 Wellington Park Drive Warranwood Vic. 3134. Australia. |
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E-mail: |
warranwood.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au |
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Telephone: |
(03) 9876-6066 |
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Fax: |
(03) 9876-6122 |
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In the beginning the Warranwood FROG ZONE was nothing more than a large clay drain
that ran down one side of the school grounds. Under the guidance of Julie Trembath,
the Warranwood Gardening Club and of course the students, they are in the process
of transforming this drain into a wonderful frog habitat.
The FROG ZONE area begins to take shape. |
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Kilsyth Primary School is situated in the Shire of Yarra Ranges in the Outer
Easter suburbs of Melbourne. While Kilsyth is not officially one of the seven pilot
schools for the FROG ZONE project, they have joined in with a Frog Zone project
that is being co-ordinated by Sonia McAllister, a current teacher at the school. |
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On Wednesday 21st May2003 the students of Kilsyth Primary
with some help from parents and some students from Pembroke Secondary School got
together to build the frog bog and a sensory path. We built our frog bog and made
a path that leads to it.
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We’ve been in a drought but you wouldn’t have known it. The frog bog,
which had already been shaped in an earlierworking bee, was already full of
water. Water that we had to empty out to get the liner in! Mud glorious Mud! It
was everywhere ! The grades three, four, fives and sixes
were split up into groups to work on the path and the frog bog |
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The Path.
With the help of parents the path was made by firstly scraping the topsoil to the
side. We used this to plant the plants in to form the basis of our sensory trail.
Then we laid down crushed rock for the path. |
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The Frog Bog
We needed to make a walkway across the Frog Bog that we made with sleepers. In one
end of the Frog Bog we put a rubber liner. Then we put in hollow stumps and some
water plants.
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We had to get the water out of the other end of the Frog Bog for
a special Butyl Liner to go in. The students and parents formed lines to pass the
buckets of water to each other to get it out of the Frog Bog and we were left with
plenty of Bog !
What an exciting. Productive and fantastic day! The Frog Bog looks wonderful and
we can’t wait to get to work on more planting and landscaping of the Frog
Bog. |
2004
Each Monday at lunchtime a small team of grade six children take down their prep
and grade one buddy to work on the frog-bog. The big buddies work with their little
buddies to plant new plants and monitor the growth of growing plants, they check
on the water level in the bog, look for signs of tadpoles and bugs and help clean
around the frog bog. There are two coordinators who work with me to make sure that
the right equipment and tasks are undertaken on the day. The students pretty much
run this program themselves.
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Students and their buddies plant out indigenous
vegetation during lunch time. |
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For the big buddies it is a reward for excellent achievements through the week to
spend time with their small buddies making a difference to their environment within
their school grounds. The little buddies love it because it is a special time that
they can spend with their big buddies doing something special. Their efforts are
promoted with their pictures being published in the newsletter each fortnight. |
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Frog art as a result of an artist in residence
program run by the school
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