Schools National Tree Day was back in full swing this year, with 14 schools participating across the Northern Beaches.

Native plants were delivered to each of the schools by our Environment Centres Team, with plants caringly propagated and sourced from our volunteer community nurseries.

The focus of the initiative is to inspire students to learn about their local environment while fostering their love of nature.

Students participated in a range of activities including building habitat for native wildlife, nature play, storytelling and nature education sessions.

Chris Littlefield, a teacher at Mimosa Public School, Frenchs Forest said that “the school has a weekly Garden Club and our students love getting their hands dirty in the garden.”

Our involvement in Schools National Tree Day will enable students to have increased ownership of the gardens and a better understanding of the needs of living things and their life cycles, complementing our Living World Science units.

This generous donation of native plants will help support current sustainability initiatives we are undertaking, including increasing biodiversity in our school habitats, particularly of birds and bees.

It will help encourage pollination and support the success of our newly constructed vegetable gardens, added Ms Littlefield.

For more on National Tree Day.