School students across the country got into nature on Friday for Planet Ark’s Schools Tree Day, greening their schoolyards and getting some vital outdoor time.
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Dungog High School was one of 2500 schools throughout Australia take part in schools tree day as part of Australia’s largest community tree-planting and nature care event.
Students learn how to plant and care for the seedlings they grow, engaging in a fun, hands-on activity that can reinforce their environmental, maths, science and creative arts learning or simply contribute to creating beautiful school grounds and learning areas.
The school is very grateful to Noel and Virginia Jupp from Riverdene Nursery at East Gresford who donated a strawberry gum tree.
“It was Noel’s 80th birthday on Friday so I think it would be very fitting for the students to plant a tree that has been grown and nurtured by him,” Mrs Jupp said.
An independent survey commissioned recently by Planet Ark has found that many Australian parents consider natural school grounds with real grass, trees and gardens to be as important as good academic outcomes and reputation when selecting their child’s school.
“Interaction with nature has been shown to play a powerful role in helping students of all ages concentrate, which enhances cognitive performance, and improves student behaviour and attitude towards learning and their school,” said National Tree Day manager Debbie Agnew.
“The new research shows parents value a green playground for the many benefits it has and tree day is a fantastic opportunity for students and teachers to make that fundamental connection with nature while beautifying their school.”
Schools Tree Day also aims to educate students on environmental issues such as the loss of habitat for native wildlife, planting species appropriate to the local conditions, salinity, erosion and long-term carbon offsetting, and often marks the beginning of a long-term environmental program.