Earth’s Environment: Eucalypt forest excursion | Stage 2 HSIE Geography | Field of Mars EEC

Cost and details

Cost 2026	DoE $27 per student – GST free Non-gov $37 per student – GST free, min charge $750 per class Term 1 – Non-gov weeks 3 to 6 cost = DoE cost – GST free, min charge $750
Classes	Recommended maximum 6 classes with up to 30 students per class.
Risk assessment	See location tile below.
Bring	Sports uniform, backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes, reusable name tag.
View	Preparing for your excursion Eucalypt forest learning resource
Welfare	Rugged bushwalking, limited wheelchair accessibility. May not suit recently unwell participants. For medical or special needs notify staff prior to program.
Extreme or wet weather	Program may be modified, postponed or cancelled due to predicted extreme temperatures, bush fire danger, heavy rainfall, high winds or dust storms.
Booking policy	Confirm student numbers and classes 7 days in advance.
Cancellation fee	Less than 30 working school days – $600 Less than 7 working school days notice – full cost Weather or fire danger cancellation – $0

Activities

Activities may vary depending on student needs, timing and weather.

Nature journal

Students tune in to the details of the environment by selecting a naturally fallen leaf and closely observing its colour and shape and signs of invertebrate activity. Students record their observations in an explorer journal using drawing and watercolour techniques to build field sketching skills.

Animal evidence

Students learn to recognise and record animal evidence such as tracks, feeding signs, scats and leaf damage. Using a three-column table (evidence, animal, count) and an identification guide, students collect data and begin linking evidence to how animals use the forest.

Sound map

Students pause in the forest to practise stillness and active listening. Students create a sound map using symbols, words or sketches to record the location and type of sounds around them, then share and compare maps to discuss the mix of natural and human features in the environment.

Habitat trees

Students investigate a habitat tree from base to canopy. Students sketch and label how the tree supports living things (for example hollows, shelter, food sources and pathways) and explore how flowering shrubs support pollinators through close-up observational drawing.

Fieldwork challenges

At selected sites, students choose from short, student-guided fieldwork challenges to record natural features and evidence of interconnections, such as invertebrate hunts, leaf rubbings, seed pod investigations and canopy observations. Students conclude by collaboratively creating a nature collage that brings together the day’s data across vegetation layers and identifies actions people can take to care for the environment.

This program will retire at the end of 2026.

Suggested timetable

Time	Activities
9.45 - 10.30	Introduction Toilets, recess, equipment bags distributed
10.30 - 12.00	Bushwalk and activities
12.00 - 12.30	Lunch and toilets
12.30 - 2.00	Bushwalk and activities
2.00 - 2.15	Pack up, toilets and depart

Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary

interconnections, interdependent, impact, sustainable, investigate, observe, manage, eucalypt forest, canopy, vegetation, pollinators, habitat, native, invertebrate, fieldwork

Syllabus outcomes and content

Geography K-10 Syllabus (2015)

The Earth's environment

Outcomes

• Examines features and characteristics of places and environments GE2-1
• Describes the ways people, places and environments interact GE2-2
• Acquires and communicates geographical information using geographical tools for inquiry GE2-4

Content

Significance of environments

• Investigate the importance of natural vegetation and natural resources to the environment, animals and people, for example:

  • identification of types of natural vegetation eg forests, grasslands, deserts
  • explanation of the importance of natural vegetation to animals and the functioning of the environment eg provision of habitats, production of oxygen
  • discussion of the importance of natural vegetation and natural resources to people

Other syllabus links

Learning experiences will also support but not explicitly teach the following outcomes and content:

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017)

Outcomes

• Compares features and characteristics of living and non-living things ST2-4LW-S

Content

Survival of living things

• Describe how living things depend on each other and environment to survive

Geography K-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2015

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2017