Experience Engage Enable
T: Telephone02 9816 1298
| Location | Bushland near your school |
| Cost | 2023 DoE $24 per student - GST free 2023 Non-gov school cost $34 per student - GST free, minimum charge $600 |
| Risk assessment | |
| School preparation | Ensure all class teachers have visited the site and are familiar with the route from school to it. |
| Welfare | Participants will be bushwalking during the day in rugged terrain. Toilets may only be available at the start and end of the day. This incursion may not be suitable for people who have recently been unwell. |
| Bring | Backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes, mask. Students wear reusable name tag and sports uniform. |
| View | |
| Supporting resources |
Eucalypt Forest - available free from Apple Book |
| Bin access | All student waste to be taken home by students. |
| Parent/carer helpers | Optional one parent per class, no siblings. Closed shoes essential. Check COVID-19 restrictions. |
| Medical or special needs | Notify Field of Mars staff prior to incursion. Students, staff and visitors must not attend if unwell, even with mild symptoms. |
| Extreme or wet weather | Days predicted to be above 35ºC, high winds, extreme bush fire danger and dust storms may result in the incursion being modified, postponed or cancelled. |
| Cancellations | Cancellations with less than three school weeks' notice will incur a $500 administration fee. This does not apply to cancellations due to weather, fire danger or COVID-19 restrictions. |
Time |
Activity |
| 9.15 - 9.45 | Introduction, toilets, crunch and sip Equipment bags distributed at school or bushland site |
| 9.45 - 12.30 | Bushwalk and activities, including recess |
| 1.00 - 1.30 | Lunch at bushland site |
| 1.30 - 2.15 | Bushwalk and activities |
| 2.15 - 2.45 | Pack up and head back to school |
Students investigate the natural vegetation and resources of the eucalypt forest and the value of this environment to animals and people.
Inquiry questions
Fieldwork
Bushwalk activities
Students will undertake a bushwalk as ‘place detectives’. Through teacher-led and student-directed activities, students will investigate and record the characteristics of the forest, evidence of animals and their interconnection with the environment.
Fieldwork tools will include sensory observation, invertebrate hunts and recording through sketching, mapping, watercolour and tallies in their take-home field journal. Students will also work independently guided by task cards catering for a variety of learning styles. Teachers will be encouraged to take photographs for student use back in the classroom.
Nature collage concluding activity
To conclude the day, students will use loose natural materials to recreate the vegetation layers, habitat features and animals of the forest. They will provide a verbal explanation of the forest interconnections.
Geography K-10 Syllabus (2015)
Outcomes
A student:
Content
Significance of environments
Students:
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
A student:
Content
Survival of living things
Students:
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
address
Field of Mars Reserve
Pittwater Road
East Ryde NSW 2112
telephone 02 9816 1298
We’d like to acknowledge the Wallumedegal Peoples of the Darug Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we stand and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
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