By BELINDA LAVIS
Pic 1 – 106038-bilambil1: Sisters Shiana Lewis and Tahlia Lewis help Landcare Tweed’s Helen Denning with the clean up
Photo 106046 bilambil2 A united community effort. Volunteers from Coles Tweed Heads, Landcare Tweed, Woody’s Skips, parents, staff and students have transformed an overgrown rainforest into an outdoor learning area.
A SMALL parcel of rainforest in the grounds of Bilambil Public School has been given a spruce up, enabling lessons to be moved from out of the classroom to under the canopy.
The outdoor learning area is the result of a united community effort with volunteers from Coles Tweed Mall, Tweed Landcare, parents, staff and students all pitching in on Thursday 12 September, to clean up the undergrowth, remove noxious weeds and put in a 120 metre path.
Project organiser Katrina Semple said seeing how enthusiastic the members of the school’s new Green Thumbs environment group were had inspired her to restore the asset which would now be maintained by the Green Thumbs in years to come.
School families have sponsored plaques that will identify the various species, including the black walnut, blue quondong, smoothed-leaf tuckeroo and the morten bay chestnut, while seating within the rainforest provides a beautiful environment in which to learn.
Coles Tweed Heads store manager Frank McDermott rallied his staff members who gave their day off without pay to help restore the rainforest.
He said Coles understood relationships were a two-way effort and it wanted to give back to its customers by supporting projects that were important to them.
Tweed Landcare’s Helen Denning was on hand to help identify the species to be removed or saved.
She was awe-struck by the number of students who dropped by throughout the day to enthusiastically do their bit.
“It is good to see this care for the environment coming through the younger generation,” she said.
Woody’s Skips also helped out by donating two large bins for the clean-up.
Bilambil Public School principal Julian Mostert said the restoration of the rainforest meant the staff and students could again make the most of the very special natural asset within their school grounds.
“We are very fortunate to have a living museum on site and this provides a quality learning environment very different from other areas of the school,” said Mr Mostert.
“Children learn in many different ways and this is a tangible way for kids to connect to their local environment.
“It is a place for great teaching and learning to take place.”
He praised the broad community spirit shown throughout the project.
