Program outcomes

Students will design and create projects with the ultimate goal of taking action for a better world for animals, people and the environment.

Projects are designed to:

• Allow students to discover a wide range of creative solutions to real-world problems.
• Design, deliver and debrief real-world solutions; for wildlife, the natural environment, challenges to the environment, and sustainable practice.

Students develop a knowledge, understandings and experience about:

• What nature is, what it is made of and how it works.
• The impact of people on the atmosphere and environment.
• The role of science, the community, politics and market forces in environmental decision-making. 
• The responsibility as consumers and citizens to conserve and manage resources in ways that are fair to both present and future generations.
• The principles of ecological sustainability.
• Actions we can take to restore nature.

Students develop skills in:

• Identifying and assessing environmental problems.
• Communicating scientific and environmental messages to others.
• Resolving scientific and environmental issues.
• Adopting behaviours and practices that make the world a better place for animals, people and the environment.
• Evaluating the success of their actions.

Learning opportunities outside the classroom

What is learned inside the classroom needs to be reinforced and supported by what happens outside the classroom. Schools can initiate opportunities for action outside of the classroom including:

• Using special environmental events, days, celebrations and projects to complement learning in the curriculum about climate change and sustainability.
• Involving students in investigating, maintaining, revegetating and enhancing the school grounds and local environment.
• Working collaboratively with outreach programs such as Landcare, Our Patch, Urban Forest Biodiversity Program, Greening Australia, GreenFleet, Australian Conservation Trust for Volunteers, Waterwatch, Coastcare and Seagrass Watch into school programs.
• Including over 100 suggested activities, experiments and investigations in the Local Safari Book.

Schools are encouraged to: 

We hope the Roots & Shoots School Resource Box encourages your school to promote biodiversity in schools and communities through projects such as;

• Raising funds through WOODiWILD and becoming a tree grower.
• Planting school gardens or nature corridors with endemic native plants.
• Getting involved in a bushcare project, plant a corridor, start a revegetation project or conserve a threatened species.
• Revegetating streams and creeks that flow though local areas.
• Constructing local wetlands.
• Adopting a patch of the catchment revegetating it and maintaining it in a healthy condition.
• Planting bush tucker gardens that can be integrated with Indigenous cultural awareness.
• Establishing bonds and bog gardens for frog and tadpole habitats.
• Developing butterfly friendly gardens with host plants for caterpillars.
• Establishing Bee Hotels and gardens.
• Planning habitat gardens with rocks and logs in sunny spots to attract lizards.
• Establishing storm water creek lines planted with sedges to clean storm-water runoff.
• Designing sitting circles with logs or boulders for outdoor learning activities.
• Establishing quiet places for students to sit and contemplate.
• Initiating bush trails with signage developed by students to help users identify species.
• Developing ephemeral wetlands.
• Planting grasslands with flowering meadow style native plants.
• Planting woodlands with under-storey.

The management of school grounds and surrounding areas can also be linked to other community projects, such as Landcare, NRM, Greening Australia and Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) projects.

Schools can work cooperatively with Local Councils and Catchment Management Authorities to restore degraded areas and plan for the future sequestration of carbon by the planting of new forests.