Grow A Great School
Bring back Adelaide's lost biodiversity into your school grounds
Ever wondered what your schoolyard looked like in 1836?!
Grow a Great School (GAGS) is an initiative of the SA Urban Forests - Million Trees Program which aims to engage schools in reducing the physical impact of our city upon the natural environment. Through action-orientated, hands-on activities, students, teachers and communities can get in touch with the natural world and discover the wonders of Adelaide’s lost bushland and wildlife.
Grow a Great School offers funding, educational resources and technical support to help schools in and around metropolitan Adelaide create and explore unique, local native gardens within their grounds. By using native plants that once occurred in their area, students can learn about the original flora and fauna of the Adelaide Plains, whilst helping to bring back a small piece of Adelaide’s heritage in their school grounds.
The potential benefits, both environmental and educational, of growing an outdoor ‘classroom’ are as varied as the projects themselves. Projects help grow greater environmental awareness within both the school and the broader community; in turn supplementing and enhancing a ‘whole-school’ sustainability approach.
If you have the energy and drive to take on a garden project, Million Trees Project Officers can support you with funding and technical expertise.
Project ideas
- Bush tucker gardens
- Ponds and bog gardens for frog and tadpole habitat
- Butterfly friendly gardens with host plants for caterpillars
- Habitat gardens with rocks and logs to attract lizards
- Sedge ‘creeklines’ to clean storm-water run-off
- Sitting circles with logs/boulders for outdoor learning activities
- Quiet places for contemplation
- Bush trails with interpretive signage developed by students
- Ecosystem diversity e.g. grassy meadow vs shrubland vs wetland
Possible outcomes
- Helping to recover and protect our local native biodiversity
- Increasing habitat for native wildlife
- Reducing greenhouse gases
- Improving air and water quality
- Reducing water consumption
- Creating amenity spaces
- Natural mulch and soil conditioning
- Greater Indigenous cultural awareness
- Improved community partnerships
Extra Information
To find out what plants were in your schoolyard in 1836 visit the Backyards for Wildlife local plant database or visit the Backyards for Wildlife interactive map of Adelaide’s pre-European vegetation.
To get more information on funding applications, guidelines and Q&A visit the Grow A Great School Funding page.
To find out What education resources are available to help link your garden project to your schools curriculum visit the Backyards for Wildlife Education Resources page.
Contact
Catherine (Hillier) Mossop
Grow a Great School Project Officer
T: 08 8278 0605
F: 08 8278 0619
E: catherine.mossop@sa.gov.au
