As we begin Term 3, families may notice that parts of the Middle Cove Garden are looking quite different. Some areas are currently bare, with large sections covered by black plastic. While this may look a little uninviting, it marks an important stage in the regeneration of the garden and the learning that will take place for students throughout the term.This year, students in Classes 4–8 have been learning about invasive weeds and the role we all play in caring for the bushland that surrounds our school. Together we have investigated how weeds such as kikuyu, couch, nut grass, tradescantia, goat weed, cobbler’s pegs and wormwood spread through seeds, plant fragments, underground stems and roots, allowing them to move beyond our school grounds into Harold Reid Reserve.

One of the techniques we are using to naturally eradicate these persistent weeds is occultation, or black plastic tarping, where sections of the garden are temporarily covered to exclude light. Over time, the combination of darkness, warmth and moisture gradually kills the weed and depletes the seed bank beneath. Although this leaves parts of the garden looking bare for a time, it prepares the site for future planting and allows students to take part in the garden’s remediation process from the very beginning. This approach aligns with our commitment to organic gardening practices. To support this work, the garden teaching team sought advice from Willoughby City Council’s Bush Regeneration Team to ensure our approach reflects best practice for a garden bordering such significant bushland.

During the holidays, a large dead gum tree was also removed from the campus. Rather than sending the material off site, the school retained all of the woodchips, which will be used to mulch the garden once the occultation process is complete. This provides students with another practical example of circularity in action, where materials generated on site are returned to the landscape to build healthy soil and suppress weeds. The holidays have also brought some welcome progress, with the first stage of the drainage improvements now complete. Hopefully this means much less muddy gardening in the future!

There is plenty to look forward to this term as students begin a large-scale tree planting program and continue establishing a pollination corridor of native and productive plants to support our two native bee colonies, local butterflies, birds and other pollinators. Finally, a sincere thank you to all of the families who cared for our chickens over the holiday break. Your support ensured they remained happy and healthy. We are now collecting up to four eggs a day, which is very exciting, and we look forward to making use of their eggs in our Agriculture and Cooking programs.