The students of Blakebrook Public School have put up their hands to learn about their local environment from those who know and care for it best.

The small school had a day out in Lindendale last week to learn about conservation with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Petaurus Education Group where learning was the name of the day.

The entire school made the journey to Brockley, a private property boasting an impressive area of threatened big scrub vegetation near Alstonville. The property is protected by an in-perpetuity conservation covenant with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust, which means the site is protected forever.

The students were welcomed by property owners Charlie and Jenny Handley. Charlie grew up on the property and began actively revegetating the big scrub rainforest in 1997:

“We had these remnant patches of rainforest that were never cleared, so we started to plant around them and connect them up. Now we've got a covenant on the rainforest and know it’s protected forever, we’re really pleased to be able to use this place to educate the younger generations,” Charlie said.

“I can see we’ve made an impact on some of these kids today, and I think they’ll take what they’ve learnt away knowing they can have a big impact in caring for nature too.”

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust’s Team Leader Education, Alice McGrath, said the time in nature was an opportunity for children to witness what conservation looks like first-hand:

(Students learnt about blue-banded bee conservation, making bee hotels to take home. Credit: Mindy Greenwood/NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust. Photo: supplied)

“Connecting with, understanding and respecting nature is one of the big reasons we run these days for schools,” Ms McGrath said.

“This generation have been through huge floods and fires in recent years and have seen for themselves how powerful nature can be,” she said.

“We’re so grateful to our incredible landholders who are giving kids the opportunity to connect with and see what conservation looks like for them.”

After a walk-and-talk around the property, the students learnt how to use water bugs to find out how healthy a water body is, and how to build a hotel for native blue-banded bees. These activities correlated with lessons completed at Petaurus incursions in previous weeks, which all link back to the NSW school curriculum.

To learn more about private land conservation with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust, or to see if the Conservation Champions program can come to your school, visit bct.nsw.gov.au or phone 1300 992 688.