With the planting season drawing to a close for Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group, Community Officer Talen Stroot needed to get the remaining 1500 plants into the ground by the end of August.
Under the guidance of science specialist teacher Kathy Moore, a group of Year 6 students from Armadale Primary School understood the urgency and rose to the challenge.
The students understood the community service needed a spirit of commitment and came prepared to plant despite the forecast of rain.
After a short walk across the school oval to Settlers’ Common, the students were greeted by Talen who explained the planting process, demonstrating how to remove the plants from the pots and position them in the pre-dug holes.
As the students collected their buckets of plants, the rain began but not one student was deterred by it. In fact, they embraced it, with squeals of delight.
Students were joined by Armadale Primary School’s new principal, Mark Donaldson, who was keen to see the planting already done by the school and support the Year 6 team with their planting.
Miss Moore had invited fellow Landcare volunteer and member for Darling Range Hugh Jones to attend the planting and to meet Mr Donaldson.
It didn’t take long for the men to connect with their backgrounds in the Australian Defence Force.
The students worked like Trojans for two hours and achieved a massive record, getting 1000 plants into the ground. They look forward to visiting the site regularly to monitor the progress of their little part of the forest.
