River Detectives shine at the Murray Darling Basin Association’s River Reflections conference: Rutherglen PS teacher Tash Middlin was joined by three of her very capable students (Hollie, Kailen and Scarlet) along with their RD coordinator Blair Yates who all presented to a room full of experts at this conference in Albury in April. They spoke about what they learn through the River Detectives program and what the program means for their school. We are so proud of you! You can see their presentation at the start of this recording.
Rutherglen Primary School children with North East CMA Blair Yates
Pesticide Watch: Eleven River Detectives schools have opted in to collect water samples for pesticide testing by Deakin University – well done to those schools! Remember there are great resources on our website to help you learn more about the issue pesticides.
Incursions: Schools are enjoying visits from their regional RD coordinator. Please reach out to your coordinator if you would appreciate an incursion and all efforts will be made to deliver it.
Macroinvertebrate Sampling PDs: Will be offered in some way, shape and form in your region as spring approaches. Macro (waterbug) sampling is a brilliant activity to do with your students so keep a lookout for the opportunity to learn more.
Water Quality Testing: Thanks to the schools who are finding time to include testing into their busy schedules. Don’t forget that uploading your data is the final step in this process to make your data count. If you need help with this or with any part of water quality testing reach out to your regional coordinator.
Celebrating our achievements: We will be releasing our mid-year report and a celebration video soon with lots of great examples of the way schools are embedding River Detectives into their learning. There’s some great stuff going on out there with plenty more to come. Already I’m hearing of plans from schools wanting to:
- run a carp catch community event
- revitalise a dam on school grounds after watching the recent RD webinar, “Dull Dams to Dynamic Dwellings”.
- hold a ‘Healthy Waterways Day” at their local creek
- work with their local Landcare Group
We love to hear what you’re doing, big or small, and helping share your stories! If you’re writing a story for the school newsletter, posting on facebook or taking photos we’d love to see them too. Flick them through to your regional coordinator or email Nicole at riverdetectives@nccma.vic.gov.au
River Detectives Hour of Power online drop-in session: We know things don’t always go to plan in schools when things get busy. If you need some inspiration to get your mojo back, have burning questions or just want to have a yak with other RD teachers to see how they do things, I’ll be holding an online session for staff across the state. More news soon.
All the best for Term 3,
Nicole (North Central CMA RD and statewide coordinator), Bec (Corangamite CMA RD coordinator), Jeanie (Wimmera CMA RD coordinator), Blair (North East RD coordinator) and Marita (Melbourne Water RD coordinator)
