Teens share forest lore

Hundreds of school children from the Peel region made the journey to Baldivis Children’s Forest last Thursday for WA’s largest environmental education conference.

Each year the Baldivis Children’s Forest partners with the City of Mandurah to run the WA Regional Kids Teaching Kids event. The forest’s management committee, made up of young Baldivis people, took the primary school students through a range of workshops centred around the themes of coast, climate and community.

Committee member Millie Evans said engaging with other kids outside the classroom was a great way to learn.

“It’s about kids getting outside and teaching other kids about sustainability,” she said.

“We learn a lot about leadership roles and this program has given us great experience that we can draw on when we leave school.”

Students were treated to an energetic performance of song and dance by the Baldivis Kapa Haka group, before heading off to their workshops.

The Kids Teaching Kids program aims to promote positive wellbeing and helps build resilience in young people through a connection with the environment.

The Baldivis Children’s Forest, which hosts the annual event, is 49 acres of revegetated bushland in the heart of one of the fastest-growing suburbs in Australia.

It is home to a native tuart woodland, a wetland and rare banksia species schools have replanted around the site.

The forest became a reality in the year 2000 and is now managed by City of Rockingham and its own not-for-profit.