GS Kidd Memorial School sensory garden promotes learning

With $500 funding from the Gould League and help from the community, the school now has a pond ready for yabbies and frogs, and plans for raised garden beds when more funding can be secured.

Teacher Kim Gibson said the new development could not have gone ahead without the community’s help.

Ray Priestley Earthmoving donated rocks, and Prime Engineering and Pumping Solutions constructed the pond perimeter and a grate for the pond. Rotary 2380 laid out the rocks and cemented them down and installed the pond, while electrician Neville Mammen donated his time to fit the electrics for the fountain. Hoem Timber and Hardware, and Palmers Landscapes also assisted.

Mrs Gibson said the idea for the sensory garden came out of A Garden For Life workshop at the Warrumbungle Environmental Education Centre. The development builds on the work that has already been done, with established vegetable patches, herbs, and an orchard.

“Our students appreciate the elements of sound, touch and smell because they have that heightened sense, so plants offer a medium that allows learning, a place of rest and a place of play,” Mrs Gibson said.

“It’s like a lesson area and I set it up so every group has some task to do.”

Among the activities are reading rain gauges, fertilising, watering, planting, digging, and picking produce which they then weigh and sell through the front office.

“It allows us to have so much learning across all the curriculum,” Mrs Gibson said.