Marine Discovery Centre
Star of the Sea School
Henley Beach SA 5022

Contact: Tim Hoile (Project Officer)
Tel: 08 8356 8943 Fax: 08 8356 8943

Email: thoile@star.adl.catholic.edu.au

Our aim is to encourage an appreciation and understanding of marine life with a view to promoting conservation and sustainable use.

Our School Community, including our parents and students, has embraced environmental learning through many activities including developing a sand dune transect, recycling, planting and improving the school grounds and maintenance of the Marine Discovery Centre.

Working bees, caring for our marine creatures, making displays, marine water-testing, marine murals, supervising small groups of visiting students to the MDC and maintaining the school grounds have all been achieved through this outstanding support.

Catchment model

We believe that through empowering our visitors, our visiting schools and our own school community with the help of our volunteers, we have made an enormous contribution to environmentally sound practices.

We strongly believe that students are not vessels to be filled but active learners. A major focus is the many opportunities for hands-on learning and discovery. We prefer the slogan of "Please do touch" to enhance children's learning and experiences.

Coastcare have kindly supported our Curriculum Development and we have developed Teacher Packs for 12 themes. These packs are divided into the year levels R-2, 3-5 and 6 & 7.

In 2001 the Department for Environment and Heritage approached the MDC with the view of developing a Leafy Seadragon Marine Education Kit - the first marine education curriculum to be distributed to all primary schools in South Australia. This we were able to do and the Leafy Seadragon education kit was launched in June - to be in all S.A. schools in the new school term.

Our children from Star of the Sea School receive a lesson once a week. Our Enviro Club children meet every Monday during their lunch time. Our school and students have been involved in a variety of activities.

Our major highlights have included:

• Co-ordinating the 2002 National Marine Environmental Education Conference for the Marine Education Society of Australasia (MESA) with 95 Delegates from around Australia. This was the first time the event had been held in Adelaide and was an outstanding success.
• Developing a marine education pack for distribution to every Primary School in South Australia (SA).
• The MDC has developed 8 community signs for the first metropolitan coastline walking trail in SA from the Torrens Outlet to the Grange Jetty - a combined project with the City of Charles Sturt, Coastcare, a Federation Grant, the Torrens Catchment Water Management Board (TCWMB), Henley and Grange Dune Care.
• Dune planting in our sand dune area
• Marine trails for visiting schools
• Litter clean-ups (with our school and visiting schools)
• Coastal dune plants garden at the entry of the MDC - this involves different types of coastal plants and their succession ie. where they are found in dunes - a new interactive mural is being developed
• Water testing at the Torrens outlet
• Worm Farms
• Painting murals
• Making displays for the MDC
• Feeding our marine creatures
• Recycling plastics and reusing paper products
• Interactive models highlighting environmental "good practice"