Kiama High School

For over 14 years the students of Kiama High School have been active in local Landcare.  Once a year teachers at Kiama High have allowed the Year 7 students to participate in local Landcare projects.  Paul Berry took over the program in 1998 and hopes to see it expand to become an in depth subject for local students.

The program involves taking students out of the classroom and providing them with hands on Landcare experience.  Each year a guest speaker is arranged to explain long term goals and how to achieve them.  This has been a very rewarding program that provides students with a greater understanding and appreciation of our natural environment.  It is hoped that the students will carry this appreciation of our natural environment with them for the rest of their lives.

Kiama High School students have been involved in numerous projects and with numerous Landcare groups including Bombo Headland, Killaree Recreational Park, Jamberoo Recreational Park, Minnamurra Rivercare Park, Minnamurra Rainforest, and Werri Beach.  The students also collaborated with the Shoalhaven City Council and National Parks and Wildlife Service to improve biodiversity at Seven Mile Beach.  This year the students worked on Baileys Island and managed to plant over 2000 native grasses. 

Paul Berry hopes to take Year 12 students back to the sites where they had undertaken work to show the students what their efforts have achieved in the long term.  Kiama High students love the program.  The students love being out of the classroom and being a part of practical Landcare.  However the most loved aspect of the program is being part of a practical solution to protect and enhance the local environment. 

Streamwatch Activities

Students and teachers from Kiama High School have been part of the Streamwatch Program since 1994.  They had a few years break and rejoined the program in late 2004.

The school has collected water samples from a range of different sites around Kiama, but now concentrates its efforts on Spring Creek at the South end of Bombo Beach. Their recent water bug survey showed the presence of many native flathead gudgeon fish and absence of the introduced Gambusia (mosquito fish) which is a great sign for the waterway.