By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
FROGS may be small but that doesn’t mean they’re not important.
Students from Mossgiel Park Primary School were out to prove just how valuable frogs are to the environment when they celebrated ‘Leap into Action Day’ last month.
On Thursday 28 November the school held the special environmental day at its recently renovated frog pond, funded by grants from the Kids Telstra Foundation and the City of Casey.
Mossgiel Park Primary School’s primary welfare officer Lyn Pentland said the day was extremely productive, culminating in a wonderful environmental outcome for the school.
“This day was about increasing the student’s awareness of the importance of caring for frogs, as they are an endangered species, and to learn lots of facts about frogs,” she said.
“The students have thoroughly enjoyed learning about frogs, doing the frog activities and spending time in the frog pond enclosure.”
Students were encouraged to come dressed in green clothes for Leap into Action Day, and also urged to bring any frog toys that they had lying about. They were also asked to contribute a gold coin donation for the day, which will go towards further development of the pond.
Renovations on the school’s pond were completed in August by a nine-person team from Conservation Volunteers, who worked hard to restore the frog sanctuary. The old pond was drained and its plastic removed before a new underlay and rubber lining were laid into the site.
Throughout the day close to 36 Mossgiel students helped the volunteers with the renovation, getting involved in a range of different jobs. Each class had two student representatives helping out, while the school’s environmental leaders were also happy to lend a hand.
“It was a very productive day with a wonderful environmental outcome,” Ms Pentland said.
“It has created a lot of interest among the students and parents, especially for those classrooms near the frog pond area.”
