Bush School

Nature-based schools are gaining momentum in Australia as more and more kids are swapping the classroom for the bush and proving that quality learning can take place in non-traditional settings.

- Cath Johnsen

THE CALLS OF honeyeaters, golden whistlers and whipbirds herald the start of the school day at The Nature School, as students in khaki and green uniforms trickle into bushland at Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales mid-north coast. As they arrive, the children drop their bags in favour of building a makeshift shelter, insurance against clouds threatening above. Head teacher and self-confessed bird nerd, Catherine Oehlman, is setting up a camp toilet while debating with a student about whether a hollowed-out termite mound in a nearby tree may be home to a kingfisher or kookaburra. “I’m a scientist!” another student declares, hovering over a jack jumper ant nest with a magnifying glass. “Look, Catherine – I made a new discovery!”

Once base camp is set up, the children wander through the bushland and make more discoveries: a discarded fish head suggests a white-bellied sea-eagle, a pile of scat has likely been left by an eastern grey kangaroo, and a koala is spotted resting in a gum tree. Clutching clipboards with paper and pencils, and with binoculars slung around their necks, the children stop frequently to record their findings. When they return to base camp, they run off to explore a natural moss garden, complete with muddy puddles for splashing in and Tarzan vines to swing from.

This is school, but not as we traditionally know it. Inspired by the long-standing traditions of European forest schools, the Australian bush school movement is fast gaining momentum. Breaking down many of the boundaries that are typically found in mainstream schools, bush schools offer a more integrated approach to subjects, timetables and even grade levels.