This term has been busy for the environmental groups of ISB. The School’s Eco-Group of teachers and students hosted an eco workshop and invited local schools to come and learn how to be an Eco-school. At this time part of the tour was to the school tree nursery which was in its development stages. Now the tree nursery is complete and the first set of trees added.
Setting up the nursery: The first stage of setting up this nursery was to erect a shaded area near a water supply. The school had the perfect location by the swimming pool area with a concrete base. With the help of Max Glover, from Tang Sun Lee and his men, they kindly donated some old scaffolding poles and erected them into a frame. For the shade, the school reused the netting that was part of the background for the school production, and it was a perfect fit. A great example of reusing resources.
With the shaded area complete, the next step was to organize a watering system. A timer was bought from the UK and then with the help of Fertiland Co they spent several hours assisting us in planning out a suitable irrigation system and finding all the necessary hosing and parts. Thanks also to MC House for sponsoring the watering system. Jeffry and Ronnie our staff at ISB helped with the securing of the netting and piping and finally we were ready to go.
Finding Trees: With the nursery complete, the next step was to get the tree seedlings and with the help of the Forestry Dept, we were invited to Labi. On Saturday 1st December, a small group of Year 12 IB students and staff drove down to Labi to learn how to collect seedlings from the forest floor. Our first task was to prepare the area for potting by mixing top soil with lime, CRP, NPK and Bioroot . With a few small bags filled we then followed the Forestry staff to several different areas where we dug up four different types of seedlings. Once back at the nursery, we then proceeded to pot all of the seedlings and then load them up in our car to take back to school.
The morning was a great adventure and resulted in us collecting:
- 17 Cauarina
- 16 Gaharu
- 19 Tulong and
- 49 Kerving Sindor
Thanks to Awg Mahmud Hj Yussof for arranging the trip and thanks to the staff at the Forestry Dept for their patience in teaching us the basics of tree planting.
Over the next 6 months, students in the tree nursery club will be looking after the trees ready for replanting in June.
…Carol Hancox |