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The Balmain Foreshore Project is an initiative to provide a specialised cross-curriculum education program to extend and engage students in our Enrichment class. It involves the development of a cross-curriculum unit of work, incorporating critical thinking and focusing on research and hands-on application of environmental research to plan to rehabilitate a section of the Balmain foreshore on and adjacent to school grounds. In 2022-3, it involved Year 10 Geography and Science classes.
The Balmain Foreshore Project received a $10,000 Westconnex community grant from Transurban to support continued activities associated with the project. This grant has been used to fund the purchase and installation of Living Seawall panels, a crane and signage. The project received funding of $1500 from the Balmain Campus Parents and Citizens Association for an underwater drone and educational materials.
Students will engage with community organisations, research institutions and government initiatives to explore ways to demonstrate active citizenship to bring about positive change in the local community and beyond.
Aims of the Balmain Foreshore Project:
Enrich student learning
Practical, hands on learning
Improve student engagement
Community connection - engagement with the local area and different perspectives
Meaningful engagement with wider political and community discussions and issues
Solutions focus - identifying real world issues and problems, but focusing on how we can bring about positive change
Active citizenship - positive contribution to environmental quality
The Google Maps screenshot below shows the general location of the Balmain Foreshore Project study site.
Location
This project has been based on the grounds of Sydney Secondary College Balmain Campus at the water's edge, and adjacent to the Balmain Bushcare site. This grassy area was once anarrow, sandy beach. Above was a steep hill where bush plants grew among sandstone outcrops. When the seawall was built, the low-lying area was filled and levelled. The hillside bush was buried under dumped soils and other rubbish, and large and small weeds grew.
Balmain Bushcare
Since 2002, local volunteers have been restoring the Sydney Sandstone bushland, removing weeds, terracing the slope and reintroducing bush plants to make habitat suited to native birds and animals. The Balmain Foreshore Project Team recognises the interconnection between land and water management and would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the Balmain Bushcare volunteers over the last twenty years.
We would like to thank both Transurban and the Balmain Campus P&C for funding this project.
We would also like to extend our thanks to the teachers involved in teaching the classes and developing the project with us - James Heaffey, Raheela El-Rakshy; and acknowledge the input of Dr Chris Brunner, David McDermott and Tom Quinne who worked on the project in 2022-3, and Raheela El-Rakshy, Bianca Benjamin, Michael Fokas and Nick Karam who worked on the project in 2024.
We look forward to expanding this project in the future.
Louise Swanson, Deputy Principal & Mitch Arvidson, HT HSIE & Careers.
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