Information for Teachers         

 

Home

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

       

       

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

 

Some useful information for visiting groups is listed below:

  • Students must bring their own food, drinks etc. No shopping facilities available.

For reasons related to safety, legal liability and effective learning, school groups visiting Belgenny Farm must not be accompanied by pre-school aged or younger children under any circumstances, whether under parental supervision or not.

·       Equipment supplied by the Environmental Education Centre (where applicable)

o        Worksheets for each student. (as required)

o        All other materials necessary for field work.

o        First Aid Kit (EEC teachers are first aid/CPR trained)

·        Equipment that must be supplied by visiting schools/students.

                 *Sun block       *Hat          *water bottle    * writing equipment (if required)

                 *Morning tea/ lunch including drinks.

                 *Warm clothing/rain protection gear as necessary

IMPORTANT: Our School Environmental Management Plan.

As an important aspect of this centre’s SEMP, visiting students are required to consider the environment when choosing lunch items.  Most importantly, food packaging should be reduced.  Please offer your students guidance and suggest easy alternative such as: re-usable water bottle instead of poppers, grease-proof paper/paper bags instead of Glad-wrap, lunch boxes for plastic shopping bags etc.

In any event , the following items are banned from Belgenny Farm and the Centre due to the environmentally unsustainable nature of the packaging, and/or the litter pollution they create:-

     -  Chips, twisties, CC’s, Cheezles and similar products.

     -  Individual wrapped lollies

     -  Poppers (recyclable and non-recyclable varieties)

     -  Plastic shopping bags.

Behaviour Policy.

As a facility of the NSW Department of Education and Training, Camden Park Environmental Education Centre expects the same high standard of student behaviour, as would their school.  In fact, given that the educational setting at the centre is likely to be unfamiliar to students and include inherent dangers the mitigation of which may require direction by centre staff; it might be argued that acceptable behaviour is even more important at the centre than at school.  It must also be remembered that the centre is based on a veterinary research station and any risk of compromising the work of research staff or the safety of livestock is unacceptable and would be a threat to the continued access of students to the property.

The centre’s behaviour policy accommodates the right of every student to a safe, effective, learning environment.  It includes options that will be followed by centre staff in the event of persistent, unacceptable student behaviour.  As a matter of professional courtesy centre staff expects and appreciates the full cooperation of visiting teachers in ensuring students’ behaviour is of a high standard at all times.

As part of the centre’s risk assessment process, visiting teachers that have identified particular students as likely behaviour problems are asked to consider excluding them from the excursion.

Centre staff will use techniques appropriate to the situation.  The following set of actions by centre staff are indicative but not exhaustive list, and the order in which they are implemented will depend on various factors, particularly the seriousness of the misdemeanour.

  1. Centre teacher will initially use subtle class techniques such as looking at the offender and asking for cooperation.

 

  1. If persistent, the offender may be moved to another place within the group.

 

  1. In the event of further disruption, the student/students will be removed from the main group to a location within sight under the supervision of their teacher, for a short period of time.

 

  1. Where offenders have not responded to these measures, consideration will be given, by centre staff, to one or more of the following;

- abandonment of the activities.

- removal of misbehaving students from the site.

- cancellation of all planned activities and removal of students to school.

- contact of local Police.

The school may be charged for any malicious damage caused by students.  The school principal will be notified in the event of students displaying either unusually good or unusually poor behaviour during a visit to the centre.