This National Science Week (12 – 20 August), Wollongong City Council’s horticulturalist Penny Hoswell will bring her rich knowledge of plants and ecosystems to guide students through a free digital nature poem workshop.

The workshop is part of POEM FOREST, a nature writing competition that encourages students in years K-12 to submit a nature inspired poem. For every poem received, Wollongong City Council and Red Room Poetry will plant a tree on Dharawal Country in the Wollongong Local Government Area.

To help creative ideas start flowing, we’re inviting students and teachers to attend the digital workshops on Tuesday 15 August.

Teachers can book their class to attend the workshops:

• Primary workshop (Years K-6), 10-10.45am AEST, Tuesday 15 August
• Secondary workshop (Years 7-12), 1-2pm AEST, Tuesday 15 August

All poems created in the workshop can be entered into the POEM FOREST Prize to be published and go into the running for $5,000 worth of prizes.

“This year’s POEM FOREST is focussing on growing the forest on Dharawal Country across the suburbs of Wollongong - in parks, as street trees, in our natural areas and in Tiny Forests,” Wollongong City Council Horticulturalist Penny Hoswell said.

“Some areas in Wollongong have the lowest canopy cover in NSW. We want to increase the canopy cover, and we need our community to be on board as most land in our local government area is private land, so we need residents to get on board Council’s Greening Your Suburb project.”

Read more about how Council is bringing plants and trees to streets and parks.

“Trees and plants are one of the best ways we can make our neighbourhoods more liveable. By planting more trees in our community, we will improve climate resilience, provide habitats for native flora and fauna, and create a better future,” Ms Hoswell said.

“We’re encouraging students to write and submit a poem to POEM FOREST as for every poem we receive, we’ll plant a tree in our city. So far, Council staff have worked with students from Farmborough Road Primary School and Fairy Meadow Demonstration School to plant over 1200 POEM FOREST trees along Allans Creek and Cabbage Tree Creek.

“We want to grow our forest as big as possible. Students of all ages have until Friday 22 September 2023 to submit a poem, so please start writing and get involved in this great project.

“If you don’t know where or how to start writing a poem, jump online and take part in the digital workshop this National Science Week. The workshops will blend science and creativity. We’ll talk about plants, ecosystems and sustainability and how we can take these ideas and use them to write poetry.”

Read more wise words from Penny on the importance of trees and poetry by visiting the Red Room Poetry website.