A renewed focus on educating children about biosecurity's role in agriculture has paid off for Hagley school.
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Hagley Farm School's visitor centre, along with the Education Department, has won a national biosecurity award for its work in educating pupils on biosecurity at the field study centre.
Revitalising School Farms statewide coordinator Andrew Harris said Hagley had been working with Biosecurity Tasmania to shine a spotlight on biosecurity for the pupils who visit the centre.
"We worked with Biosecurity Tasmania to place renewed focus on biosecurity with the children who visit the visitor centre from schools around the state," he said.
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The visitor centre embeds practical applications of biosecurity into the experiences offered when pupils visit the school farm.
Experiences range from dairy, sheep, poultry, crops and soil management and water usage. However, Mr Harris said biosecurity education didn't stop when it left the school farm.
"With our work with Biosecurity Tasmania, we also took it a step further and worked to create curriculum material," Mr Harris said.
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Biosecurity has played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic and has forced the general public to learn more about its role in protecting Tasmania and other countries from disease and pests, he said.
Mr Harris said educating children was about showing them the practical applications of biosecurity, such as dropping food waste into bins before entering animal areas."
"We focus on educating the kids about how biosecurity relates to protecting the animals on the farm."
The Hagley Farm School Visitor Centre is an established working farm and part of the Tasmanian Field Study Centres network.
The visitor centre has about 5000 visitors each year, who come to gain practical experience about food and fibre production.
Mandy Bowling from the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association nominated the Tasmanian Department of Education's Revitalising School Farms initiative and the Hagley Farm School Visitor Centre for the award.