CERES School of Nature and Climate Team
Meet our dedicated, passionate and expert team of educators that deliver a range of inspiring programs for early childhood centres, schools, tertiary institutions and individuals.
Learning Directors



Melissa initially started as the Office Administration over 15 years ago, before she found her happy place with the Farm Team. Joining forces with Chris Ennis, the early days found her immersed in a wide range of activities including everything from building commercial kitchens to helping start the Propagation enterprise; from making coffees at Market, to wrangling sheep across farm paddocks. Alongside this, Melissa also developed and implemented training programs and enterprises around urban food systems and hospitality, with a particular focus on engaging marginalised individuals. Melissa also loves bringing people together for celebrations around food and the seasons at CERES, as well as at home.
Educators and Staff



While she loved teaching, she discovered that her true passion was to be found outside the classroom. In 2016, after establishing a successful sustainability program at her school, Clare discovered that she could share her passion for the environment with her students. This led Clare to join CERES School of Nature and Climate in 2019 where she began facilitating incursions and excursions at both primary and secondary levels. Working at CERES has shown Clare the importance of developing a strong sense of community and has allowed her to continue empowering students to take action for the environment, both at school and in their daily lives.
Clare is excited to be facilitating the Schools for Wildlife project for CERES and loves to see students reconnect with and take responsibility for nature. She adores seeing her own childhood passion for wildlife in the students she works with and is proud to support them in identifying and improving habitat for the wildlife in their local area.




He and his young family do anything they can to leave a gentle footprint on our country and he is quick to lend a hand to anyone else wanting to do so. He strives to make everyone he meets excited about the environment. Working with CERES as an outreach educator is something he cannot wait to be a part of. With so many working for sustainability, he is more than ready to be a part of this network.



Katrina’s roles in sustainability education include education roles with Melbourne Water and CERES Student Programs and delivering the sustainable travel program TravelSmart to schools and community groups in both local and State government roles.
Over the past six years, her focus on sustainability has been facilitating school and adult sessions on local pollinators, composting and organic gardening to connect people to nature and increasing local biodiversity in their own urban backyard. Outside of work, her productive garden is her main passion along with cooking, preserving and sharing produce and compost with neighbours.
She’s really excited to join the Teacher Programs team and embed sustainability into the whole school and work with teachers and students for bottom-up solutions with meaningful and positive change to take care of the earth.





Mairead’s love of conservation began as a child, often hiking and being outdoors. She loves gardening, composting and is inspired by what communities of people can do to create change.
In her role as a Teacher Programs Educator, Mairead is excited to help empower teachers to embed sustainability practices into their schools as they raise a generation of young people who are creative, informed and empowered to create positive sustainable futures.


She is passionate about experiential learning and challenging people to think about themselves and the world differently. She believes that relationships and stories are what really touch and move people, and that is what she aims to nurture as a trip coordinator and facilitator.
Her favourite things about working at CERES are the creativity and dynamism within her role and the organisation.


