The Vine Issue 10 – 2020

OFFICE CLOSURE

PLEASE NOTE: The College Office and Junior School Administration will be closed during the school holidays.

Term 3 will commence on Tuesday 21 July.

COLLEGE PRINCIPAL

Mr James Tamblyn

As per my communication to families earlier this week, the College is very much looking forward to the commencement of Term Three when a number of the recent modifications to College life will be eased. The most significant of these will be welcoming parents and family members back onto College grounds to share with us the daily experiences and interactions that make Pedare a community. One of the great lessons of the COVID experience has been the new-found appreciation for so many things we have previously taken for granted. Whether it’s visiting family, going to work, dining out, playing sport, worshipping at church or buying flour, we now better understand that these things are privileges that should be cherished.

Whilst Pedare has experienced only very limited interruption to our learning program in comparison to less fortunate schools in other states, and around the world, we have greatly missed the presence of parents and family members on site to share the achievements and successes of our students; to be part of celebrations at assemblies and services, at morning teas and committee meetings, at sporting events and live performances, at information evenings and through the rich, unplanned, incidental conversations that keep us so closely connected. We are delighted to welcome parents and families fully back into community life from the beginning of Term Three. I thank you all again for your patience, flexibility and understanding throughout Term Two.

Finally, as we head into our mid-year break I extend my gratitude to all staff and students for the resilience demonstrated in the face of 2020’s challenges. Coping with unprecedented restrictions and uncertainty is exhausting, and these holidays are timely. I encourage you all to ensure you get plenty of rest, relaxation and time to recharge over the next fortnight. Thank you for your support of each other, and for your commitment to our learning program, though such a challenging period. Through God’s grace we look forward to a second semester characterised by good health, deep learning and rich community fellowship.

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL/HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL

Mr Andrew Whiteman

This week our Year 11 students attended the annual Camp Challenge which was two one-day experiences designed to test themselves in unfamiliar situations. The students spent one day at Morialta Conservation Park where they completed various team building activities culminating with the physical challenge of rock climbing and abseiling. The rush of anxiety was evident in many students. When abseiling they had to face their fears when they slowly gave their trust to their classmates and the ever-reliable climbing rope when they (slowly) leaned back over the edge of the cliff. An uncomfortable position for anyone to be in but the thrill and enjoyment of the next few moments is something to savour. Many students spoke of the sense of satisfaction when completing the activities as something that they will remember for years to come.

The second day was spent at Nunyara Conference Centre at Belair where students had the opportunity to stop and focus on themselves and have time away from the hustle and bustle of school life to plan out their next 6 months, 12 months and beyond. Throughout the day, a variety of mental, art and sports activities kept the students engaged. Thank you to all the Home Group teachers and staff involved in the 2-day Challenge. Once again, our students rose to the challenge presented to them and enjoyed the friendly competition between Communities.

Next term our current Year 10 and Year 11 families will receive notification about the subject selection process for 2021. Information will be distributed to confirm the dates for the Subject Information evening and subsequent course counselling sessions that each family will have. The Senior Curriculum Handbook has been updated for 2021 and can be found at the following link 2021 Senior School Curriculum Handbook. Students will be informed of the process for making their online subject selections in the first weeks of Term 3 and are advised to start thinking about possible options for 2021.

A personal thank you to all families for their ongoing support of the Pedare Community over the first semester. The first 6 months of the year has been like no other in history and our students, families and staff have had to very quickly adapt to a variety of different methods of education, communication and general life, both inside and outside of the College. The care and empathy that our students have shown for one another during this time has been outstanding. Our students have been very thankful for the effort our staff have shown in working through a very challenging time. I hope you and your families enjoy a well-earned break and our students return refreshed and ready to commit all their energy to the second half of the school year.

HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL

 Mrs Lauren Brooks

Emerging Leadership Forum

We are very passionate in our Middle School about giving our students a platform to voice their opinion, be involved in school-wide decision making and have a genuine impact on improving Pedare.

A recent initiative in this space has been our Emerging Leadership Forum. This was a brilliant experience for our students to spend time with Middle School Leadership to candidly voice their opinion on what matters most to them being students at Pedare. Largely, this was very affirming! Overall, our students love coming to Pedare each day and are grateful for their amazing teachers and learning opportunities. But most powerfully, these conversations have resulted in immediate change to some of the aspects students wanted to see improvements in. Some of these changes have been tweaks to our assessment balance, changes to our pastoral care program and specific feedback that has prompted conversations amongst staff to improve the overall teaching and learning experience for individual classes in our Middle School.

Middle School Ignite

For a myriad of reasons, the 21st century has yielded a school culture where teachers are no longer the sole expert of knowledge in the room. Now more than ever, Pedare is embracing the way students can challenge pre-existing educational norms, in a school that focuses on connection, collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, creation and embracing failure; to facilitate and inspire a love of learning in our students that can support their imagination and talents, in an environment where student agency and leadership can thrive.

In light of this, we are excited to introduce a fantastic opportunity called ‘Middle School Ignite’ in Week 2 of Term 3. Students will engage in different styles of learning on this day with a strong focus on the learning process (not just the outcomes), independence, self-direction, individual interests, collaboration and uninterrupted learning experiences. The day will begin with students working with their Core teacher who will provide support for students in their organisation, time management and goal setting.

For the remainder of the day, students will work with teachers in a more flexible manner out and about throughout the Middle School. Students can access a variety of teachers to support the tasks they choose to engage in, and teachers will be running targeted ‘ignite sessions’ throughout the day. To finish, students will move back to their Core class to work as a ‘co-collaborator’ with their teacher on an upcoming unit and assessment to have voice and choice in the direction of their learning.

We are looking forward to discussing this fantastic opportunity with our students when we return in Term 3. I wish all students and families a safe and restful break over the holidays.

HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL

Mr Randall Pearce

A wonderful part of each term is when we come together to celebrate the learning that has occurred during the term. I particularly look forward to the Head of Junior School Awards to look at who has received these awards and for what.

I am proud to see the PYP learner profile and attitudes to learning alive and well in each classroom, and in the students who have received awards. It is great to hear that students are being respectful of each other, being role models to others through being both principled and caring, being enthusiastic in class and eager to explore new ideas, for taking risks in their learning and persisting through challenging times and for being curious about the world we live in.

When I look at the list of students each term, I know that many will feel sad because they missed out. They might have also missed out on a role in the musical, a sporting team, PSV or even a School Captain’s position and so feel they have never been publicly acknowledged.

I know first-hand how hard it is for class teachers to choose who in the class is going to receive such acknowledgement. We do lose sleep and labour long and hard, unfortunately there is not a perfect system.

Every time a child can cope with disappointment they are learning. They are learning that sometimes life is unfair, that effort goes unrewarded, that goodness does not always trump popularity. And they are such hard lessons – but such valuable training for life.

So, as educators and parents how do we help our children cope with the disappointment of not getting a badge or an award? Here’s some tips:

1. Talk about the possible outcomes before the event. Allow a child to understand that not all children can and will receive an award. This helps a child to consider both outcomes and to start to mentally prepare.
2. Build in some resilient (internal dialogue) that a child can say to and about themselves to help manage the disappointment. “I always try hard.” And “I am more than a certificate and more than a badge.”
3. Plan your own ceremony to award your child. Make a list of the attributes (not the outcomes) that have helped your child to become successful – like persistence, confidence, giving effort, being kind, helping others.
4. Have real discussions with your child about your own life experiences. Children learn that parents and teachers experience disappointments – and even though they might hurt at the time, they are able to move on and be successful anyway. This can be done by parents at home and by teachers leading up to award ceremonies to help children to emotionally prepare themselves.
5. Acknowledge your child’s feelings – try not to diminish them. It is ok for your child to feel sad, let down and disappointed. Help your child to find ways to manage those big feelings so that they do not become overwhelmed. Encourage them to do something that distracts them, something fun, plan an event, write some goals.

As parents and educators, our most important job is to prepare our children for life. Life has its disappointments and building and banking resilience is the key to flourishing, happiness and success.

Wishing you a very enjoyable break, take this time to refresh and re-energise and see you back soon for an amazing Term 3.

CARPARK ETIQUETTE & SAFETY

We would like to remind all parents and staff entering the College grounds to adhere to the 10km/h speed limit, exercise due care and always follow car park signage. As a community, we share responsibility to care for all students, not just our own. This means driving slowly, obeying the guidance of the staff on duty and parking in the appropriate places.

Parents, staff and students have access to car parking within the College grounds and this is a benefit to all concerned. The safety of all students is always one of our highest priorities and requires the cooperation of all drivers and pedestrians.

Surrey Farm Drive Car Park

Can all parents and caregivers please take extra care when dropping off or collecting children in the Surrey Farm Drive car park. We have noticed some drivers disregard the solid yellow line on the driveway which puts all students, particularly our younger students, at a significant safety risk. It is important we stay within the lines to ensure we are not too close to the pedestrian crossing and to avoid impeding the view for other people using the crossing.

It is critical that all parents can drop off and collect children in a safe manner. We are all busy people but rushing in this zone without the correct care and attention could result in an accident.

Junior School Car Park

We would like to advise that the parallel parking lane, closet to the oval, is ‘kiss and drop’ only during both drop off and pick up times. Please adhere to the following in the ‘Kiss and Drop’ area:

• Vehicles must not stand in this zone for more than 2 minutes
• Drivers must not leave their vehicles unattended in this zone
• If your child is not waiting when you arrive to collect them, drive off and leave the zone free for parents whose child is waiting. The teacher on duty is there to supervise the safe collection of all children.

For older students, if possible, we suggest that the ‘pick up’ be delayed by 5 or 10 minutes.

Staff will be on duty to ensure that parents do not leave their vehicles unattended in the ‘Kiss and Drop’ zone. Please do not be offended if you are asked to move your vehicle on. The intention is to ensure that traffic moves swiftly, for the benefit of all, and avoids congestion.

The College is reviewing signage requirements in this area to assist parents and caregivers.

Please help us keep all our children safe by adhering to the road rules and taking extra care in our drop off and pick up zones, and utilise the available car parking spaces if staying, visiting or not remaining in your vehicle.

Do not use the Disabled car-parking spaces unless you display the correct disabled parking permit.

The College will continue to monitor traffic flow in our car parks. We thank you for your support and your commitment to ensuring the safety of all members of the College community.

CONTENTS

Head of Junior School Awards

Year 4 & 5 – Bin Audit

Eco Force at Cobbler Creek

For Your Wellbeing

EXTRA-CURRICULAR

Year 10 vs Senior SPiN Squads

Oz Asia Club

HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL AWARDS

Congratulations to the following students on receiving a Head of Junior School Award for Term 2, 2020:

• 5B – Zara Lebessis & Madeline Weeks
• 5P – Owen Doyle & Ella Pring
• 4A – Abraham El Awar & Emily Griffiths
• 4C – Henry Bloor & Jas Chadha

• 3N – Adele Fotheringham & Bassil Abimosleh
• 3O – Chiara Edwards & William Sturman
• 2B – Katrina Cheng & Edward Coventry
• 2BE – Madison Rimmer & Sebastian Ozog

• 1B – Grace Bloor & Isaac Harata-Lee
• 1M – Sissy Pascal & Aryan Kartik
• RD – Jayden Wang & Faith Boonzaayer
• RO – Henry Williams & Khloe Bekker

Year 5 – HoJS Award Recipients

Year 4 – HoJS Award Recipients

Year 3 – HoJS Award Recipients

Year 2 – HoJS Award Recipients

Year 1 – HoJS Award Recipients

Reception – HoJS Award Recipients

YEAR 4 & 5 – BIN AUDIT

On Tuesday 30 June, Jo from KESAB worked with some of our Year 4 and 5 eco-warriors to conduct a bin audit. The bin audit involved sorting through everything that had been put into a bin located near the Junior School classrooms, play spaces and OSHC throughout Monday.

Armed with an apron, gloves and protective eye wear, the students sorted everything into 15 different categories. It was a bit of a yucky job, but the students were determined. They demonstrated their outstanding problem-solving and communication skills working together to decide which category to place each item.

At the end of the day, we measured the mass and volume of items collected within each category. We were shocked to discover so many food packages and uneaten food items had been thrown into the bins. After looking through just half the rubbish for one day we discovered:

• 11 whole bananas
• 9 whole apples
• 10 untouched sandwiches, rolls and wraps

• 5 mandarins
• 30 x 10c recyclable containers
• Uneaten chips, muesli bars, LCMs, Le Snacks and lunch orders.

The Year 4 and 5 students will now put together an assembly presentation for Term 3 to share the results with the rest of the school. They will also begin to put together some ideas on what actions we could take as a school community to reduce how much we send to landfill. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and Jo commented on what a wonderful group they were.

• “We had a lot of uneaten food. Our language affects the way we treat our rubbish. Instead of calling it rubbish or trash we should call it resources or recyclables.” – Natalie, Year 4
• “I think that people in class have been eating more junk food than healthy food because I saw so many chip packets and unhealthy food in the bins.” – Christian, Year 4 
• “We could do a lot of work to reduce the schools rubbish. We could be a nude food school.” – Abraham, Year 4
• “I realised there were much more categories of rubbish. I thought there was only four of them.” – Liana, Year 4
• “Maybe there is so much uneaten food because little kids have too much packed in their lunchbox?” – Emily, Year 4
• “It’s pretty bad. Especially organics. Some people can’t help throwing away some soft plastics, but the fruit should have been eaten. I feel bad that kids are throwing this away.” – Luke, Year 5
• “I was surprised that there was more uneaten food than I thought.” – Madeline, Year 5
• “I was surprised about how many lunch orders got wasted because lots of the time lunch orders are a treat and not something you would throw away.” – Isabella, Year 5

Ms Rebecca Andary – Teacher, Year 4

ECO FORCE AT COBBLER CREEK

The Eco Force students could not have planned a better afternoon for their excursion to Cobbler Creek on Wednesday 24 June. Due to the recent most welcomed rain causing boggy conditions at the Teakle Ruins, Shanelle Palmer, Lead Educator of The Bush Classroom, instead took the group for an educational walk along the creek, where students learned about the many plants and trees and the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi. Students also identified a number of the different variety of birds commonly found in the area. It was a very worthwhile afternoon learning about our environment and the local creek ecosystem.

Mrs Liz Denton-Brown – Teacher, Librarian

YEAR 11 – CHALLENGE

Our Year 11 students spent Monday and Tuesday this week completing their Year 11 Challenge Experience.

Based in their Home Groups, half of the group went to Morialta Conservation Park for the physical challenge of rock climbing and mentally confronting the fear of falling through an abseiling session. The other half of the cohort went to Nunyara Conference Centre Belair and completed a variety of different activities that required their skills in creativity, teamwork and reflection.

Both the students and staff enjoyed some time away from school in the new environments. Some of the student comments about the experience included: 

• “The views at Nunyara were incredible.” 
• “The Morialta Day was a fun and positive experience.”
• “I enjoyed the opportunity to work with my Home Group as a team at Nunyara.”
• “Abseiling was good because I faced my fears.”
• “Walking through Morialta was really relaxing and scenic.”
• “I enjoyed rock climbing because it was something new and it turned out that I really liked it.”
• “The activities at Nunyara were fun and the lunch was really good!”
• “Rock climbing was fun – and I survived!!”

Ms Jan Robertson – Assistant Head of Senior School

FOR YOUR WELLBEING

Holidays are:

A time to sleep, rest, recuperate.

A time to re-set, to start a new habit to get our routines right.

We encourage our students to take the time these holidays to take a break from the demands and schedules of school. However, it is important to maintain some healthy routines. Routines such as:

• Sensible bedtimes.

• Night-time stories.

• Good nutrition.

• Physical exercise.

Holiday ‘treats’ are important but letting routines be stretched too far can cause issues when it’s time to resume school and settle down into the day to day school routines. Holidays can be a great time to catch up on sleep, revisit our diet and exercise patterns and do some of the things that bring us joy!

Please click here for further information about how to support young people over the holiday period and we look forward to seeing everyone back and refreshed for Term 3.

The Pastoral Team

NEWS

Extra-Curricular Sports feature articles and results below:

YEAR 10 VS SENIOR SPiN SQUADS

On the College’s Casual Day, Thursday 2 July, the Year 10 Vs Senior SPIN Squads played against each other during lunchtime.

This was truly the match-up game for the term with the commencement of more things to come following COVID-19’s closure of events.

The girls warmed up in true netball style, taking the court and coordinating outfits, bringing the atmosphere to life. All played to an exceptional standard while music played over the speakers and a crowd of supporters cheered on their teams.

Overall it was the Senior Girls who took the victory. We can’t wait to see what happens the next time these two teams face each other.

Ms Alana Glapa – Specialist Program in Netball (SPiN) Coordinator & Teacher, Year 6

OZ ASIA CLUB

Since the inception of Pedare’s Oz Asia Club in 2012, the club has always performed in “The OzAsia Festival” which is run by the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Pedare’s OzAsia Club was the only mainstream school performing on stage at Elder Park apart from the Inter School Lion Dance troupes.

In the past, the OzAsia Club performed “Chinese Traditional Water Sleeve Dance”, “Sword Dance” and “Lion and Dragon Dance” and received great praise and appreciation from the audience.

Due to the Covid-19, most of the events and festivals were cancelled, and therefore, in Term 2, the club learnt a little more about Asian Culture.

Students explored and experienced the story behind quick and easy Asian meals, as they saw demonstrations on how they can prepare them at home for themselves, whilst also having a taste or two along the way.

If you are interested in joining us in Term 3, please email Ms Ng at sng@pedarecc.sa.edu.au to find out more.

Ms Siew Ng – Teacher, Chinese

EXTRA-CURRICULAR RESULTS

DUE TO COVID-19 THERE ARE NO EXTRA-CURRICULAR RESULTS AT THIS TIME

Tea Tree Gully Anglican

Due to the current situation with COVID-19, the Tea Tree Gully Anglican Church is no longer able to meet together in their traditional Sunday format. As such, Sunday gatherings have been suspended but are currently meeting online using Zoom and YouTube  Service times are 8:30am, 10:00am and 6:00pm.

Please contact Dave Brown on dave@ttganglican.org.au for more details, or check their Facebook page for links.

If you are struggling and would like to talk with someone from the church during these trying times, please phone 8264 3736.

St Mark’s Anglican Church

From Sunday 5 July 2020, we will be meeting face to face for our 9:00 am (traditional service) and 4:00 pm (contemporary service). Due to the space available, we are limited to the number of people that can attend each service safely, so please email office@stmarksgoldengrove.org.au before 5:00 pm on Saturday evenings if you would like to attend either service.

For more information on St Mark’s Anglican Church in Golden Grove, please visit our website at https://www.stmarksgoldengrove.org.au

Please click here to visit the College Calendar for a full list of College events