Pedare - The Vine Newsletter Issue 12 for 2021
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The Vine Issue 12 – 2021

August 27, 2021
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COLLEGE PRINCIPAL

Mr James Tamblyn

 

This week we had an opportunity to recognise our Middle and Senior School students who achieved the benchmark that qualified them for a Semester One Academic Award. As a school, learning is our core business. Learning deeply, and learning together, is the reason we’re here. At Pedare, our motto compels us all to Let our Light Shine. To be the very best versions of ourselves. 

To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48)

This little pearl of wisdom means we are held responsible to make the most of what we have. If we’ve been blessed with talents, wealth, knowledge, time, choices, it is expected that we will recognise and honour this by using these blessings to benefit others. To all of us, so much has been given. And so, from all of us, so much is required. At Pedare, students are expected to apply this premise to their learning. 

The formula for learning success at school is really quite simple. Show up, engage with your learning, ask questions, persist and practise. The more you practise, the more you’ll learn, and the deeper this learning will be. The most successful students are the most persistent. They don’t stop asking questions. They don’t stop striving to improve an assignment or preparing for a test, until the deadline.  

At our Academic Assembly, students were reminded that school is not a preparation for life. It is life. For each one of them. Today. Right now, every decision they make, every habit they develop, every moment they waste or every chance they seize, are combining to determine their opportunities in the future.  

We congratulate again those students recognised for their outstanding academic success in the first semester, predicated upon their efforts. For those who weren’t recognised but are giving it their all, keep it up. These students already have the most important ingredient required to succeed, and it will come, as long as the effort is maintained. 

And to those students who are capable of achieving excellence but aren’t, and for whom there is no real excuse, step up. Life is happening now; choose to embrace it. 

To view photos of our Middle and Senior School Academic Achievement Recipients, please click here.


DEPUTY PRINCIPAL / HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL

Mr Andrew Whiteman

 

Each year, the College selects two Senior students who best embody the spirit of Pedare to lead the College community as our College Captains. They take on a variety of roles and help to lead and build on the wonderful student culture we have at Pedare. The selection process has recently been completed, and I am very proud to announce that the successful 2022 College Captains are Brooke Joppich and Jude Barker. Please congratulate our College Captains, and we look forward to working closely with them next year. They will be formally inducted at our first assembly in Term 4, along with other Senior students leaders, Community Captains, Art and Sports Captains.

The theme of last week’s Assembly was courage, and our Brooklyn students provided amazing insight into the different types of courage that students need and show every day. From dancing, to public speaking, to standing up for what you believe in; our students walked out of the Assembly truly inspired. During the Assembly, we were treated to a special performance by our students as they prepare for next week’s College Musical. This year they will perform the worldwide phenomenon ‘High School Musical’. The event was postponed due to recent restrictions, however, the students and staff have continued to practice and are all set to perform. We look forward to seeing all of their hard work come to life. 

This week, our Year 9 students have had the opportunity to select their subjects for Year 10 in 2022. Students spent time talking with subject teachers, discussing the options available. If parents would like some more information about the options available in 2022, please contact the College Office.

We have seen Science Week and Book Week came to life around the College in the past two weeks. From exploding watermelons to science flying challenges, our Science department really captured the imagination of all our budding scientists. Book Week has delivered some surprising presents to students of all ages. Those lucky enough to find a gift book around the school were very pleased. We love seeing the colour and enjoyment that these types of special weeks bring to our community. A big thank you to all the students and staff who organised and participated in these events. 


HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL

 Mrs Lauren Brooks

 

Reconciliation Action Plan

Last week, student leaders from across the College attended the annual Anglican Student Leaders Conference at St. Peters. This was such an immersive experience for our students, who spent the day enhancing our Reconciliation Action Plan, as well as connecting with student leaders from other schools across Adelaide.

Our Pedare students were incredible and represented the College in the most outstanding manner.

We are looking forward to exploring our Reconciliation Action Plan with students across the entire College later this year.

Service Day

The Middle School continues to forge ahead in our experiential learning initiatives that see our students develop their agency, critical and creative thinking skills and entrepreneurial spirit.

On Friday, 10th of September, we are all looking forward to ‘Service Day’.

Students have already had the opportunity to choose their own learning area that most excites them, to spend Service Day engaging in deep, discovery-based learning of their choice.

Students will explore new ideas and spend the day working towards building a product or initiative that will serve a community.

We are very proud to have some fantastic connections with our community precinct and students will have the opportunity to give back to these charitable organisations, as well as our own local Pedare community, whilst meeting experiential and service-learning outcomes throughout the day.

 

Book Week

Book Week is such a special time. This week we were able to bring to life the magic of books, how vitally important reading is and how much reading truly underpins lifelong learning.

Today we saw students in Year R – 9 dressing up in their favourite book character. What a delight it was to see students of all ages given the chance to truly connect with books and associate reading in such a fun and positive way!

 

To view photos of our Middle School Book Week Parade, please click here.


HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL

Mr Randall Pearce

 

Book Week

‘Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.’ Kate DiCamillo, children’s fiction author.

This term, the Children’s Book Council of Australia celebrates its 76th Book Week. I was drawn to wonder whether, after 76 years, this is still relevant today. In asking myself this question, I am aware that too many people think of Book Week as merely a ‘dress-up day’!

At Pedare Junior School, we see reading as a precious gift, and as such we should celebrate and acknowledge this gift. We are fortunate to have a wealth of reading resources, passionate staff including Teacher Librarians, Class / Diverse Learning teachers and Parent Volunteers who provide programs such as MiniLit, MacqLit and Pro Literacy levels. These are strong examples that reading holds a special place within our curriculum.  

Each and every day is filled with opportunities to expand our reading horizons, whether this is within large or small groups, before school, during breaks, in classrooms or at home in warm and cosy reading places.

Building individual reading skills and habits is so important, as are the benefits children receive from being read to.

As the cleverly named Paige Turner blogged on TheLiteracySite.com, reading together:

  • builds relationships,
  • creates deeper bonds between child and parent,
  • provides new experiences,
  • builds awareness about the world outside home,
  • improves communication,
  • builds greater vocabulary,
  • builds greater speech patterns and enunciation,
  • improves concentration,
  • story time provides an ideal incentive to build concentration, and
  • builds a lifetime love of books!

Even in our digital age, reading is still an essential ability for communication and learning. Children who learn to love reading have a pastime that will engage their imaginations and intellect for the rest of their lives.

Children’s Book Week encourages children to enjoy new authors and books. It is celebrated in the Junior School with our Costume Parade and Assembly along with Mrs Denton-Brown who organised an author’s visit by Mandy Foot for all Junior School students. Today was such a great day at Pedare. We hope such fun helps bring reading alive, provides precious memories, and allows both children and adults alike to have fun.  

To view photos of our Junior School Book Week Parade, please click here.


COLLEGE NEWS

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Middle and Senior School

Congratulations to the Middle and Senior School students who were recognised and awarded certificates for their Semester 1 Academic Achievements at Assembly held on Thursday 26 August.

Year 6 Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Year 7 Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Year 8 Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Year 9 Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Year 10 Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Year 11 Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Year 12 Academic Achievement Award Recipients


High School Musical on Stage!

1 – 3 September

Production of Pedare Middle and Senior School.

Two high school students, who are poles apart, secretly decide to audition for their school’s musical. Their talent challenges the elite and turns their world upside down.


Though the High School Musical performances had to be rescheduled due to the COVID lockdown, we are very excited to announce that the Musical will be held at the Golden Grove Arts Centre on September 1st, 2nd and 3rd, at 7.00 pm.

All existing tickets have been transferred to equivalent performances in September.


WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE MISTAKES

– From Your Wellbeing Team

Too often in life we want to get everything right and perfect, and to protect ourselves and our children from failing. However, mistakes are an essential part of learning. 

Mistakes should be viewed as opportunities to learn and grow. In order to learn a new skill, we have to take chances, and this means that we need to allow the opportunity to fail. No baby stood up and walked on their first try. Nor did they give up because they fell down. 

Mistakes should be seen as opportunities to:

  • Gain knowledge –  what worked?
  • Learn to reflect – what could I have done?
  • Be creative – Is there another way?
  • Be Resilient – Keep trying
  • Be Courageous and keep going.

LEARNING HIGHLIGHTS


UNISA EXCURSION

Year 12

On Thursday 19th August, Year 12 Physical Education students had the opportunity to visit the University of South Australia (UniSA) to complete some testing within the Sports Science department. The day began by looking at how the circulatory system responds to environmental conditions such as ambient temperature and humidity. Students were able to experience this through an environmental chamber that was set at 33 degrees and 70% humidity. After the sub-maximal test, the student measured their body composition through hydrostatic/underwater weighing and a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA).

In the afternoon, students had the privilege to watch a VO2 max.  Jon (Year 12 student) volunteered to complete the fatigue test, and he was very proud of his VO2 max results: 58ml/kg/min. The remainder of the day involved a tour and looking at potential career pathways with the field of Health Science: ‘Exercise & Sports Science’ and ‘Clinical Exercise Physiology’.

We would like to thank Dr Grant Van Der Ploeg and Ashlee Munro from UniSA for providing such a valuable experience for our students at Pedare.

Damien Hutchings


FUN ART CLASS

Year 7

Year 7 students recently had the opportunity to draw a bearded dragon and magnificent tree frog in Mrs Filippi and Mrs Grant’s classes. Currently, the Year 7s are working on self-portraits inspired by Frida Kahlo who often incorporated animals in her paintings to symbolise her personality. Thank you to Mrs Ireland and Mrs Luxford for bringing in the visitors to our classes and answering all of our curious questions.

“Today we had some visitors to the art room. As it was Science Week, we got some animals delivered to the Art room for us to sketch. We had Mushu the bearded dragon and two frogs. One of the frogs jumped onto Micah’s pencil case. We did 5 sketches, and we then had to choose one to outline and paint with watercolours.” – Nathan, 7J

Leah Grant


SMART SOCCER – STEM CURRICULUM

Year 7

Some of the best lessons I recall as a teacher come from an engaged and fun classroom. Year 7 students have immersed themselves in a new, exciting initiative in the Year 7 STEM curriculum this month. Students had so much fun playing the ‘Smart Soccer game’, an educational board game that brings multiple learning outcomes into a classroom, including strategy, mathematics and computational thinking.  

Smart Soccer game is part of the Sport Tech Learn (STL) curriculum and resources that engage students in STEM education, using sport as the vehicle. STL integrates digital and multimodal literacies that develop students’ confidence and autonomy through a structured STEM education activity for innovation and more in-depth learning. 

Students enjoyed the Smart Soccer game as it encourages teamwork and problem-solving. The game has a level of competitiveness, which is crucial in growth and resilience. A special thanks to Katie Gloede (Pedare Parent) from Sport Tech Learn for her enthusiasm and passion in bringing this program into Year 7 classrooms.  

 

“I absolutely loved the Year 7 STEM education initiative. The level of engagement was so high with our Year 7 class. The program that Katie delivered has made so many positives, including how a game has a maths component that incorporates a new way of learning in the classroom. It’s about creativity, communication, critical thinking and teamwork.” Year 7 student

Michael Raymond


STAGE 1 ESSENTIAL MATHEMATICS

Stage 1 Essential Mathematics students visited the kitchen to carry out an investigation of consistency in baking. 

Whilst baking, the students had to consider their method to ensure that their set of cupcakes were consistent in size and look. After the baking was complete, they measured the weight, height and spread of each cupcake and by calculating the mean, median and standard deviation, worked out which set of cupcakes were most mathematically consistent.

Great fun was had by all, and the lesson was finished with a tasty treat.

Nicola Fotheringham


QUIZ NIGHT

Senior School

Last week saw the return of the Senior School Quiz Night. There were tables of students from Year 10, 11 and 12 who enjoyed the dress-up theme of the evening and had tables filled with food for a cast of thousands. 

2021 Academic Captains, Holly and Shannon, had planned the quiz with a range of fun and challenging rounds including Horrible Histories, Guess the TV Theme, Sport, Music and many more. Cameron and Vas were the charming and cheerful compères who kept the night rolling and entertained us with their happy banter. Mr Wilson contributed to the success of the night, with the sound and lighting creating the perfect atmosphere.

Scores were updated every two rounds, and the leader board changed many times throughout the evening. Early on, it looked like the Year 10 and Year 11 table might be taking out the top spot, until the final two rounds when the staff table came home with a burst. However, they were only in it for the glory and not the prizes, which saw the Year 12 table nudge out the Year 10s to take the first place win.

Thanks to Dominos Golden Grove, Café Verdi, Donut King and Boost Juice, Golden Grove who provided prizes. Proceeds from tickets went directly to The Royal Flying Doctors Service and raised close to $300.00.

Jan Robertson


Surrey Community Gathering

On Wednesday 18th August, we welcomed a guest speaker, Tiana Riemelmoser (Class of 2017) for the Surrey Gathering. In addition to discussing our Surrey theme for the year “Explore the Unknown”, Tiana focused on encouraging students to support each other and follow their passions. Many Pedare staff and students remember Tiana’s enthusiasm, kindness and service while at Pedare. We appreciate her spending time with us today.   

Andrew Richards

Science Week – Watermelon Challenge

To celebrate 2021 Science Week, Pedare students were so excited to take on the Watermelon Challenge during lunch break on Wednesday 18th August. Lots of laughs and fun we had. Students were counting with great anticipation as the watermelon burst open.


Junior School – AEROkids

AEROkids returned to the Junior School with some fun and an energetic gymnastics program during PE lessons.

Students burst with enthusiasm as they learnt to do a handstand and enjoyed the warm-up time with some fun dance-fitness moves.


Junior School – Author Visit

Kicking off this week’s Book Week was a visit from the talented South Australian author and illustrator, Mandy Foot of ‘Lucy and Copper’.

 Mandy shared her passion for illustration and collaborated with Junior School students to draw ‘new creatures’ inspired by the 2021 Book Week theme, ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’.


Junior School Book Week Parade and Assembly

Book Week was celebrated with a Parade on the Junior School oval this morning.

Students and staff all enjoyed an opportunity to dress up in celebration of books and reading.


Middle School Book Week Parade and Assembly

Middle School students and staff also got into the spirit of Book Week and enjoyed a very entertaining Book Week Assembly with storytelling.



Extra-Curricular

NEWS, UPDATES AND RESULTS

The Pedare Extra-Curricular Team are excited to bring you a new portal, containing information and links all in one location to our Sports and Clubs program.

The Portal is updated regularly to bring you the latest news, announcements, updates, results and more of Pedare Extra-Curricular activities and events.

COMMUNITY NEWS

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Tea Tree Gully Anglican

 

Tea Tree Gully Anglican Church is a group of Christians who seek to serve Jesus in everything we do. Whether you are just visiting, or looking for a Christian home, we aim to be a loving and supportive family for you. We meet at the church at 8:30am, 10:00am, and 6:00pm in person. If you can’t join us just yet, we’ll continue to stream at 8:30am and 10:00am online using Zoom and YouTube  Service times are 8:30am and 10:00am.

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.

 

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Tea Tree Gully Uniting – Banksia Markets

 

Tea Tree Gully Uniting host the ‘local and friendly’ Banksia Markets on the first Saturday of each month from 8:30am to 1:00pm at 600 Milne Road, Banksia Park. Stalls inside the hall and in the car park include produce, fresh fruit and vegetables, jewellery, tools, bric-a-brac and lots more. A BBQ and delightful Devonshire Teas are available. There is also 50% off of items in the BIG shed. For more information contact the TTG Uniting Church website ahttps://www.ttguc.org.au/

 

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St Mark’s Anglican Church

 

St Mark’s Anglican Church currently have a 9:00 am traditional service. Please email office@stmarksgoldengrove.org.au to advise if you will be attending either service for COVID-19 requirements.

For further information and updates about St Mark’s services, please visit the website at https://www.stmarksgoldengrove.org.au/ or visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/stmarksgoldengrove.org.au

 

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Golden Grove Uniting Church

 

Golden Grove Uniting Church, corner of Crouch and One Tree Hill Road, Golden Grove, has a traditional service at 10:00am on a Sunday morning.  Also, on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, we have a cafe style church, which is a relaxed contemporary worship service at 6:00pm in the Church hall.

On a Friday morning for parents/carers and children from birth to 5 years we have a mainly music programme starting at 9:30am. This is a fun, interactive 30-minute music session followed by morning tea and free play.

For further information, please contact the Office on 8251 4298 or by email: office@goldengroveuniting.org.au  you can even check our webpage: https://www.goldengroveuniting.org.au

KEY DATES