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Friday July 31st, 2020
Check out our new website! www.smdaylesford.catholic.edu
Dear Families,
I hope you are keeping safe, and well. It has been such a beautiful day today with the sun shining down
on the kids planting trees and shrubs around our school. It is so nice to feel the sunshine on your face in
the middle of winter. ...particularly with some cold weather coming next week, maybe even snow? They
say if you don’t like the weather in Melbourne, just wait 15 minutes. It seems extraordinary we can go
from sunny mild days to zero degrees in such a short space of time. Enjoy the weekend, and go Pies.
National Tree Day
National Tree Day, proudly sponsored by Toyota Australia, was co-
founded in 1996 by Planet Ark and Olivia Newton-John. It has now grown
into Australia's largest community tree planting and nature protection
event. Planet Ark is asking Australians to help us plant one million new
native trees and shrubs across the country.
National Tree Day is a call to action for all Australians to put their hands
in the earth and give back to their community. Each year, about 300,000
people volunteer their time to engage in environmental activities that educate individuals about the
world around them. It's a day to venture outdoors and get to know your community, and most im-
portantly, to have fun!
Today we celebrated National Tree Day by planting native shrubs and plants in the Indigenous Garden,
as well as along the bank of the playground where Paul has built a new retaining wall. Both areas look
fantastic and the kids (and adults) and a great time getting their hands dirty!
As part of the day, each learning team also planted their own tree at the front of the school to commem-
orate today’s celebrations. We will place a small plaque under each tree to recognise the name of the
learning team and the year.
A special thank you to Breanna Millard (Sustainability Leader), as well as Paul Martin and Kim Sims for all
their work in making today such a wonderful experience, and the grounds even more beautiful!
Visible Learning Semester 2 Whole School Learning Concept
As I wrote about in previous newsletters, we are As instigated at the beginning of 2018, we have
excited about a new partnership we are entering as used a concept each semester since, to provide a
a teaching staff with Corwin Institute. Corwin Insti- context for the learning which happens here at St
tute owns all of John Hattie’s research and will pro- Michael’s. Last semester this year we focussed on
vide our teachers with the most relevant, timely ‘responsibility’. For each concept, we have a prov-
research, as well as onsite support in implementing ocation. The provocation takes the form of a
a concept known as ‘Visible Learning’. question or statement, one that cannot be easily
or readily answered, and which challenges the
Visible learning is centred around topics including thinking of the learner. Our provocation for last
but not limited to: semester’s concept was ‘Its not my job, it's not
The Visible Learner: eg Does the school have a clear my problem’. Throughout the semester, links are
picture of the type of learner they are aspiring to made by students in all key learning areas
have in their school? Is there a shared language of (literacy, numeracy, humanities, sciences, arts) to
learning in the school? this concept and its provocation, which helps
them discern their attitude towards it. It provides
Know thy impact: eg Does the school have a focus a real world context for them to engage in their
on learning and progress (as opposed to teaching learning in all of these key learning areas. This se-
and achievement)? Do data and evidence drive mester our whole school learning concept is Cele-
practice? brations, and our provocation is ‘Why do we cel-
ebrate differently?’. You might like to talk to your
Inspired and passionate teachers: eg Do teachers
children about this concept at home and generate
differentiate in order to provide appropriate levels
thinking and discussion from your family’s per-
of challenge for all students? Is there a high degree
spective.
of relational trust amongst the staff?
3 way chats
Feedback: Are there opportunities for students to This week we held 3 way chats on Tuesday and
give teachers feedback? Do teachers use infor- Wednesday via a Google Meet and have had very
mation from student assessment as feedback about positive feedback regarding both the mode and
the effectiveness of their teaching? content of the meetings. Next week we have
some more on Tuesday afternoon and the Discov-
We will partner with St Alipius Catholic Primary
ery learning team also has some on Wednesday.
School in Ballarat also with this initiative, which will
If you haven’t already signed up for a time,
give us the opportunity for the teachers in both
please sign up for a 3 way chat via PAM. They
schools to learn from and with each other. It is a 3
are really important opportunities for school -
year partnership that will build on the Science of
home connection and communication regarding
Learning PD we have been engaging in over the
student growth and learning.
past 2 years.
This is a very unique and exciting opportunity for Book Fair
our teachers, and our school. Corwin is a world re- Book fair will continue and conclude next week,
nowned institute for learning and teaching and with both morning and afternoon bookings still
their support will provide the most contemporary, available for Tuesday and Wednesday. If you’d
innovative professional development for our teach- like to come along, or back, please let Leah know.
ers, which will be benefitted by our students.
Lunch orders
Our new lunch ordering system has now been in
place for 2 weeks and so far, so good! Please re-
member to order online before 8.50am on the
Wednesday morning for your child to receive
their lunch that day. Thank you again to Cheryl
Lane for organising this, along with the parents
who help deliver orders each Wednesday.
Day Date Event
Siblings for 2021 Tues Aug 4 3 way chats
We are now taking enrolments for 2021. If
there are any siblings who will be entering Prep Wed Aug 5 3 way chats (Discovery
next year, could you please contact Leah to get only)
an enrolment form to ensure their place for Fri Aug 28 Pupil Free Day
next year. Fri Sept 18 End Term 3
Mon Oct 5 Start Term 4
COVID update
As always, we will continue to follow the advice Tues Oct 20 Prep 2021 Welcome
directly from the Government and CECV Meetings
(Catholic Education Commission Victoria) re- Sun Oct 25 Proposed 1st Dismissal
garding the unfolding situation in Victoria. At Confirmation
present, we are operating face to face onsite, Mon Nov 2 School Closure Day
albeit with significant and specific protocols and Tues Nov 3 Melbourne Cup Day Public
processes in place to minimize risk and enhance Holiday
health and wellbeing. Please rest assured we
Sun Nov 8 Proposed 2nd Dismissal
will communicate any updates or changes with
Confirmation
you as soon as we receive them. Please also
Sun Nov 15 Proposed 3rd Dismissal
continue to follow the protocols we have in
Confirmation
place to ensure the safety of all of us.
Mon Nov 16 Proposed Week One of
As per the government announcement and sub-
Swimming
sequent school letter that went home yester-
day, as of Monday, all staff will be wearing Tues Nov 17 2021 Prep Transition Day
masks at school. Parents and visitors are also
required to wear masks upon entering school Sun Nov 22 Proposed Sacrament of
grounds. Please note that children ARE NOT re- Confirmation
quired to wear masks (even children who are 12 Mon Nov 23 Proposed Week Two of
or turning 12 while in Year 6). Swimming
As a school community, we acknowledge the Tues Nov 24 2021 Prep Transition Day
social and emotional impact this time is having
on us all, to varying degrees, and we keep each Fri Nov 27 Proposed Grade 6 Recon-
other in our thoughts and prayers. Together, we ciliation
will get through this, and in time, be able to Tues Dec 1 Going Up Day
come back into each other’s company. Tues Dec 15 End Term 4
*Cold and flu like symptoms
Just a reminder that if your child has cold or flu Book Fair
like symptoms, they must be kept at home. If
they develop them during the day, we will re- There is still availability for
quire you to come to school to collect them.
This is a direct requirement as per government
Book Fair on Tuesday and
guidelines. We appreciate your understanding Wednesday this week, so let
with this, and thank you for your support in en-
suring the health and wellbeing of all members
the office know when you
of the school community. can stop by.
So far we have sold $1246.
School’s National Tree Day
Sacraments 2020 Today we had our National Tree Day event at
Next week I am meeting with Fr Gary to discuss how school. The students got their hands dirty and
helped to plant some native shrubs in the Indige-
we might approach the Sacramental program this nous garden, and some other shrubs in the garden
year and what changes we may need to make, given above the new retaining wall. Each learning area
the current climate and restrictions in place. I will also planted a tree each in the front yard - on the left
keep you up to date when we have some more in- side of the driveway.
formation.
The theme of National Tree Day is ‘Regeneration:
Have a great weekend. for our land, our people and our future’. In light of
this year’s theme, we have also completed some
God bless, mindfulness activities centred around being grateful
Ethan for trees and respecting the trees in our environ-
ment. We talked about the fires that occurred in
Australia at the beginning of the year and why it was
important for us to plant trees to regenerate our en-
vironment.
After planting the trees, each group had the oppor-
tunity to thank a tree by giving it a hug, and learning
Tree Day by Mia Ford areas continued conversations after returning to
class. Thank you to Paul and Kim who prepared the
Today every student of St Michael's planted all areas for us to plant today, it was greatly appreciat-
different types of plants, every plant was na- ed!
tive to The Dja Dja Wurrung of Daylesford.
The reason for doing this was because today is
Have a read of the The 2020 Tree Report for more
information about Tree Day, and if you’re out walk-
National Tree Day, we are all so grateful of not ing on the weekend, perhaps you could stop to
only the trees but also all of the plants, we thank a tree for all that it does for us. https://
talked about that without plants and trees the treeday.planetark.org/documents/doc-1942-planet-
air that we breathe would not be clean and ark-the-tree-report-2020-digital-final.pdf
they make our oxygen healthy to breathe
Other sustainability news:
through. Innovation M and Discovery planted
Our new classroom bins have also arrived; each
their native plants in The Indiginous Garden, space will have a bin for kerbside recycling,
we made holes to put the plants in and the Redcycle (scrunchable plastics that get recycled
Grade 4,5,6’s picked a buddy and then Inno- at Coles), compost and landfill. We will intro-
vation M classmates helped the preps and duce these bins to the students explicitly next
grade 1’s plant one or two plants in the garden week to ensure that we are putting the correct
rubbish in the correct bins and recycling as
and then we had one last chat about what we
much as we can.
are grateful for about our environment and
what our favourite things about nature were.
Kind Regards,
Then we walked over to the side of the road at
Breanna Millard
the front of the School where we had holes for
trees, there was one hole for each class. Wrap-
ping it up we went for a walk around the
school environment and some people even
hugged the trees to thank them. After first re-
cess Innovation S and Connection did their
planting near the playground and they also
talked about the impact of planting trees and
planted their own trees too.
Enrolments at St Patrick’s
College, 2021 Year 7
Parents wishing to enrol their son for Year 7
Information Webinars & Virtual Tours for 2022 Commence- in 2021 must do so as soon as possible.
ment To receive a 2021 Enrolment Package please
contact Ms Caitlin Bennett on 53 311688
Damascus College warmly invites all families to attend or enrolments@stpats.vic.edu.au
our upcoming Information Webinars. The Information
Webinars are a great way for prospective families to
learn more about Damascus College.
Enrolments at St Patrick’s
INFORMATION WEBINARS: College, 2022 Year 7
Wednesday 9 September at 5pm
Tuesday 20 October at 6.30pm Enrolments for 2022 are now open.
2022 Year 7 Closing Date: Applications close
GUIDED VIRTUAL TOURS:
for 2022 Year 7 on Friday December 4 at 4
Held fortnightly on a Thursday at 9am pm.
You will be sent an online link the day prior to
the event
TO REGISTER, PLEASE GO TO: https://
www.damascus.vic.edu.au/prospective-visit-us
Loreto Year 7 2022
Applications for enrolment for Year 7
2022 are now open.
Please refer to the Enrolment Policy, Ap-
plication Form & College Prospectus listed
on the website. We welcome prospective
families to the monthly College tours or
Open Mornings. Alternatively, please con-
tact the College Registrar.
Year 7 2022 Applications for enrolment
close on 4 February 2021
Year 7 2022 Applications for Academic
Scholarship close on 29 January 2021
Registration for scholarships via our
website will be open from 19 October
2020
Tree Day 2020
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