The Regional Engagement Enterprise

TREE Team 

Whilst we’ve had plenty of wet weather this term, for the most part our TREE and Windermere plans have been able to go ahead.  

We had to cancel Year 6's scheduled visit and excursion to the Glenwood Merino Stud due to the high risk of flooding in and around Wellington but the students were able to finish their term with one last visit to Windermere last week. 

With the assistance of Ms Erin Gibson and Mr Alex McLennan our students are taking part in the Tea Composition Experiment. This is a global citizens' project that gathers critical soil health data from around the globe to determine a general status on soil health, referred to as the 'Teabag Index'.  The students dug and planted tea bags in various sites at Windermere, as well as making and recording observations about soil type, aspect and exposure.  These students – when they are in Year 7 next year - will return to Windermere as part of their Science classes and dig up the teabags and send them back to Sydney University for analysis. Not only was this an opportunity to learn about the importance of soil health and get their hands dirty it was also a lovely way for our Year 6 students to engage with their Science teachers for next year. 

Our Year 3 students put on the protective bee suits in their last class visit to Windermere and collected more honey.  The honey from our first two frames will be bottled and sold to raise money for a local charity early next year.  Watch for this announcement early in 2022. With the assistance of Sarah McIntosh, a bee enthusiast from Orange Bee Club, Year 1 were able to learn all about the importance of a healthy hive and the importance of biosecurity within bee farming. Our Year 6 Sensory Garden designers met with Source Architects to finalise the plan for the garden.  This project will be passed on to next year's Year 6 to action the design. The final design is stunning and we can’t wait to see it unfold. 

Senior School Camps Week

Senior School Camps have been in full force this week.  In the TREE space we have organised leadership training for our Year 9 and Year 10 students.  Both of these groups will have significant roles to play in 2022 as we reframe our student leadership offering to allow more opportunities for them to develop and implement leadership across a wide range of activities. 

Year 9 then moved onto two days of Master Classes. With a wide selection of courses on offer, every student was able to find something to immerse themselves in, selecting from Mountain Biking, STEM, Ceramics, Photography, Christmas Cooking, French, Strength in Numbers, Agriculture, Crochet, Frisbee Golf and Tabletop Miniatures. 

Year 10 spend two days developing their ‘Living Skills’.  Sessions on Tuesday included careers, nutrition, body image, etiquette, dress, and the importance of developing a sense of service.  

Wednesday saw the majority of Year 10 at Windermere working on improvement projects.  They re-built the fire pit with some excellent paving work on display, they doubled the size of the market garden, created a herb garden, tidied the cottage inside and out, devised wellbeing walks and mapped out a mountain bike pump track.  Thanks to the generosity of our Junior School families, Year 10 families and staff, the students who were stationed at Wolaroi were able to create 60 gift hampers for those in need in our community.  Overall the students should be congratulated on their outstanding commitment, work ethic and achievement over these three days. 

Our Junior School students,  Pre-K to Year 5, celebrated the conclusion of the year and the approaching holiday season with a party at Windermere at the start of the week.  Students enjoyed crafts, sports and games and were treated to a visit by Santa who was generously driven to Windermere by the crew from Orange Rural Fire Service.  Thanks must go to Ms Bernie Sharpe and all the Junior School staff for their organisation of the day. 

Thank you to our wonderful community who continue to support our TREE philosophy. 2022 is looking to be full of new and exciting opportunities for our entire student body.  

I hope you have a restful holiday period filled with fun, family and festivities.