The following is an excerpt from St Josephs School newsletter (issue 13; 11th May 2017):
Sustainability lessons with Pascale Miller
“The big unit of work this term at St. Joseph’s is a sustainability topic entitled, ‘Head, Heart and Hands for a Sustainable World’. The foundation subjects for this unit are Biological Science and Geography, amongst links with other areas of the curriculum. This work also offers rich opportunities to look at sustainability with a faith focus, concentrating on stewardship of our earth. We thank Pascale Miller (Georgia, Grade 2) who has worked with our students for the past two weeks, imparting her in-depth knowledge of our environment and sustainability. I have had the good fortune to spend this time with Pascale and our students from Prep to 6, and it has been a pleasure working them all. Aside from learning so much from Pascale, my favourite moment came during a session with Year 1s, when we were gathered around the stump of the old tree on the back playground. The children explained that they knew the tree had to be removed for safety reasons (it was dropping large branches) and during the first playtime following its removal many students from across the school held a prayer service around what was left of the tree. They laid special prayer stones around the stump and said thank you to the tree for always providing shade, and thank you to God for the gift of trees.
To think that they did this without teachers knowing! What a joy that our children can stop and appreciate the gifts of nature in such a way.
Thank you Pascale for your work, we have really appreciated you sharing your gifts and passions with us.”
Michelle Moore
Vice Principal
St Joseph’s Primary School Elsternwick
mmoore@sjelst.catholic.edu.au
11th May 2017
Naturelovers 
What a lovely learning opportunity for the students at St. Josephs Primary. Congratulations to the staff for including this type of subject in the curriculum with Pascale Miller. And of course to the children for taking it on board and transferring their learning to the memorial to the old tree.
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