Special Projects
2023
Fifteen Trees
Fifteen Trees is an Australian company located in the Central Highlands of Victoria. Established in 2009, the company operates with a small team of 3 along with a host of independent native nurseries and community groups (such as Landcare, school groups and environmental networks) across Australia.
The School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV), led by its Committee of Management and State Council hopes to lead by example through this initiative with Fifteen Trees.
We feel strongly that we all should play a role in ensuring we lessen our carbon footprint by making good sustainable choices whenever we can.
In total, the SLAV committee of management have paid for 200 trees – described online on the website as a ‘library of trees’ – to be planted as speaker gifts and also to offset the carbon footprint of recent conferences.
The trees have been planted at Moonambel (Dja Dja Wurrung Country) in the Western District of Victoria with the assistance of the Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network. The trees were predominantly Buloke and Drooping Sheoak, two species of trees that once dominated the landscape.
Traditionally, the site would have been Buloke Woodland; home to Powerful Owls and Red Tailed Black Cockatoos. Over the course of many years, the land has been significantly cleared for agriculture. This planting of 200 trees will form part of a network of habitat bio-corridors for native animals that live in the region.
Andrew Borg the Facilitator for the Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network said: “A huge thank you to the sponsors of these trees. You are helping this project to create native habitat, combat erosion, increase soil carbon and over time, increase the numbers of our resident Powerful Owls.”
How fitting that SLAV is helping powerful owls!
I hope you join with us in celebrating the fact that SLAV is making a meaningful difference to an environment in need of support.
The work of school libraries is all about knowledge, critical analysis of information and finding pleasure in learning about the world through the experiences of others and school libraries have a role in helping us learn how better to care for our world.
2017
The 2017 Victorian Schools Games and Apps Challenge
School libraries definitely attract keen gamers and digital problem solvers. Do you work with a teacher who will encourage students to use coding to solve a real world problem? Do you have Art students who aspire to a career in the digital environment?
The 2017 Victorian School Games and Apps Challenge is for them! It’s all about design and computational thinking.
• Show your teachers the Design Brief Template – http://gac.global2.vic.edu.au/create/
• Tell them about the free online tutorials about games and coding tools – http://gac.global2.vic.edu.au/tools-home/tools/
• Use the range of posters and headers to spread the word across your school – http://gac.global2.vic.edu.au/files/2016/07/ProfilePic-11f4mwn.png
Entries close 5pm, Wednesday 11 October and will be judged at the Education in Games Summit as part of Melbourne International Games Week 22 – 29 October.
An initiative of the Department of Education and Training in partnership with SLAV and Microsoft.
2010The SLAV/KwaZulu Natal Support ProjectIn the year 2000 the School Library Association of Victoria began the SLAV/KwaZulu Natal project in an effort to respond to the need for quality library services in the small remote schools of the province of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. The connection that created the project was made at the conference of International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) in Malmo, Sweden where a chance meeting bought the group that have run the project together. Mary Manning and Susan La Marca for SLAV, and Sibongile Nzimande and Mariana Du Toit from ELITS in South Africa, made the necessary links that have been built upon and extended by a range of people on both sides of the Indian Ocean to make the project a success. Four schools were identified to be supported by the project these were Impandwini, Middledale, Jagersdam and Bangani schools referred to by many after this as the ‘Australian’ schools. Each was in a remote rural area of KwaZulu Natal, they were in areas of poverty where illiteracy rates were high. The schools ranged in size and facilities but none had a library, the smaller schools received only $60 each to buy resources during the year our project began. To facilitate the program each school was given a base collection of books and metal cabinets to house their collections in as they grew. The initial aims of the project were:
Directorate of the Province Initially the project was to run until 2003 when the international conference for IASL was to be held in South Africa but as each year went by it became obvious that more could be done and the project has been extended a number of times until the decision was made to bring the project to a close in 2010, the year of its tenth anniversary. During the ten years of its existence the project has achieved a great deal. Beautiful books have been delivered by visitors from SLAV to the area – Mary Manning and Susan La Marca in 2003 and Jennifer Hall in 2007 and a set of encyclopaedias and other reference texts were sent over by boat in 2004. Across the ten years over 10,000 Australia dollars has been raised through raffles, auctions, donations and special efforts. Many will recall the regular fundraisers at the November SLAV conference that became an expected feature. These funds have been used to buy books in South Africa for our ‘Australian schools’ in both English and Zulu and on one occasion writing materials were added to the mix. Recently funds were also used to buy carpet and cushions to create comfortable reading corners in each of the schools. SLAV also hosted a visit of teacher-librarians and education department members from South Africa to Melbourne where our visitors were able to attend a SLAV conference and visit a range of Melbourne schools. Being able to talk about our profession, share program and facility ideas and spend time together was very useful and enjoyable for all concerned. This project highlights the generous nature of SLAV members and our ability as an association to work effectively to make a difference of lasting meaning in another country. Whilst our efforts are relatively small they serve as a model for support and interaction that has resulted in meaningful outcomes, lifelong friendships and a bond that I know will be remembered fondly by many. Mariana Du Toit, Mary Manning and Susan La Marca on behalf of the SLAV / KwaZulu Natal Project 2000 to 2010. |
We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Victoria and pay respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.
