Golden Hill Steiner School eNewsletter

Now Autumn, like a lusty king,

Strides through the fields - awake, aware.

From Summer sleep we've watched him bring

This crispy coolness to the air.

And fruit, well-ripened on the tree,

To me it whispers, round and sweet:

"Be firm. Be strong. Then it shall be

That you'll bear fruit for gods to eat!"

Dear GHSS Families,

Bush kindy and bush school are much-loved programs at Golden Hill, and I had the recent pleasure of accompanying Class 3 children down to the bush one afternoon last week. How very fortunate are we to have our very own forest and creek at Golden Hill?

Perhaps part of what sets Steiner schools apart from other similar nature-based schools is the Steiner emphasis on reverence. Developing a connection with the natural world is not simply about feeling confident in the elements, or ‘claiming and taming’, but fostering a sense of reverence for all the wonders and beauty the natural world offers. This sense of custodianship is brought alive through the Noongar story of ‘The Carers of Everything’, which Bruce often weaves through his bush kindy program.

Bush school sessions often begin with the children finding their own ‘sit spot’, and observing the environment around them for a time. What is the wind doing? What can you hear? What has changed since last time you were sitting here?

How tricky it is (equally so for us adults!) to observe mindfully, in silence and stillness. Yet, developing the focus and clarity of mind needed for this is of great importance in our increasingly fast-paced and chaotic world.

After some sharing time, the children are ready to let their imaginations run wild, taking their cue from the natural world around them. Last week, we took the chance to wander up the dry creek bed. Upon rounding the bend, someone yelled out: "Look! A playground!"

I looked up, only to find a mass of sticks and fallen logs strewn across the creek bed.

'What playground?' I wondered. But soon enough, the children were busy balancing on the logs, swinging from limbs, climbing atop a mass of sticks, thoroughly enjoying their new ‘playground’.

Watching the children play, taking their cues from the environment and letting their imaginations run wild, I was reminded of a Tim Winton passage I read recently from the book Island Home:

“Being short and powerless, kids see the world low down and close up. On hands and knees, on their bellies, they feel it with an immediacy we can scarcely recall as adults. Remember all that wandering and dithering as you crossed that same ground again and again? It wouldn’t have seemed so at the time but with all that apparent aimless mooching you were weaving a tapestry of arcane lore- where the chewy gum bulges out from the tree, where the yellow sand makes a warm pad to lie on beneath the rattling banksias- that didn’t just make the world more comprehensible, but rendered it intimate, even sacred.

As a kid, I certainly didn’t know what I was up to. But I had a feel for the blossom time of the wattle, the up-close leafiness of lichen. I knew the pong of kelp and seagrass signified the arrival of the afternoon breeze. When the southerly really got going it rattled the pods of the wild lupins and corrugated the surface of the swamp. So much it absorbed unconsciously.

And now when I think of the sense memory of bindies and double-gees underfoot, and all those stubbed toes and sand-scorched soles, the splinters in the meat of the thumb, the ticks in the back of the neck and the shrivelling sting of sunburn, I grant these sensations the status of knowledge. “

Winton goes on to state that we are all too keen to disown the wisdom of the body, mistaking our loss of receptivity for maturity. Often when I come across passages like this, I shake my head in wonder at how closely all of this aligns with Steiner pedagogy. A key goal of Steiner education is providing experiences in nature that build self-confidence, resilience and an appreciation of the natural world. Building strength in a wide range of natural settings reminds our students how we are Human by Nature.

Rudolf Steiner also stated that the primary function of education is to exercise the students' faculties of thinking, feeling and willing. These basic human qualities manifest in civilization as the 'eternal verities' of truth, beauty and goodness. In Steiner education, the second seven years (7-14 years old) is associated with beauty. At this time, the child’s imagination and feeling life takes centre stage. While Steiner teachers seek to instill reverence and respect for nature and the environment during this time, children are not overburdened with the weight of numerous environmental issues and concerns. In the words of David Sobel, “What's important is that children have an opportunity to bond with the natural world, to learn to love it, before being asked to heal its wounds.”

Bruce gave a wonderful parent talk last term on much of the ethos of GHSS bush kindy, and this term we also have several exciting parent education and info sessions on offer. These include a creative parenting workshop by renowned author and Steiner educator Lou Harvey-Zahra (April 30^th), a talk on the importance of festivals and plays (May 17^th), and a winter watercolour painting session with Fran (May 31^st). Please contact the office if you wish to book in for any of these.

Thank you once again to all who helped make last term’s Autumn festival a wonderful day. Although I couldn’t be there myself due to family illness, I am greatly looking forward to our Winter Festival. This is always a magical occasion and this year will be held on Thursday, 20^th June. Between now and then, there are lots of happenings to look forward to – Class 5 Botany excursion, Class 3/4 farming excursion, and of course the Class 7/8 play. Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Eliza Allan

Principal

You are warmly invited to our first Parent Education Session for Term 2 THIS Tuesday, April 30!

Bestselling Steiner author Lou Harvey-Zahra will be giving an entertaining and informative talk at the school hall. Attendance contributes to your Family Participation hours too!

Please RSVP to secure your spot! office@goldenhill.wa.edu.au or 9848 1811

Are you handy at Woodwork, or would just like to learn more? Or maybe just love hanging out with kids?

Gill, our amazing woodwork teacher would love a parent helper in the following woodwork classes:

TERM 2:

Class 7/8: Tuesdays, 11am- 12.35pm

Class 7/8: Tuesdays, 1.15pm- 2.55pm

Class 6: Fridays, 11am- 12.35pm

You don't need to have a child in those classes to volunteer! Volunteering contributes to your Family Participation hours (FPS)

If you can help out with any of the above, please contact Gill (gill@goldenhill.wa.edu.au) or the GHSS office.

Each newsletter we will be sharing a virtue from the Virtues Project. These virtue cards are often referred to and discussed in classes at GHSS.

What is Courtesy?

Courtesy is being polite and having good manners. It is a gracious way of speaking and acting which gives others a feeling of being valued and respected. It is greeting others with respect. "Please", "Thank you", "Excuse me", "Hello", "Goodbye", "You're welcome" are not just words. They are courteous expressions that show people you respect them and care about them.

Why Practice it?

When a person doesn't practice couretsy, people feel insulted and disrespected. They think this person is rude and ignorant, not caring about anyone or anything. Practicing courtesy gives people a sense that they are valued. Courtesy is like a magnet. It makes you attractive to others.

How do you practice it?

Courtesy is remembering your manners. Speak politely. Wait your turn. Instead of interrupting someone, say "Excuse me", and then wait patiently for them to give you their attention. Greet people pleasantly. When you are courteous, you make requests instead of demands. Bring courtesy home. Your family needs it most of all. Courtesy helps life to go smoothly.

Signs of Success

Congratulations! You are practicing Courtesy when you...

Show others that you value and respect them
Remember to treat elders, parents, teachers, and children politely
Think about how your actions affect others
Eat, speak and move graciously
Make requests instead of demands
Greet people with a smile

"Most smiles are started by another smile." Anonymous

GHSS would like to request that wherever possible, parents inform children before leaving home each morning of whether or not they will be on the afternoon bus.

It can be stressful for bus monitors and children alike when the buses roll in and children are unsure of whether or not they are being picked up or are to get on the school bus.

Although we undertand that plans can change, informing children in the morning wherever possible also reduces the amount of running around that admin need to do in order to deliver last-minute bus messages.

Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation on this matter.

Class 3/4 Sleep Over

Last Wednesday Class 3/4 students, along with a strong contingent of enthusiastic parents, slept over at school. Although, as you might already have guessed, sleep was not always easy to come by, and everyone was very glad to have the day off on Thursday!

Stepping out of our normal routines is challenging for everyone, and the sleep over is typically held in Class 3 to provide an opportunity for children to take a step away from their usual supports and comforts, and seek those things in themselves and their friends. It’s not always easy or pretty but so worthwhile. We had lots of parents staying over, and this provided a strong grounding and holding for the night which allowed the children to relax and enjoy themselves. Thank you to Ros, Olly, Brett, Erika, Brooke and Colin for sharing your warmth and care.

A class sleep over definitely marches on its stomach, and we were blessed with delicious food from beginning to end. I am very grateful to Brooke, Erika and Nada for co-ordinating the food side of things, and to all the other parents who contributed meals and ingredients.

The afternoon and evening were filled with the sounds of kids having fun. Highlights included afternoon soccer and hooping sessions, an after-dinner stage show, an epic game of spotlight, moonlit silence by the creek and a dawn wander through the bush and along the very dry creek bed.

I was so impressed and pleased by the spirit of co-operation and collaboration that shone through the children. We had a perfect night and I’m sure it will be long remembered.

Farming

Seeds are sprouting, fences are being mended and eggs will soon be hatching! There’s plenty happening during main lesson in Class 3/4 as we seek to connect with the cycles of life that sustain us. We are very grateful and appreciative of Goodies Farm for providing us with plentiful seed to plant, and also to Ros for coming in to share her wealth of farming knowledge. We planted a range of crops in 4 different soil types, and now we have divided these between the covered shade house and the uncovered nursery. We have made predictions about how these variables might affect growth, and our daily observations are logged in our main lesson books.

We have also turned our eye to the mostly finished chook shed in the orchard, and our collective efforts will be focused on completing this project by the end of term. Hopefully by the end of term we will be holding a moving-in-party for some chickens!

Later this week we will extend our connections beyond the school, with a visit to Hovea Biodynamic Garden and Jenkins Dairy Farm, returning to school with some first hand experience of land care and dairy farming, and some fresh poo for next week’s compost heap.

This brief summary of a few weeks’ activity makes it abundantly clear that it takes a community to educate a group of children, and I am so grateful to be in this community with all of you.

Ric

Play ‘season’ is amongst us at Golden Hill. A few of our classes have begun to prepare for their class play. A poignant moment in the school year. Last year in Class 7 we ventured into town to the Denmark Civic Centre and performed the “Canterbury Tales’, to our school and wider community. It was a grand event honouring the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. It was also an opportunity for our high school students to perform on the big stage. There was much excitement regarding the dressing room, the large velvet curtains, lighting and sound support, and the many spaces offstage. It has been lovely to watch the Class 7 students feel the buzz of the bright lights and begin to anticipate the mood of opening night. The use of the civic centre contributes to a large audience which gives our high school students an exciting and rewarding experience whilst developing new skills and working cohesively as a group. It also promotes our wonderful school within the Denmark community.

This term the rehearsals for Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Tragedies’, are well underway. The play is a comical Shakespearean melodrama in 3 acts. As part of the English curriculum, we began the year focusing on the many works by playwright, William Shakespeare. We studied Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet and of course Romeo and Juliet. The latter three form part of our play performance.

Plays hold a great space within our curriculum and our classes, and I found this excerpt below which explains its pertinence perfectly. I hope to see you at our Class 7 and 8 play on May 14^th or 15^th.

Robyn

x

The class play is a wonderful Waldorf School tradition that brings the entire school community together. All class teachers, students, parents, and extended families can be included.

The play allows the teacher to build the social strength of the class and reinforces several aspects of the curriculum. Preparing for the play changes the routine in a stimulating and artistic way that is a welcome break from the usual rhythm of the school year. Many artistic projects can be a part of preparations for the plays, such as creating paper maché masks and props, learning musical instrument pieces, voice and dance opportunities, set design, as well as sewing and fabric arts.

The play helps the class teacher to develop the skills and capacity of the students and strengthens a sense of interdependence in the whole class while introducing a new form of creativity, the dramatic arts. Some teachers elect to put on a play only every other year or every three years, it is entirely at the teacher’s discretion.

Teachers decide on the play and the cast. Often an unlikely candidate is chosen for a lead part and an obvious leader is chosen for a small part, which can surprise everyone. This can become an important way to shift class dynamics and stretch individual children’s abilities. The results stretch the child’s abilities and add to the artistic experience and sensibilities of the young artist. In the culture of North America, the preoccupation with “talent” and “genius,” or the personality-driven aspect of our culture can make it difficult to grasp why we do plays in a Waldorf classroom.

An effective pedagogical play is not judged by the same criteria as a mainstream production. The intention is beyond entertainment for an audience or for parents. Children learn to depend on each other in new ways and to discover their ability to take on different characters after deeply entering into a new stage persona. Students find new voices for themselves, new motivations, new friends, and a new appreciation for each other through their interactions on stage.

(February 08 2018) Why a Class Play in Waldorf in Schools? Excerpted from Waldorf Publications.org [blog post} https://www.waldorfpublications.org/blogs/book-news/why-a-class-play-in-waldorf-schools

Beginning with this week's Golden Quill, we will be featuring one of our wonderful former GHSS students in each of our newsletters.

What are they up to now? What did they love about their time at Golden Hill? Watch this space to find out!

This week, we meet Olive Collins.

Name: Olive Collins

Graduated from GHSS: 2015

Olive attended Golden Hill for her primary school years before completing high school at DSHS in 2020. Halfway through her final year at Denmark Senior High School, Olive was offered a place to study Psychology at UWA. She completed her first year of psychology studies at UWA’s Albany campus, before relocating to Perth to complete her Bachelor of Psychology degree at UWA’s Crawley campus. Olive lived in a share house in Perth while studying, and throughout her final two years of university, also volunteered her time at her local Headspace branch. Headspace is a mental health service for young people aged 12-25 years old, and during her time as a volunteer, Olive got involved in community events and delivered high school presentations on resilience, depression, anxiety, and other issues related to mental health.

Olive completed her Bachelor of Psychology degree last year (2023), and was promptly offered the role of Community Engagement Officer at Headspace. Olive’s role now involves managing the branch’s social media sites, continuing to deliver mental health presentations to high school students, and co-ordinating her crew of volunteers, amongst other things.

One of the latest programs Olive has been facilitating is ‘Spill the Beans’, in which participants can come along for a coffee, cake and some social time, as well as chat about any mental health related issues they may be experiencing. The program also helps to reduce the stigma of talking about mental health.

Olive has recently been offered a place at UWA to complete her honours degree, however, she is enjoying her time at Headspace too much to give it up right now, and is loving being out in the workforce and earning a living.

Olive says that she recently realised that she has gotten ‘everything she wanted’ - to do well at high school, to move to Perth and finish her uni degree, and to get a job that she enjoys in her field. She says that soon enough she’ll start thinking about what to aim for next, but for now she is happy and feeling fulfilled in her current role.

“One thing I really loved about being a student at Golden Hill was all the plays we did. Thinking back to playing the part of Titania in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, I could never have done that before - performing in front of so many people. I think that getting involved in all the plays at GHSS definitely made me a more confident person. Now at work, I’m pretty comfortable talking to a crowd and doing presentations for high schoolers.”

Olive Collins

INGREDIENTS

3 CUPS (500G) GRATED GRANNY SMITH APPLE
2 CUPS (180G) ROLLED OATS
1½ CUPS (150G) SHREDDED COCONUT
½ CUP (175G) HONEY
2 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT
⅔ CUPS (160ML) COCONUT OIL
4 EGGS, LIGHTLY WHISKED
2 CUPS (320G) WHOLEMEAL SELF-RAISING FLOUR
2 TEASPOONS GROUND CINNAMON
¾ CUP (120G) SULTANAS
NATURAL GREEK-STYLE YOGHURT, TO SERVE

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the apple, oats, coconut, honey and vanilla in a large bowl and mix to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the apple mixture and set aside.
Add the oil, eggs, flour, cinnamon and sultanas to the remaining apple mixture and mix until just combined. Divide the mixture between a 12 x ½-cup-capacity (125ml) lightly greased muffin tin and top with the reserved apple mixture.
Cook for 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with yoghurt. Makes 12.

As found at www.donnahay.com.au

The school will be running an informal book exchange on the shelf outside the front office. Staff, parents, students: If you have any books ready for a new home, bring them in and swap a book for another one! The books don't have to be Steiner related. Fiction, non-fiction, all books welcome!

Term Dates 2024

Term 1
Wednesday 31st January –

Thursday 28th March

Term 2
Monday 15th April –

Friday 21st June

Anzac Day Public Holiday: Thursday 25th April
WA Day Public Holiday: Monday 3rd June

Term 3
Monday 15th July –

Thursday 19th September

Term 4
Monday 7th October -

Thursday 12^thDecember

Undescended testes

Screening for undescended testes is recommended for boys at school entry (~4-5 years of age). Around 2-4% of boys have an undescended testes at birth. But sometimes the testes (also known as testicle) is in the scrotum at birth but is pulled up into the groin or abdomen at around 4-10 years of age. This happens because the cord that attaches the testicle to the abdomen doesn’t grow at the same rate as the child.

Undescended testes don’t fully sit within the scrotum. The condition isn’t painful but can increase the risk of several other health issues such as decreased fertility and testicular cancer. For those boys who develop an undescended testicle later in childhood, the 'ascending' testicle often needs surgery between 5 years and 10 years.

Please read through the information about undescended testicles provided by Raising Children Network and encourage your child to check themselves as described there.

If you have any concerns, please contact your General Practitioner or Community Health Nurse, Rochelle Klose 98480616 / 0427426137 rochelle.klose@health.wa.gov.au

We have a small amount of the Primary coloured t-shirts that have fade marks on them due to having been exposed to direct sunlight for a period of time. Other than these marks the t-shirts are brand new and in good condition. If you would like to purchase these t-shirts at a discounted price of $5 each please come in to the office. Sizes and colours vary.

Our school calendar can be found here -

GHSS Calendar

Please check the calendar regularly as new events may be added or sometimes events need to be changed.

The calendar also includes term dates and holidays for planning purposes.

Warm Regards

Shamara is offering piano lessons based on the Simply Music method - classical, contemporary, accompaniment and blues. Small group classes are fun and engaging, and allow students to play, sing, share and create music with others from their very first lessons.

I have taught this method for over 20 years, and continue to find it a delightful way to build students’ lifelong musical confidence, and self confidence at the same time.

Call Shamara on 0410 386 292

www.swanharp.studio

BMusEd

If you've ever envied people being able to tell a captivating yarn around a campfire, would like to tell rather than read stories to your children, would like to improve your storytelling as a teacher, or your song introductions in your set as a musician, this upcoming Storytelling Skills Workshop is for you!

Over the weekend of May 17-19, immerse yourself in the world of traditional fairytales and how to tell them off by heart, in your unique style. The skills you will learn are transferable to a lot of times you need to be good at oral communication, be that at work, with your family or friends!

Friday night (May 17) will begin with an evening of nurturing ritual and a story being told to you by the facilitators by candlelight.

Saturday and Sunday (May 18 and 19) will then immerse you in simple theatre games and story skills basics that will lead you to confidently tell a story orally in front of the other workshop participants (with help and support!) Absolutely no performance experience is necessary to enjoy this storytelling workshop! Why not gift yourself this unique experience?

Please don't hesitate to contact me (Silvia) with any queries on 0435 006 228 or Jeff on 0431 211 887

To book your place in the workshop please go to Denmark Arts website: https://www.denmarkarts.com.au/event-details/workshop-at-the-artshouse-the-way-of-story

Our school participated in creating rugs for Reclaim the Void, a cross-cultural project seeking to create a huge artwork to lay on mining-affected country in the northern Goldfields. They have been collecting around 3000 rugs which they'll be joining together into 'dots' for the artwork.

The joining the rugs to make dots part is happening at the WA Museum from July 4-8, and volunteers of 13 yrs and above are invited to book a (free) space to help.

The opening will be Wednesday 3 July at 5pm and there is a concert with Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse on Fri 5 July.

More information can be found on the website www.reclaimthevoid.com.au or on social media or via the ticket link: https://events.humanitix.com/reclaim-the-void-assemblage

Come and enjoy traditional oral tales from Ireland on Sunday 12th May 2024 from 5-8pm at Denmark Artshouse. Please bring a cash donation ($10-$15) for the door and a plate of food to share.

RSVP for numbers, and contact us with any queries: Jeff Atkinson: 0431 211 887 or Silvia Lehmann: 0435 006 228.

Please note: This is an adult storytelling space - while children are welcomed to come with their parents, the stories are told for adults and are not censored. There will be adult discussions on themes and personal reflections, and parents need to gauge whether their children can be attentive for longer stories.

WISE MINDS GROUP

Wise Minds is an emotion regulation skills based group for 12-15 year old. Young people practise different mindfulness activities each week, and learn different techniques to manage emotions in a healthy way. The group runs at headspace Albany from weeks 3-8 of each school term, on Tuesday afternoons 3.45-4.30pm. In Term 2, the 6-week program will start on April 30^th(Week 3).

For enquiries, please call headspace Albany on 9842 9871 or email info@headspacealbany.com.au.

Saver Plus is a FREE 10-month matched savings and financial education program funded by ANZ and the Australian Government Department of Social Services and delivered by The Smith Family.

The program aims to help participants to learn how to better manage their money and develop long-term savings habits.

Saver Plus is available to anyone who is eligible across Australia.

Eligible participants learn money skills and receive up to $500 to help with their school expenses.

* 10 month program (commence at any time)

* Save $50 a month for 10 months and receive $500 towards educational costs

* Complete up to 10hrs of Virtual workshops called MoneyMinded (support provided)

More information at www.saverplus.org.au