This term has certainly thrown a few challenges our way, including a recent bout of student and staff sickness. There are some fairly nasty bugs floating around, and I trust that we are now on the tail end of these.

Community sickness is one of the main reasons our amazing P&F Quiz night (scheduled to be held last Saturday) was postponed to Term 1 next year. The P&F have done an incredible job setting everything up for it and we are now looking forward to a new, fresh ‘summery’ vibe for its revised date. Golden Hill is incredibly fortunate to have such a dynamic and engaged P&F (Parents and Friends) group- this P&F team sure know how to get things done! One great example of this is the acquisition of our treasured school bus, Rosa. Rosa is getting plenty of use and love this year, and has travelled far and wide. In the last few weeks, you may have seen her and the GHSS students out and about visiting the elderly residents at Blue Wren Lodge, at Denmark library, playing golf at the country club, trying their hands at archery in Mount Barker, or blacksmithing at the Denmark forge. In fact, just last Friday, Rosa went on three different excursions in one day! It is so beneficial to get our students out and about in the local environment and community, and we are so appreciative to have this resource at our fingertips.

The GHSS P&F are now gearing up for our biggest even of the year- Golden Hill’s Spring Fair and Open Day, to be held early next term. Parent engagement really is the glue that holds Golden Hill together, and one of the reasons for our Family Participation Scheme. GHSS requires that each family contributes 10 volunteer hours to the school each semester (20 hours in total through the year). If you don’t have an FPS sheet to record your hours for the semester, feel free to pop into the office to grab one or to check what jobs might need doing. If in doubt, we always have plenty of books that need covering! Thanks to all those parents who contribute their time and love to the school- we are very grateful to have such a supportive parent body.

Warm regards

Eliza Allan

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Maya: 2017 Class Graduate, Musician, Performer, and proud Steiner kid. Daughter of Golden Hill’s arts whiz Silvia and science & tech-minded teacher John, Maya grew up with creativity and curiosity baked into her everyday life. We caught up to talk about her experience of Steiner School and find out what she is up to now.

Maya is currently studying a Bachelor of Contemporary Music at WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts), with her voice as her main instrument.

“Right now, I’m living on campus at ECU,” Maya tells me, just after getting home from a vocal techniques class. “We’re working on harmony arrangements, which is really collaborative and super fun.” She has described her studies so far as being “intense but super rewarding”.

After finishing high school, Maya took a couple of years to work and travel. She saved up by cleaning at her old high school and teaching violin lessons here at Golden Hill. “I knew I wanted to travel, but the idea of going by myself and where to go felt daunting.” Maya started small with a trip to Melbourne and then dove into the deep end by booking a last-minute trip to Europe.

On these travels she formed beautiful friendships that she still maintains today, and sparked what she calls her “travel year”, which included a road trip through New Zealand with her partner…in winter! “We’re both a bit obsessed with Lord of the Rings, and it was like whoa we are in Middle Earth right now!”.

 “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do straight away, so I gave myself some time…but I really missed making music. That’s what brought me back”.

Getting into WAAPA wasn’t originally part of the plan, but after a nudge from a friend (a fellow bandmate from her high school funk band “SLAM”), she applied…and got in! Now she’s back doing what she loves most: singing, learning, and performing alongside a tight-knit group of creative students.

When Maya was at Golden Hill, the school only went up to Class 6. Maya completed the rest of her schooling at Denmark Senior High School. “It was a pretty big shift”, she described and credits her Steiner foundation for helping her find her way again. “Eventually I remembered that learning isn’t just about ticking boxes. It’s about actually caring about what you’re doing… It’s crazy how much things change when the goal is different”.

That sense of learning through experience, and not through pressure is something Maya still really values. “We never focused on grades. I just coloured my books the way I wanted, wrote things in a way that helped me remember, and had fun with it. And weirdly, I actually retained way more info than I did in high school”. Such is the power of embodied education.

Looking back on her time at Steiner, Maya remembers the plays as a standout part of her experience. “Each year we’d perform a class play based on something we were learning during main lesson: Norse mythology, Greek stories, Roman history”. “By Year 6, we even wrote our own songs for it.”

Having the same class teacher (Chrystal Rogers) from Year 2 to 6 was another standout. “We were like a little family. You knew what to expect each year, and she got to grow with us. That kind of consistency made a big difference.”

In the recent uni break, Maya returned home to Denmark and was promptly asked if she wanted to attend the Winter Festival, to which she enthusiastically replied, “of course!” “It was wild seeing how big it’s gotten; more people, new buildings - but it still had that same energy.”

Maya’s connection to the school remains strong, especially since both her parents now work at Golden Hill! Her mum is back running playgroup on Tuesdays (like she did when Maya was little), and her dad, a former engineer, now teaches maths, science and digital technologies.

So, what’s next? With the entire WAAPA program moving into the city next year, Maya’s bracing for a bit more city life, and probably a longer commute. But for now, she’s right where she wants to be - making music, surrounded by creative people, and doing what she loves.

Thankyou Maya for sharing your story with us! It’s a pleasure to hear how your heart is leading you as you continue to walk your own unique path.

If you know of an alumni who would be willing to share their story with us, please send a message to office@goldenhill.wa.edu.au with their name and contact!

Written by Bridget Leigh

Class 3 have had a busy start to the term and have spent the last four weeks focusing on their musical main lesson. An engaging Italian story of ‘Phonopolis - The land of music’ set the scene for the introduction of music notation. We have been learning about rhythm, beat, pitch, time signatures, , harmony and melody. It has been a lot to take in but lots of fun as we learn to make sense of the notes and are becoming confident in playing our recorders from sheet music. Our music practice will continue each day setting us up to launch into violin next year. We have also formed a choir with our neighbours, Blake and class 4. We meet twice weekly to sing together and have taken our choir and percussion ensemble on the road to perform for the residents at Blue Wren Lodge. A wonderful experience for us all.

Class 6 performed their play Roma Amor in week 5 which was an exciting culmination and conclusion to our studies of Ancient Rome.

Our play told the story of twins; sister Lucia- a Roman maiden, and brother Marius- a Roman general.

Lucia’s adventurous spirit leads them to trade places which results in much confusion all round!

The play had various settings ranging from the decadent luxurious palace of the Emperor Nero with splendidly dressed courtiers,  to the sandy desert of ancient Judea with the legionnaires of the Galilee garrison.

In the dungeons of the worst prison in Rome, prisoners from around the  Empire as far away as Egypt, Persia, Greece and India await their grizzly fate.

The words of the plays title -Roma Amor- have mirrored spelling, and represent the polarities of power and love portrayed in the story.

This polarity is found in the tides of events of this time in history, which the Steiner Curriculum brings to developing consciousness of the 12 year old child through the study of Rome.

It was so wonderful to experience the whole class working together to support each other  to develop the varied elements of the play including set design, costumes and props, voice projection and of course - learning lines.

Patience, resilience, courage, creativity, cooperation and problem solving were evident as we worked on scene changes, dialogue, songs and musical interludes.

In class we have also been continuing our Geometry main lesson this term. This has involved developing skills and construction techniques building on the six part division of the circle and leading to the 12, 16 and 24 divisions. We have used a compass to bisect a line and find coordinate points. This has led to the creation of increasingly complex forms such as stellar designs using a variety of polygons. We have been amazed to discover the mathematical operations inherent in the forms and enjoy the beauty and symmetry that can be found by highlighting the designs with colour. We hope you enjoy the photos of some of our designs.

- Lisa

Class 6 Teacher