Now springing from the fertile Mother of all living things,

the Earth,

Comes joy-of-growth, as power leading all her children unto birth.

My life is charmed, my strength is sure,

For I am armed - my heart is pure;

And I can join amidst this joy and merriment with radiant mirth!

This week has been a quieter one than normal around the grounds at Golden Hill, with our Class 8 students away on camp at Boshack. We are all looking forward to their return and to hearing all those camp stories, mishaps and adventures! Class 1/2 and Class 5 are both gearing up for performances, with Class 4’s Norse Mythology play taking place later this month, and Class 1/2’s Eurythmy performance in September. Meanwhile, the remainder of our classes have been working hard at their main lessons:  Money and Time, Human Fertility and the Renaissance.

Our little town seems to be booming in population at the moment, and this growth has also been reflected in our class waitlists and enrolment numbers. School tours occur weekly for new families and prospective students, and we are often asked what sets us apart from other alternative schools or educational models in the local area. It can sometimes be difficult to summarise this in a nutshell, as there are certain buzzwords that seem to be almost universal in marketing a school. Some of these include nature-based play, whole-child learning, inclusive curriculum, etc. Whilst Steiner education (along with many other alternative education models) happens to be all of these things and more, something I often feel is quite unique to Steiner education is the concept of reverence.

I must admit that prior to encountering Steiner education, I had no idea of the meaning of the word 'reverence', only an inkling that it perhaps had some sort of religious connotation.  Indeed, it is not a word that is found in our everyday vernacular. The dictionary describes ‘reverence’ as a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe.

Gary Zukav describes reverence as “engaging in a form and a depth of contact with Life that is well beyond the shell of form and into essence. Reverence is contact with the essence of each thing and person and plant and bird and animal. It is contact with the interior of its beingness. The path to reverence is through your heart, and only an awareness of your feelings can open your heart.”

Reverence is not something that can be taught or insisted upon, but is something that is slowly nurtured, fostered and modelled to the children. The Steiner curriculum fosters a sense of reverence through our magical festivals, though time spent observing the wonders of nature, through verses and imaginative stories that awaken and enliven the feelings, and through our daily rhythms which allow for busier, livelier (‘breathing out’) times, as well as moments of focus, stillness and quiet (‘breathing in’). I believe that the concept of reverence really is one of the underpinnings of Steiner education, as illustrated in Steiner's quote below: 

“Receive the child in reverence, educate them in love: let them go forth in freedom.”

Rudolf Steiner

Wishing everyone a wonderful end to the winter season, filled with warmth and wellness!

Eliza Allan

Principal

We would like to advise that there have been a few cases in the school of Pneumococcal Disease or Bacterial Pneumonia.  As such, we would ask that if your child(ren) are sick and showing some of the symptoms described in the attached information flyer, that you please keep them home and allow them to rest and get well before they return to school.  We greatly appreciate your assistance with reducing the spread of this and other illnesses as much as possible.  Thank you.

In each Golden Quill, we will be featuring one of our wonderful former GHSS students. 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 Chenoa Thrupp-Probst. 

Chenoa graduated from Golden Hill Steiner School in 2015. After attending Denmark Senior High School, she then moved to Perth to attended Edith Cowan University. Chenoa graduated from ECU at the end of 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Art).

Earlier this year, Chenoa held her first art exhibition, making a profit from selling her prints and originals. Chenoa then applied for and was awarded a 6-month local artist-in-residence position at Inglewood Arts Hub. She has her own studio space to work on site, and is currently working on an arts project exploring the colours and patterns in gum trees - a project largely inspired by her childhood in Denmark.

As part of her artist-in-residence program, she will be offering a workshop in the near future in order to create connections with the local community. She is also planning an exhibition to conclude her residency at the end of the year.

In addition to forging her way ahead in the art world, Chenoa has also been doing casual work in retail and recently returned from a two-month road trip. She had the opportunity to spend time in a closed indigenous community in the north of WA, and while making her way back to WA, a mechanical issue forced an impromptu stopover in Alice Springs. The Alice Springs Beanie Festival happened to be on at the time, so Chenoa went along and wore the beanie she made all those years ago in Class 5 at Golden Hill!

“I loved my time at Steiner, especially my Class teachers Alex and Emily. They helped and encouraged my passion for art, and I have still have a connection with them now. They are still encouraging and supportive!  I have so many fond memories of Golden Hill - climbing trees, hanging out with my friends, watching the winter festival bonfire from high up in the oak tree. The ancient history main lessons were so interesting - learning all about different civilisations, gods and goddesses. The plays were also so much fun.”  

We have had glowing feedback from Jewels' parent education session on the topic of handwork in the month of July, where parents heard all about the handwork progression of skills through the Steiner curriculum journey, while learning to hand sew a felted swan.

It was such a lovely opportunity to hear about aspects of our curriculum, share conversation, drink tea, meet new parents and learn new skills.

Here is a response from Olivia, parent of Class 1 and 2 students Juno and Amaya:

'I loved the handwork session!!!

As soon as I got home I finished my swan and am now looking forward to another one. 

I love how my daughters Amaya and Juno felt proud of seeing the swan as well. A day later, I was sitting with Amaya helping her with a project started by her of sewing a pocket/bag.

Pictures are of my swan below. 

Thank you for organising, and Jewels thank you so much for your guidance and inspiration!'

Olivia

Neal has been the organic and biodynamic gardening teacher here at Golden Hill Steiner School for 15 years. Before that he also taught the certificate courses in organic horticulture at Denmark TAFE. As most of you know, Neal is a dedicated foodie who loves to cook, and loves to teach gardening through cooking as well. Neal browses his veggie garden before grocery shopping or deciding what to cook for dinner. “We tend to talk of veggies as the bit on the side of a fancy dinner, but I like to champion a vegetable as the star of a meal. Like a beautiful homegrown cauliflower – make that the centre, the highlight of what you cook and serve", says Neal with a sparkle in his eye.

Neal remembers being switched on to the magic of growing and eating your veggies fresh out of the garden when he was a small kid shadowing his grandad in his Busselton garden. Grandad gave Neal a freshly pulled carrot to eat and Neal remembers the rich, sweet flavour even now. Neal’s grandad was also an inspiration as he baked his own bread and was a famous local herring fisherman. Neal attributes his love and appreciation for fishing, baking, and growing and eating homegrown veggies to this Busselton grandad, where Neal, who grew up in Perth, spent every school holidays. Surfing and fishing have been big passions of Neal’s ever since his childhood.

It’s a bit hard to believe, but as a young man Neal spent some years in Sydney treading the corporate path, being a city slicker. Then he went traveling with his then partner and ended up in southern Spain, where he immersed himself in rural, peasant life and lived in a literal cave in Andalucia, a province of Spain. The peasants grew their own veggies down in the valley and grew everything organically. Inspired by this experience, Neal looked up organic growers and market gardeners in Perth on his return to WA. Neal helped create ‘Organic Foods Australia’ and ran the home delivery part of the business for many years, delivering boxes of delicious organic veggies to households all over Perth.

Then, about 25 years ago, Neal sold the business and started a big travel adventure right around Australia. He came through Denmark when a big clowning festival was on in the town. Neal credits the clown festival with drawing him to Denmark – “I was, of course, also attracted by the surfing and the remote, wild, and free coast here, as well as the bush…but it was the clowns on the bridge as I pulled into town, who really signalled to me that Denmark was different to your run-of-the-mill country WA town. I have loved living and working here ever since.”

Neal came to the Steiner school through his interest in biodynamic horticulture and agriculture – the fundamental philosophy underpinning Steiner gardening teaching, and a method of growing food invented by Rudolf Steiner. Neal describes biodynamics as working energetically with the land – listening to the interconnected complexity of living systems and being guided by the energy that underlies what is visible. Both of Neal’s kids attended Golden Hill Steiner School, as Neal loves the way children are taught in the Steiner philosophy. He feels it is akin to working with children’s needs on an energetic level, rather than teaching subjects ‘head-on’. His daughter Olive began attending Class One the same year that Neal started teaching gardening at the school. “Back then, I taught all the classes in one day,” Neal recalls, ‘Now I teach 4 days a week, and can teach with much more detail and hone students’ skills.”

Neal loves teaching the students at Golden Hill as he absolutely believes in the philosophy that healthy food = healthy minds. He feels he is making a change in the world through the life principles he can instil in the students by teaching them something so practical as conscientious gardening and cooking delicious food together.  “In a world where we are so disassociated from everything, it’s just so awesome to see kids getting their hands dirty. They’re off their screens and they’re connecting right in – what they grow, they eat. Just gardening as an activity is so fabulous for kids to do, that being able to teach them about biodynamics and the deeper nature of how things grow and flourish is the bonus for me”.

The Denmark Bird Group were incredibly grateful and proud of the childrens' contribution to their Owl Art exhibition opening on Saturday 3rd August 2024 (see photos). Many members from the community remarked on their beauty. We hope that they have a special roost in or around the homes of the Class 1 and 2 students!

Also a gentle reminder to the broader school community to please come and support the Class 1 and 2 public Eurythmy performance as part of the 'Beloved Bach' Concert on Sunday, September 15th at 3pm. Please see attached poster for ticket info.

-Sarah Moriarty

Class 4 have returned to the cold, icy seas of the Norse Lands as we prepare for our class play, The Theft of Thor's Hammer. The children have been expressing great creativity and energy through drawing, painting, singing, stamping and retelling the wonderful sagas of Norse mythology. The play is providing an amazing opportunity for the children to stretch and challenge themselves. The theatre space is fun and expansive, but also requires great discipline and will power.

We are looking forward to sharing the fruits of our labour with the school community. We will perform the play at 9.30am and 3.30pm on Tuesday 27 August.

See you there!

Class 5 performed their play, Into the Labyrinth, on Tuesday 6 August.

The children all worked so well together on the play, which is the story of Theseus and the Minotaur in Ancient Greece

So much team work is needed in helping each other with learning lines and remembering 15 scene changes, organising costumes and props. The painting and chalk drawing of backdrops, as well as coordinating musical arrangements were all group efforts.

The children were encouraging to each other and excited and proud of their efforts. They were all so brave on stage and their unique personalities shone through in the characters they played.

Class 7 have had a great couple of weeks exploring the chemistry of combustion. This main lesson provides students with an active and alive process to begin to deepen their observation and science inquiry skills.  The class enjoyed hands-on experiments and demonstrations that gave them the opportunity to question natural phenomena, investigate the properties of substances and explore how different elements interact with each other. From combustion we moved into the process of chemical reactions and finally the properties of acids and bases. It has been great to see the class developing detailed observations and creating their own methodologies while completing inquires. This has resulted in some high quality main lesson books and wonderful illustrations.

Many of the students in Class 7 and 8 have read award winning novelist Craig Silvey’s, ‘Runt’. You may have read and or may be familiar with ‘Jasper Jones', 'The Amber Amulet' and 'Rhubarb', all by Silvey.  Craig has been part of the Subicao Library’s Young Writers award for the last two years, taking over from Tim Winton.

As part of our English practise sessions this term we have focused on creative writing in formulation and structure.  Many students attended the creative writing workshop with award winning author Raewyn Caisley in the July school holidays in conjunction with the Subiaco Library.  All students in Class 7 and 8 were asked to submit an entry into the Young Writers Award.  Attached are some of the entries from out high schoolers.

Robyn

Last week Class 8 headed to the ‘Boshack Outback Eco Farm’, inland from Northam. We arrived Monday afternoon and assimilated ourselves into red dirt, tall stark trees, and a totally off grid environment.

Boshack Outback offered us bush corridors to experience (for many) a new type of nature and serenity... The students were able to experience pristine nature as it was many years ago in Outback Australia. We were able to walk through the bushland to see kangaroo trails and feel the coolness of the paper bark forests. Boshack is set on the banks of a manmade lake, ‘Lake Serene’, giving us a beautiful outlook in which to watch the sun set and rise. Our early mornings and evenings were spent around the campfire, which thanks to Ilya and Lachy was well stoked and monitored from start to finish.  

The theme for our camp was collaboration and teamwork. Working cohesively and being able to listen and act accordingly in a group environment. Activities centred around general farm life on a working station, structure assembly, raft building, dream time stories, self-reflection, taking in and artistically and articulately representing the landscape... Canoeing, bush walking, orienteering, bush first-aid, individual and team challenges and damper making. It was lovely to watch and be a part of the student’s ‘downtime’, which included fire building, board games, quiz evening, table tennis and generally hanging out with their peer group away from the family unit. Fishing was a big focus, although wasn’t on the original agenda. However, with a few ‘hunters and gatherers’ amongst the group and new student James who caught and released the only fish in the lake!

I am so wonderfully proud of this cohort in their ability to include, represent, experience, reflect, respect, tolerate, call out and have so much fun! I had a very special week and are grateful to Sam who attended the camp and spent many wonderful hours alongside the students in various capacities.

Robyn

Good Morning GHSS Community! 

Have you heard!? Your Steiner P&F has been rekindled, and we are firing up an array of fun fundraisers with BIG goals, supported by the spark and fresh zest of new motivated members! 

“So…what are these goals?” I hear you ask. Well, together with the greater school, we are fundraising for our very own School Bus! A much needed asset that will be utilised with much enthusiasm and allow our students to get out on excursions and adventures more easily! We are also seeking to fund a new School Library - a place of inspiration and contemplation and where all of our school book collections can be collated, new books added and books available to loan for students and staff, as well as parents. 

The GHSS P&F has some exciting upcoming events for the whole school community:

We recently purchased a super duper commercial coffee machine and grinder. After a very informative and skill soaring coffee training with the incredible Theresa from Stash coffee, we are set to go! 

Welcome and Good Morning to SOCIAL COFFEE MORNINGS on Fridays prior to assembly. Delivering you the delicious ‘daydream’ blend from Stash coffee, and offering a variety of milks (mylks?) of your choice at no extra cost (we don’t discriminate!) - it’s set to be a buzz! 

Coffee Service from 8-9am at the Hall. 

We will be hosting our very first Quiz Night on Saturday the 24th August. Book your babysitters now, as this event is going to be the night out of the year! With a fun array of questions, games, food, drink and fundraisers… AND featuring our very own MC JIFFY… this is an evening not to be missed! Grab your tickets now! 

We are also currently working busily behind the scenes to create a collectively colourful Steiner Spring Fair and Open Day. Stay tuned for more details to come in the coming weeks. It's going to be a day of joy, community and celebration!

May we continue to grow in the Spirit of togetherness! 

Yours in enthusiasm, 

The GHSS P&F

The school's informal book exchange on the filing cabinet shelf in the front office is growing! Staff, parents, students: If you have any books ready for a new home, bring them in and swap a book for another one. Fiction, non-fiction, all books welcome (they don't have to be Steiner related).

People have been donating a wide range of books, come check them out. Please do take books that take your fancy!

And instead of donating books to the op-shops, please bring them into the office for our book exchange. You never know what gem you might find!

We have a bookshelf in the front office full of Steiner related books that parents are welcome to borrow for a two week period.

Please come in and browse the selection!

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.  Should it be unavoidable that you do need to contact the office with a bus or pick up message, we would appreciate this being before 2.30pm if possible.

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

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.

If you've ever wished 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 September 6-8, immerse yourself in the world of traditional  wonder tales 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 (Sept 6th) will begin with an evening of nurturing ritual and a story being told to you by the facilitators by candlelight.

Saturday and Sunday (Sept 7 and 8) 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 us with any queries or to book a spot: Silvia 0435 006 228 / Jeff 0431 211 887

Why not take advantage of the earlybird discount of $160 for the whole weekend by Fri, August 23rd?

Shamara de Tissera and Marie Limondin have curated two delightful concerts that are sure to captivate and enrich audiences of all ages. Experience the creativity of children from the Golden Hill Steiner School as they perform a Prelude by our "Beloved Bach" on Sunday 15 September at 3pm at the Civic Centre. Both concerts feature a lineup of local talented musicians from Denmark and Albany. It's a rare opportunity for families to enjoy live music performed by artists from their community, fostering appreciation for classical music.