The beauty of all things, radiant and fair,

How it pours through my heart; how it fills me with gladness!

In the people I meet this same beauty is there;

It reflects in their eyes, both in joy and in sadness.

And when our eyes sparkle or twinkle or shine,

When warm love is flowing in the way that we live,

Then the water of life in ourselves becomes wine,

And to God this can be the great gift that we give.

Dear GHSS Families,

Tree Top Walk 25th Celebrations It was fabulous to spend Sunday in the company of so many of our staff and families at the Tree Top Walk 25th birthday celebrations.  I was ever so proud of our choir and violin performers, who sounded amazing in the glorious setting of the tingle forest.  Many thanks to the parents and family members who made the Sunday trip out to the walk and to the ever-dedicated GHSS staff who prepared the children for the event and also supported the children on the day.  A wonderful, whole school community effort.  Thank you!

Spring Festival Our Spring Festival is scheduled for Thursday, September 23rd.  We ask that families contribute flowers, vines and greenery for the creation of our Spring head garlands in the morning, and join us at the start of the school day to assist in making these for the children and yourselves!  Classes and family members will then gather on the basketball court for our Spring story and performances, culminating in the Class 3 Maypole dance.  After a break for morning tea, teams will then gather on the oval for our Spring Carnival events, after which we invite families to enjoy a picnic lunch together.  Parents are able to take children home after our picnic lunch.  Many of our staff will be travelling to Nowanup for our staff training day.  Friday September 24th is a Pupil Free Day.

2022 Enrolments A reminder that Monday, October 11th, is the last day to notify the school that you will not be returning for 2022 without incurring a charge for Term 1, 2022 fees.  You are able to download a copy of the withdrawal form from the website or under forms and documents in the Schoolzine App.  We have also added a tile on the Schoolzine App so that you can complete a withdrawal form electronically.  A hardcopy of the form can also be collected from the office. 

Greek Olympics Best of luck to Class 5 athletes who travel to Perth this week to compete in the Greek Olympics at Perth Waldorf School in Bibra Lake on Friday.  I look forward to joining them on the Friday to watch them compete. 

Class 6 Play Class 6 will be performing their play on Tuesday of the last week of this term, in the hall.  Best of luck to all the performers.

We wish all our families a wonderful holiday break.  We hope you have the chance to relax, reconnect and energise before term begins and here's hoping that comes with some glorious Spring sunshine to enjoy!

Jacqui Hollingworth

Principal

Each newsletter we will be sharing a virtue that will be the focus in our school over the following three weeks.  

What is Creativity? Creativity is the power of imagination.  Creativity is a way to develop your special talents.  It is seeing something in a new way, finding a different way to solve a problem.  Creativity is using your imagination to bring something new into the world.

Why Practice it? Without creativity, life would be boring.  There would be no inventions or advancements in the world.  Things would just stay the same.  We wouldn't have cars, planes and computers, dance or music.  The arts bring joy to the world.  Sciences bring cures for disease and new ways to get things done.  Creativity helps us to be all we can be.

How do you practice it? You practice creativity by developing your gifts to the fullest.  Find out what interests you and what you are good at.  Learn and practice, so your talents will get better and better.  Do ordinary things in creative ways.  Expose yourself to beauty in nature and in the arts.  Be open to inspiration.  Remember to take time for dreaming.

Signs of Success Congratulations!  Your are practicing creativity when you...

• Discover your gifts
• Use knowledge and training to develop them
• Think of new ways to make things work better
• Use your imagination
• Take time for dreaming
• Do things in your own creative way

"... Whatever you can do, or dream you can... begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

After all the rain, this spring is set to be a beauty.

There are orchids already showing themselves in the bush... and the buds on the stone fruits are already blooming.

Many gardening classes in the last couple of months have been indoors with leaf rubbing, seed saving and botany lessons keeping us busy.

Thanks to the efforts of Class 1 and 6, the school orchard now has five new young fruit trees, including... persimmons, mandarins, nashi pear and apricots.

Class 2 have been studying leaves in all their diversity and colour whilst tending and eating a fantastic crop of broccoli.

Class 3 continue to maintain a large crop of garlic that will be cured and braided later in the year with some being sold through the school markets.  They will soon be planting 'the three sisters', a mix of beans, corn and pumpkins in the same patch.

Class 4/5 and 6 have been planting natives around the new water tank and along the edge of the oval.

It’s an exciting time in the garden, with longer days and more sunshine driving growth.  Unfortunately that includes weeds!  So if your children come home with dirty fingernails you’ll know it was for a good cause!

Happy gardening,

Neal

Last Tuesday our upper primary classes attended the Primary School Agriculture Awareness Day at the Denmark Agricultural College.  The children participated in numerous educational sessions ranging from equine to sheep and wool, dairy farming to aquaculture and farm machinery to biosecurity to name a few.

The day gave the students the opportunity to learn about the importance of primary industry and agriculture and its connection to everyday life.  It also gave the students the chance to look around the college and with our wonderful student leaders; Zach and Dixie find out a bit more about what it is like to attend the College.

Class 4/5 have immersed themselves into the Main Lesson of ‘Spirituality of the Dreaming’.

Using a Noongar Dictionary, they’ve created their own Dreamtime books & shared them with their Class 1 buddies. 

It has been a joyful process seeing the children embrace aboriginal culture, symbols, stories & words.

For art, this week, we painted Olympus, to celebrated Class 5’s up-coming Greek Olympics. 

Kate

In class 4/5 we have been busy with our main lessons, preparing for the Greek Olympics, beginning our animal projects and writing poetry alongside ‘Poem Forest’ an initiative from Red Room Poetry.

Class 4 are continuing their animal and human main lesson and have begun their individual projects, which consist of 3 components - a written research section, building of a diorama and an oral presentation.  The children have all chosen their animal and are in the research phase of their project.  There are questions to answer as the children are learning to gather specific research and put the information into their own words to meet the criteria of the project.

In Class 5 the children have begun their Greek Mythology main lesson focusing on the geographical aspects to begin and then moving onto the wonderful stories of the Gods of Olympus.  This Thursday our Olympians will make the trip to Perth Waldorf School to compete in the Class 5 Greek Olympics.  On the Saturday before returning the children will visit the Greek Mythology exhibit at the Perth Museum, which ties in beautifully with their Ancient Greek Civilizations Study.

For the past 4 weeks the children in both Class 4 and 5 have learnt about the many forms of poetry.  They have also been introduced to and practiced many poetic techniques such as the use of syllables in rhyme and Haiku poems, sensory similes, clichés, metaphors, alliteration, personification and onomatopoeia (to describe what you hear).  I was gifted a wonderful resource by Renee from the Red Room Poetry organization, titled ‘Poem Forest’.  The intent was to encourage children to deepen their connections with nature through poetry, honoring habitats, and planting trees to care for country.  For every poem entered a tree is planted.

Below are some of the completed poems.

My Special Place

The rain falls, the birds call,

The water ripples.

Everything in the world has its own different call.

It fills me with joy to stand on the shores and watch the sunset.

It reminds me of when we came here as a family.

This place is special.

This place holds every memory of the past.

Sometimes it feels like this place holds the future.

Tall trees are the giants towering over me.

It reminds me of every memory I have ever made here.

All the good ones and bad ones.

All the memories are like photos taken to remember

Flicking through photos like memories in my mind.

By Rosie

Cry of the Forest 

I walk through the native forest.

There is not much left at all.

It’s getting cleared, at the rate of a football field a day.

So as I walk through this last little bit,

I wonder what’s going to happen.

We wont have any air.

Birds wont have anywhere to live.

Everything will die unless we make a change….

And learn how to work with nature

By Ilya

Forest Poem 

The sunlight shines through the branches onto the leaf-covered ground.

A single leaf falls down and lands in a glassy puddle.

Sending ripples in every direction.

An old oak tree stands silently, like a wise old mountain holding many stories.

I sit under the oak tree and listen to nature… birds chirping, frogs quietly croaking and the wind rustling.

I think of all that’s happened and feel that I want to stay here in the forest forever.

I start to walk deeper into the forest.

It gets colder and darker, but also calmer and calmer.

I start to notice the details….

The dew hanging from the branches reflecting everything around them in tiny form.

The details on one leaf.

The rough feel of the bark on the tree.

It is calm.

It is creative.

 It is nature.

By Heidi G

Summer Holidays

The fine dry sand feels soft under my feet.

The waves are crashing.

The gentle breeze makes the ferns sway.

The sun is warm.

The crabs clamber slowly sideways.

Their scuttling sounds like castanets.

The wind blows my hair back.

The water is as clear as diamonds.

The sun is as bright as a tall bon fire.

I hear the splash as I tread on the soaked wet shore.

I feel loved.

This place, reminds me of summer holidays.

The warmth, the comfort, the fun, the play.

The refreshing air, it gives me strength to run up and down, to see the entire place.

All the birds are perched in a tree.

They are singing and chirping.

The rock pools are as cold as a bowl of ice cream.

I am free. 

By Sophie

Life is never boring in Class 3!  As part of our measurement studies, students have been building a sand pit outside our classroom and competing to see who can move the greatest amount of dirt in the process (rumour has it the girls won!)  Meanwhile, we have completed our grammar studies, in which we acted out the adventures of Queen Noun, Annie Adjective and Victor Verb.  We have also been looking at the artwork of senior Aboriginal women that formed part of the 'Wagga Noongar Six Seasons' exhibition in Perth to inspire our own Djilba art works.  Last but not least, we have been very busy practicing out maypole dance in the lead up to this year's Spring Festival!

Our World Legends Main Lesson began with a week of tales from ancient South American cultures including the Flood Myth of the Incas and the Creation Story of the Mayans

We had a visit from Maya’s mum Sandra who told us about Brazilian culture today.  A highlight from the visit included Sandra teaching us to dance the Samba. 

We learnt about the tradition of Brigadero – a delicious treat customary for children’s parties - parties of all sorts actually because Brazilians love to party!

We have heard the Legend of the Magic Feather from Jamaica and the Tale of the Badger and the Magic Fan from Japan.

The following week saw us immersed in Russian stories including the Legend of Dobrynya the Dragon Slayer and the Myths of Baba Yaga.

We had a wonderful visit from Michael's mum Alexandra who shared some Russian cookery with us and told us about life in Russia today.

This week we are set to learn about Chinese culture including the Legend of Mulan, and the beautiful legend of the Discovery of Silk.  We will also hear some of the legends surrounding the Great Wall of China.

We are looking forward to August's mum Hannah coming to share some traditional Chinese cooking with us.

In all it has been very exciting to hear about Myths and Legends from around the world.  We have learned some poems from different cultures and have been enjoying our theme song ‘It’s a Small World’. 

We start our morning circle with a drum and a rain stick as we sing;

Come my sisters, come my brothers to the sounding of the drum

From the mountains to the hilltops, gather in the morning sun

Silver shines or Mother moon, golden shines our Father sun

Come my sisters, come my brothers gather in the morning sun

In Class 1 we finished up our main lesson on Fairytales and Stories with the Book Week celebration.  We finished the tales of Satchkin Patchkin and listened to other fairytales and stories.  The children also brought their favourite books to class to share, and we all loved the opportunity to dress up on the Friday.  The costumes were wonderful - thanks to parents and carers for supporting our Book Week fun.

Last week we started a science main lesson on our local surrounds and natural environment.  We have been observing the seasonal changes in Djilba/early spring and telling stories, reciting verses and singing songs that celebrate sprouting seeds, flowers, sunlight, springtime rain and the new life that Springtime brings. 

Spring Verse

Mother Earth gave birth to a flower 

Father Sun shone up above 

Brother Wind blew the breath of life  

And Sister Rain rained down with love 

The Rain fell down upon the ground 

It made a drip, drip dropping sound  

The little root children woke up and said, 

“What is this falling upon our heads?” 

Under the ground, so very deep 

Root children are waking from winter’s sleep 

The root children were happy, 

and they jumped and started to sing 

They danced and danced for it was spring!

As a part of this science main lesson, we are very excited to have an incubator in our classroom to hatch some spring chicks!  Big thanks to our "eggsperts" - Brooke, Mala and Via for supporting and guiding this special project.  The chicks are due to hatch during the last week of school this term. 

The Class 1 children were excited to plan a Teddy Bear's picnic as our class reward for filling our good deeds gem jar.  The teddies came in on Thursday afternoon and slept over at school.  When we came to school on Thursday morning, we found the teddies were having a popcorn party!  Thanks to Bruce and the Karri Kindy kids for sharing the Bush School space for our picnic on Friday.  Thanks to parents and carers for making lots of delicious, healthy food for the picnic.  The kids had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed making stick bread over the camp fire at the end of the day.

Thanks,

Mel

In the branches of a tree, a little nest
Good mama bird will do her best
And sit and wait for her eggs to hatch
Then for her babies wriggly worms to catch
Til the day they fly from the nest,
Good mama bird will do her best

After our morning circle each Tuesday we sit on chairs in a circle and say the finger play above in preparation for beeswax modelling.  The children build 'warm nests just like mama bird' by rubbing their hands together, then cupping them to make a nest.  This can be challenging on cold mornings, but the vigorous movement of our circle helps, and sometimes putting on a warm jacket too.

The modelling wax comes in a rainbow of luminous colours and is made from beeswax and natural pigments, so has a lovely fragrance.  We offer a small ball of wax (about 1/8 th of a piece), and prewarm it over a hot water bottle.  Even pre-warmed it will rapidly harden and break apart when placed into cold hands, which can be very frustrating, so we ensure the children’s hands are warm.

The teacher then hands a piece to each child whilst we sing…

“I have built a pretty nest, look inside, look inside
Hungry birdies with their beaks, open wide, open wide
And the little birdies grow, day by day, day by day
Til they spread their wings and fly, far away, far away”

We then ‘see what our wax wants to become', while singing seasonal songs and nursery rhymes.  Once the models are completed they are placed on a round of wood.  We re-use the wax about three times before allowing the children to take their completed models home.  In the first part of the year, the children are given the same colour wax, but later in the year we offer several colours and allow the children to share little bits with each other.

As well as nourishing the senses through the experience of touch, warmth, smell and colour, beeswax modelling helps with the development of fine motor strength and allows for expression through a 3-D medium.

A task for Tuesdays is preparing the sourdough bread dough ready for Wednesday.  In the morning we begin the process by combining sourdough starter, warm water and flour, cover and leave it.  By the afternoon the mixture is bubbling and it’s time to add more flour, salt and a little olive oil.  Sometimes a child or two helps to mix and knead whilst everyone else is playing outside.

With warm wishes,

Denise

Kambarang K6 Bush Kindy/Bush School Family Camp at Nowanup

A reminder that our annual Kambarang K6 Bush Kindy/Bush School Family Camp at Nowanup is booked for the weekend of 22-24th October (end of Week 2, Term 4). The camp is open to families of children graduating from Karri Kindergarten at the end of the year, as well as our Bush School families from Class 1 and 2.  A flyer with full details will be sent home early next week.

Greetings from Silver Birch Playgroup,

Here is the beehive, but where are all the bees?

Hiding away where nobody can see.

Watch them come buzzing, out of their hive.

One, two, three, four, five!

As we embrace the warmer days, so too do all of our garden friends.  In our circle we may encounter busy bees, incy wincy spider, lovely Mrs Garden Snail and a very quick little mouse who pops his head out if all is quiet.  Such is the delight of simple rhymes to accompany hand and finger gestures as we explore the world around us through our morning circle. 

Thanks must go to Clare over the fence at Karri Kindy who kindly gifted to our garden some narcissus bulbs recently.  With eager helping hands, holes were dug, bulbs snuggled in and well watered.  The children take much pleasure in these simple but important tasks which strengthen the connection with their environment and offer an opportunity to contribute to the care of our garden.

Next week will be our last morning for the Term and it just happens to fall on our Spring Festival day.  Hopefully it will be as sunny and springlike as it was last year so we can gather outside and make our garlands before joining in the celebration of Djilba.  I look forward to sharing this special time with you all.

Finally a big thank you to all our Playgroup families for another lovely term.  It seems to have wizzed by!  What a joy it is to spend a morning with you and your little ones...may it continue next term.

Warm Regards,

Sophia

WANTED FOR WOODWORK: Hollow tree branches.  Any type of tree, branch 15 - 20 cm diameter.  Needed for start of Term 4.

ARE YOU A MACHINE SEWER WITH FAMILY PARTICIPATION HOURS OWING?  If yes, please let Heather know.  She's got a couple of simple sewing jobs that need doing for the workshop ASAP.  Material provided.

Many Thanks, Heather

Fridays 9-11

Silver Birch Playgroup

Do you have a creative urge that needs tickling?  Come join us on Friday mornings in the Silver Birch Playgroup where you can either bring along your own project or learn something new.  Your little ones are very much welcome too so do all come along.  We’ll natter and share, make beautiful things and drink warm, good tea… I may even bring cake..

Give a holler if you need or I look forward to seeing you then.

Kat

M: 0439 519 386

Wednesdays 9-11

Meet at the office (with your gloves and wet weather gear!) to sign in..

Oh myyy it has been gloriously WET hasn’t it?!  There are some parts of my patch that are more trampoline than path, more like a pond than a veg bed..

 Here at our beloved school we have made inroads to our ongoing drainage works.  Things are starting to look prettier and promising... hooRAY!  Next on the agenda is a revegetation project.  With the help of Bill Hollingworth, a whole school plan to plant out natives for groundcover, foraging and habitat has been made. Class 4/5 children with Robyn and Neal will be seed planting in preparation for planting out next season and we may even get some seedlings from the Ag school to go into the earth this year (thanks Lynn Willson!). 

With fingers crossed I'm hoping for drier and more inviting weather to be around the corner and so, if you cross your fingers too, we may re-commence Garden Group this month.  Little people are very welcome as we will always choose something that is family friendly to do.

If Wednesdays don’t suit you but you would like to help in the garden to make up your Family Participation Scheme hours, do let me know and we could dig-n-do another day.

Yours in dirt,

Kat

M: 0439 519 386

Please know that as a school we are always open to feedback should you wish to provide it.  We are constantly striving to refine our processes and make improvements where necessary.

Feel free to contact us via phone (9848 1811), email - office@goldenhill.wa.edu.au or principal@goldenhill.wa.edu.au) or come in and make an appointment to speak with someone.

Positive feedback especially welcome!

The Garage Sale Trail encourages community members to sell, shop and learn about the circular economy, promoting the premise of reduce, reuse and recycle as an important step in the fight against climate change. 

Registrations are now open for Australia’s largest sustainability and community festival – the Garage Sale Trail. To register please visit: https://www.garagesaletrail.com.au/register

Key dates:

• 10 September: Registrations open
• 6-7 November: Weekend of Trail Tutorial online workshops
• 13-14 & 20-21 November: Two big weekends of garage sales

The Garage Sale Trail is aligned with the Shire of Denmark’s Sustainability key objective outlined in the Shire’s Sustainability Strategy 2021-2031 2.2 Support the community to promote a circular economy and buy local philosophy.

For related events please visit the Shire of Denmark MyCommunity Diary website at: https://www.mycommunitydiary.com.au/Western_Australia/Denmark

and the Shire of Denmark Sustainability Zero Waste webpage at: https://www.denmark.wa.gov.au/residents/sustainability-and-biodiversity/zero-waste.aspx

Thank you

Enrolments are now open for VacSwim swimming lessons during the October and summer school holidays.  VacSwim offers fun lessons at beach or pool locations.  They are a great school holiday activity and they teach valuable safety skills to help keep your child safe in the water.

Enrol at education.wa.edu.au/vacswim