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- Principal's Address
- Virtue Focus - Loyalty
- Winter Festival Photos
- Tuscan White Bean Soup in the Slow Cooker
- Karri Kindergarten
- Class 1
- Class 2
- Class 3
- Class 4
- Class 5
- Class 6
- Gardening
- Book Study
- Family Participation Scheme
- Waste Product Request!
- Rapid Antigen Tests
- Nannup Flower and Garden Festival
- Perth Waldorf School Open Day
- Feedback Welcome!
- Last Day of Term 2 2022
- First Day of Term 3 2022
A rose of pure white blooms in midnight's dark hour.
The spell of the darkness is broken and torn.
In my heart there's a bursting of magical power
For the heavenly Child on earth has been born!
He is pure as the snow. With my heart's love aglow
I shall nourish this Child, and he surely shall grow!
Dear GHSS Families,
As the heavens opened and the hail arrived on Friday night, I was so relieved that we had made the call to postpone the Makuru Festival and Winter Spiral and the universe rewarded us on Midwinter Solstice with a glorious, balmy evening to mark the longest night of the year.
Thank you to the staff for the wonderful work they did in preparing the lanterns for the children, the spiral construction in the rain on Monday, the shared stories over soup, preparing the beautiful displays along the lantern walk and the songs sung around the spiral and bonfire.
To the parents from each class who assisted in so many ways: supplying soups and bread, laying and lighting lanterns, garnering greenery for the spiral, building the bonfire and coordinating the cleaning up afterwards, our heartfelt gratitude.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating Makuru, the walking of the Winter spiral with reverence and respect and coming together as a community. We hope you felt as nourished by the experience as we did.
You will receive notification of when the reports are ready for collection. Those not collected by parents from the office will be mailed out on the last day of term, so please ensure that the office has your correct postal details, and if in doubt, please phone or email us to confirm.
All families are to arrange to meet with the class teacher for an interview concerning your child's report. These interviews will take place in the first couple of weeks back in Term 3. Again, a link and the instructions on how to book an interview will be forwarded to parents this week. If you are unable to have a parent attend any of the scheduled slots, please get in touch and we will see what alternative can be arranged.
We have welcomed and will continue to welcome new families to our school this and next term. Please liaise with your class carers to assist in welcoming new families to our community.
We wish you all a restorative three week break with your families and look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday, July 18th.
Kind regards,
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 Loyalty? Loyalty is staying true to someone. It is standing up for something you believe in without wavering. It is being faithful to your family, country, school, friends or ideals - when the going gets tough as well as when things are good. When you are a loyal friend, even if someone disappoints you, you still hang in there with them. Loyalty is staying committed.
Why Practice it? You cannot count on disloyal people to stay friends, because when problems happen, they go away. They often change their minds about what they believe to be important. When you practice loyalty, people know they can count on you. People who are worthy of your loyalty can trust that they will never stand alone. With loyalty, you build friendships that last forever.
How do you practice it? You practice loyalty by committing to a person, or a belief. Choose your friends carefully, so you can be friends for a long time. If someone tries to use your loyalty for a bad purpose, or hurts you over and over, you need to decide if it feels right to go on being loyal. Stand up for your family and friends when others act unjustly. When you are loyal you are worthy of trust.
Signs of Success Congratulations! Your are practicing Loyalty when you...
- Stand up for people and ideas you believe in.
- Are a faithful friend through good times and bad.
- Don't allow loyalty to lead you into trouble.
- Don't let others come between you and your friends.
- Are loyal to yourself.
"A true friend loves you enough to support you and to confront you." Anonymous
Tuscan White Bean Soup in the Slow Cooker
With the wintery weather well upon us, we can think of nothing better than a warm soup to nourish tummies and add a lovely smell to the house whilst it's cooking! As such we would love to share with you a recipe from the book - The Waldorf School Book of Soups.
Tuscan White Bean Soup in the Slow Cooker
This recipe is basic and can be adjusted in any way you wish. The extra virgin olive oil is important. I like to cook the soup overnight then refrigerate it for a day. I then serve it that evening for more flavour.
1 cup onion, diced and sauteed in olive oil until soft
1 red or yellow capsicum, diced
2 small zucchini in small pieces
1 Tablespoon herbs of choice
1 large can white or other type beans, drained or 450g dried white beans, soaked and drained
grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for garnish
Put in slow cooker with 3 to 4 fresh chopped tomatoes or a large can of whole tomatoes. Add 6-8 cups of liquid to cooker - water, chicken broth, vegetable broth or a combination.
Add the beans to the pot. Add 2 to 3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and herbs. Cook 8 hours on high in slow cooker.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and serve.
Sweet Italian sausage or other meats may be cooked and added before serving.
Serves 6-8
Our Winter Solstice spiral ready for the children to walk
Banksia bright, shine your light
Through the dark of winter’s night
Wattle with your tiny suns
Warm our hearts ‘til Spring time comes
The Mid Winter Solstice, which falls on Tuesday 21st June in the Southern hemisphere is an important turning point in the year.
As we draw closer to the shortest day, night descends rapidly and the chill air sends us indoors for the warmth of a fire. Mornings are damp and misty, softening the sun’s rays which beckon us from the depth of deep winter slumber and bring a mood of mystery to our days. All around the golden wattle is blooming, bringing brightness to the landscape. At this time, we sense the yearly rhythm coming to an inner resting place. As the sun and earth become increasingly distant, nature retreats and the earth takes an in-breath.
Within the ground the plants are prepared and germinated in readiness for the springtime. Spiritual sun forces intensify. The earth is spiralling inwards and we too move inward. Our thinking life becomes more active as we draw ever closer towards the innermost point of the spiral, and we experience the possibility of reconnecting with the inner light of hope, penetrating life’s mysteries.
After experiencing the lantern walk and campfire at our Makuru Festival on the day of the solstice itself the kindergarten children will have an opportunity to walk a simple spiral of greenery laid out in our room. One by one, each child will walk to the centre of the spiral accompanied by the lyre (following the teachers example), take a golden star and place it around the spiral. We aim to create an atmosphere of reverence and the children experience the spiral walk purely through imitation.
Afterwards we will colour and cut a spiral and then make some delicious ‘Cheesy Scrolls' to accompany our vegetable soup for morning tea.
Wishing all our families a restful July holidays.
Warmly,
Denise
Our lantern walk
A man on horseback rode for three long days and three long nights to deliver a message to Class 1. He crossed the scorching deserts and dusty mining towns. He camped by billabongs and rivers and tried not to make a fuss, for he knew Class 1 was waiting, for what lay in his leather saddle box.
The trail was fairly flat and straight until one day it dipped. The horse leant down and picked up speed, soon reaching the safe earth at the bottom. They realised then they’d missed a turn and stumbled into an unknown secret valley. There were giant trees that towered over clouds, leaves dappled gold and silver. Ribboned rain fell down and mist crept in. The man and horse entranced. Time stood still and yet turned back in that ancient valley wonder. The horse walked on, then up and over. They both turned back to catch a last glance, but nothing could be seen… only fine specks of gold dust scattered on and around their feet. So, on they cantered and galloped to deliver a message for Class 1 just in time for morning lesson and just in time not to be seen by anyone.
This mysterious man on horseback has braved wild and woolly nights of late to deliver messages hidden in the four corners of our room. Each time offering opportunities to practice our letters and numbers and in the transition that we now make in reading our own writing. Since discovering the alphabet we gather in our hearth (Karlup) for stories of the dreaming, as well as, complementing our learning at Bush school with Noongar counting, colours and body parts.
Our Karlup and from the story of Kooba and Djer-djer (Red Robin and Blue Wren)
Thank you to the many can contributions from across the school, only four to go to make a full set of class stilts.
Recorder bags on the loom and our lanterns waiting to light up the night
In Class 2 we have been continuing with our Place Value main lesson. We have been counting and adding large numbers of gems and sticks by using the rules of Number Land to give order to our counting and our numerals. We are practicing trading games, number dictation, and the processes - addition, subtraction, divide and multiply - as well as lots of times tables practice! It's great to see the children master their recall with their times tables facts.
We had a wonderful day last Thursday learning about Columbia. It was amazing to see photos of Kevin and Ana's recent trip to Columbia, see photos of their family and learn a little about the culture and history of Columbia. Ana made the dough for the children to make arepas in class - a corn bread that is eaten for breakfast with butter and cheese - yum! And Ana had also very generously made Kevin's favourite - bunuelos. The children also really enjoyed eating these. It was a lovely morning - thanks Ana and Kevin.
The children have been busy making our winter lanterns and practicing our songs for the Winter Makuru Festival. Many thanks to Brooke, Ros and Theresa who have been helping the children construct our winter lanterns - this year we have used animals from the Fables to create our wax paper lanterns. The children were excited to test these in the classroom on a dark, rainy day and they look beautiful. It was great to put some of our broken crayon pieces to good use.
We have enjoyed more pet visits recently with Phoebe's guinea pigs staying for a day and receiving lots of cuddles and carrots! We also had a visit from my little dog Pippa, who loved the pats and was so exhausted by all the attention that she snoozed all through our craft session on Monday afternoon, while the children knitted away.
In handcraft the children have been practicing their knit and pearl stitch on their chickens and rainbow ball projects. The children are gradually finishing these and moving on to begin their knitted gnome - our big Class 2 project!
With the mid-winter solstice fast approaching, Class 3 had the fantastic opportunity to experience the way the Jewish culture celebrates at this time of the year. We had a visit from Mateo’s dad, who told us the story of the Maccabees and the way the courage of people in a time of great darkness provided hope for the future. It has been lovely to speak the Hebrew verse and light the Hanukkah candles for 8 days to celebrate this festival as a part of the Class 3 Ancient Hebrew Stories theme.
The Homes and Shelters main lesson in Class 3 is full of interesting facts and amazing creativity. People from all over the earth found ways of using the natural materials of their local environment to build shelters and homes for themselves.
We learned about how plants, reeds and grasses can be used by weaving, plaiting and bundling. In some places they are a plentiful material for making houses, round and square, floating on water or steady on stilts. Moveable homes such as Noongar Mia-mias, Inuit igloos, Native American tipi and Bedouin tents suit those with a nomadic lifestyle.
Mud, clay, earth and even cow dung can be used to make effective shelters and even whole villages. Stone can be hollowed out to make caves or collected and fitted together to make homes as big as castles that last for thousands of years.
We have found out the importance of having a home and that many places in the world do not have bathrooms, taps and electricity. This has been especially relevant this week as we acknowledge World Refugee Day.
We begin each day’s work with the following meditation;
Our Home
The earth is the home of all
Its ceiling the blue sky above.
Its floor is the ground on which we walk
A foundation of self love.
The sun warms our home in the daytime,
The moon and the stars light the night,
And over it all is a great wisdom
That helps us live in ways that are right.
And fashioned by great grace
From water, fire, air and earth,
A body becomes a house for each soul
To dwell in from time of birth.
The heart is the sun which warms our house
The stars are the lights in our mind,
And when in our deeds there is warmth and light
Spirit finds a home in humankind.
It is a bit sad to come to the completion of our Human and Animal Studies at the end of this term, our immersion has felt so rich! The students have finally finished their portraits of themselves with their favourite bird found in the Great Southern region, and have extended themselves by beginning beautiful tonal drawings of cormorants, eagles, frogs and kangaroos.
Class Four were also quite taken aback to receive a formal response from our principal, Jacqui Hamblin, in response to the persuasive texts they wrote about the need for the school to preserve the paperbark forest. Thanks so much to Jacqui for taking the time to write individualised responses to each student (with the school letterhead and envelopes with each student’s full title!) The process certainly created a lot of discussion, perhaps a little bit of awe at a new sense of their personal power, and it reassured the students the forest was in good hands!
We have continued to build on our collaborative learning skills, using inside-outside circles to stimulate class discussion. The end of term also had Class Four build on their presentation skills as each student gave a five minute talk on an animal of their choice. We learnt so much from each other and laughed at how long we could concentrate when we had the chance to listen to a variety of our peers instead of just our teachers! Our meditations have also continued on Friday mornings, and begun to include greater periods of silence and meditation on the breath as a way of creating a sense of home within each of us.
Thanks so much for everyone’s support over the term, especially Steve, our Class Carer, as he helps to co-ordinate the Winter Festival. Have we said it before? It is certainly true that it takes a village to raise a child...
Warmly,
Renee and Ashley
Light in the Dark
Class Five were pleased to bring their long awaited production of 'Death on the Nile' to an eager audience. It was a good way to cast off the shackles of covid restrictions and come together for an evening of fun and laughter.
The class wrote the first draft of this light treatment of a dark mythical tale from ancient Egypt. The students then participated in over eight redrafts and edits to the script, as well as being very hands on with the making of props, and painting of backdrops. Many ideas were pooled and workshopped on how to bring a theatrical rendering of the script to the stage.
Of course, there were many lines and cues to learn, as well. The students worked very hard, bringing all their cooperation, skills and passion to the production. The audience were delighted and enthralled by the kaleidoscopic scenes of sword fights, sorcery, intrigue, music, and dance. The popcorn was also a smash hit!
Big thank you to the audience for coming out on such a cold and wet night. Many thanks to Pamela and Evie for all your backstage assistance and support.
Well done Class Five!
I Find My Star
The wishes of the soul are springing.
The deeds of the will are thriving.
The fruits of the life are maturing.
I feel my destiny.
My destiny finds me.
I feel my star.
My star finds me.
I feel my goals in life.
My goals in life are finding me.
My soul and the great world are one.
Life grows more radiant about me.
Life grows more arduous for me.
Life grows more abundant within me.
RUDOLF STEINER
Presently Class 6 are undertaking the Human Fertility Main Lesson. Through a series of personal interviews and instruction the students are drawing upon shared experiences to foster their development as an adolescent. They have surveyed opportunities and challenges facing pre-teens in Australia through discussions and presentations of past and current cultural messages and images. The students have looked at initiations, stereotyping and the role communication, collaboration and relationships play in our development. We have had wonderful discussions and lots of fun initiating communication and collaboration through set tasks and challenges.
Bullying and bystander behavior is also a focus. Together we will discover the signs of puberty common to both boys and girls, which include the changes, that occur socially and physically and in the soul and intellect. The students receive a presentation of the organs and processes of the reproduction systems of both male and female. So far the children are learning a lot about themselves, their peers and are embracing the personal reflection.
We have certainly been busy with the Winter Festival. As this years torchbearers the children have been practicing the lighting ceremony and have taken on the responsibility with pride. They have had an active role in making the fire, the fire sticks, building fairy houses for the younger students and making their lanterns. The coming of age theme and right of passage as the torchbearers has worked in nicely with their current main lesson.
Thank you to Heather, Matthew, Carl Dusenberg and Mick Miller for your assistance in enabling the children to complete all their tasks. The children have been amazing!
The clever Class 5's with the fountain they made with Matthew in Gardening!
A friendly reminder to advise the office of any Family Participation Hours you have completed recently...
Many of you would have spent time helping with various aspects of the Winter Festival - soup making, setting up, cleaning up.
Hours can be entered via the Schoolzine app or if you're unsure how to do this please call the office.
Thanks and appreciation!
WA Health have provided free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) for each student and these have now been delivered to GHSS.
These free RATs will support our students to continue to attend school for face-to-face learning and will minimise disruption to their schooling. You will be able to test your child at home if they are feeling unwell. You can also use these RATs if your child is a close contact to enable them to test daily and continue to attend school, as long as they receive a negative result and remain asymptomatic.
Each student has 20 Rapid Antigen Tests for pick up allocated to them. Please would you come into the administration office to collect your child’s supply as soon as possible, if you have not done so already. We are not able to send these tests home with students in their school bags (students aged Karri Kinder to Class 2) but should you wish for another adult to pick up your child’s allocation this can be arranged. Please bring a bag with you for collection as each test is individually packaged.
If your child becomes symptomatic they should stay home and be tested for COVID-19. You should notify the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19. Refer to healthywa.wa.gov.au for information on close contact definition, testing and isolation requirements.
Thank you for your continued efforts in keeping our school COVID-19 safe.
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!
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