Bright the sun's gold rays are streaming;

Streaming fills my soul with light.

Light becomes a sword of radiance,

Radiance flashing in dark night.

Night is banished.  See Love's sun-rise,

Love's Sun rising, warm and bright.

Dear GHSS Families,

I had the pleasure of attending the Steiner Education Australia delegates meeting at Mount Barker Waldorf School in South Australia last weekend.  Robyn and I gathered with Steiner colleagues from across Australia and really enjoyed the opportunity to connect and learn from each other, as well as to hear about the strategic direction of our peak body and provide them with feedback on how they can support us to continue growing Steiner education.

GHSS High School! We have set a date for our information session on Class 7 for 2023!  We will meet in the Staffroom (depending on numbers) on Friday 9th Sept at 3.30pm for a 4pm start. Please ensure that you RSVP so we have an idea of numbers for catering purposes - https://goldenhill.schoolzineplus.com/form/60.  We would also love to hear the burning questions that you may have ahead of time, so we can address them through our presentation.  Feel free to spread the word to other families who are also negotiating the transition from primary to high school.  We are so excited to be able to share with others the amazing choice of a Steiner secondary education for the children of Denmark and the Great Southern. 

Healing Hut This long held vision of Elder, Eugene Eades, and teacher, Bruce Anthony, to create a bush classroom at GHSS has finally come to fruition.  After a well attended planning meeting a couple of weekends ago, Stage 1 of construction began last weekend.  Many thanks to the staff and families that attended.  They were truly blessed with glorious weather and were able to get the foundation completed.

Stage 2 is scheduled to take place on this coming weekend - Sunday, August 28th.  If you are available to lend a hand, then head along at 10am to be a part of this fabulous reconciliation project.

Book Week is upon us, so time to think of your favourite book character and recreate their likeness for our dress-up day on Friday.  Can't wait to see your fab creations at the assembly.

The Great Book Swap is also scheduled for Sunday the 28th.  As a culmination of Book Week, we will be selling secondhand books for a gold coin donation and all funds will go towards the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.  This not-for-profit group then uses the funds to purchase culturally appropriate books to distrubute to remote indigenous communities across Australia.

You can help by:

1.  Delivering book donations to Peppermint Cottage this week, before Friday morning.

2.  Coming along Friday and/or Sunday to purchase your next good read.

3.  Assist by taking donations on Friday or Sunday.

4.  Spread the word to your book-loving friends as this is a really worthy cause! 

Peppermint Cottage will be open Friday morning after Book Week Assembly, from 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, and from 10am-1pm on Sunday during the markets. 

I am looking forward to my soup for lunch from the Class 3 stall this Tuesday!  And can't wait to see Class 4's performance of the "The Curse of Ring" this Thursday evening, in the hall, from 6pm.  Now I must be away to plan my Book Week costume for Friday... see you at assembly!

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 Diligence? Diligence is working hard and doing the best job you possibly can.  When you are diligent, you take special care to do things step by step.  You think and move carefully to make sure things will turn out right.  Being diligent is being industrious, giving all you have to give to whatever you do.

Why Practice it? Without diligence, people act lazy and don't get much done.  They act as if what they do doesn't count, rush through it or just do the least amount possible.  Diligence helps you to get things done with excellence and enthusiasm.  Diligence leads to success.  When you are diligent about the things you do, people rely on you and trust you to give your best effort.

How do you practice it? You practice diligence by deciding what you can do and then giving it all you have to give.  You treat each action as important and do things carefully, one step at a time.  You don't rush through things.  You give them your full attention.  Diligence takes patience.  When you work hard, you can accomplish wonderful things.

Signs of Success Congratulations!  You are practicing Diligence when you...

• Pay attention to what you are doing.
• Do things carefully, step by step.
• Practice to the point of excellence.
• Give your absolute best to what you do.
• Work hard.
• Don't give up.

"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence."  Abigail Adams

This year Golden Hill Steiner is taking part in the Great Book Swap, to raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.  We are collecting books in good condition that can be sold to the school and wider communities for a gold coin donation.  The funds raised will be used by the Indigenous Literacy Fund to provide and create culturally appropriate books for remote indigenous communities.  This year ILF aims to raise $150,000 to gift 15,000 culturally relevant books to kids and families in remote Communities across Australia.

Golden Hill Steiner's Great Book Swap will begin during Book Week, with sales to the school community after our assembly on Friday 26th August and continuing after school, from 3-4pm.  We will also sell books to the wider community on that Sunday 28th August, during the Kwoorabup Market time. 

If you have books to donate, we will gladly collect them from next Monday, please drop them in at Peppermint Cottage.  If any parents are able to help with the sorting and selling of books, please let Melanie (Class 2 teacher) know.  There will be a lot to organise prior to the sale and plenty of support required on both that Friday and Sunday.  Details of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation are attached.

Class 1

Class 3

Class 4

Class 6

Djilba’s coming, djilba’s coming!

Birdies build your nests

Djiti djiti, brave koolbardi

Each one doing your best

As the weeks roll on and we glimpse the changes that herald a change of season, there is a growing awareness among the K6 children that there is a big change coming for them, too.  Although the start of Class One is still many months away, in Kindergarten we do begin, during the second semester, to take small steps to ease the transition.

This term the Class Five students have been visiting us each Monday afternoon to read stories to the kindergarten children.  It is a time eagerly awaited by the little ones as they welcome their future “buddies” to spend some time together.  At the beginning of next year, these are the students who will welcome the new Class Ones into the school at the Rose Ceremony.  We also hope having some familiar older friends in the playground next year whom they can look to if needed will assist them to feel more comfortable there.  The Class Five students have also been enjoying getting to know next year’s Class Ones, and it has been a trip down memory lane for those who attended Karri Kindergarten themselves.

This week by request of Class Five, they were able to spend a little longer with us and joined us in the Kindergarten garden.  Many thanks to our Class Five friends and their teacher, Lydia for taking the time to visit us, to read and play together.

Warmly,

Denise

In Class 2 we have finished our English main lesson - Stories of Saints and Heroes.  During this main lesson we have been practicing to read and write narratives using many new spelling patterns and sight words, as well as practicing the use of appropriate punctuation.  The children heard many stories about people from the past who have shown courage, healing, strength and compassion in the face of injustice, illness, uncertainty and danger.  These stories have included people from a variety of times and places including Sadako, Finn MacCool, Saint Francis, Saint Odelia, George and the Dragon, Pemulwuy and Vincent Lingarri.  We look forward to sharing our main lesson books with our class buddies and families soon.

This week we will launch into a new maths main lesson exploring Magic Numbers.  This main lesson explores the structure and relationships within numbers, and will extend our knowledge and skills of the times tables.  We will also practice mental arithmetic of number facts, and explore odd and even numbers, square numbers, magic squares and other number patterns. 

Most Class 2 children have completed their rainbow balls during craft and have mastered their pearl stitch, in order to begin knitting their gnomes.  They were very pleased to take home their rainbow balls last week to show families.

We have welcomed the change into Djilba with lots of practice of our spring time songs on lyre, recorder and lots of singing in preparation for the Spring Festival at the end of term.

Rehearsing and performing our class play 'Joseph the Dreamer' was lots of fun and we hope you enjoy the photos.

We then launched right into our Money Main Lesson.  But this main lesson is not just about how to make and spend money.  We have found out some of the interesting history and purpose of money.   

We have been investigating human qualities and moral concepts such as giving, sharing, trading, bartering, tricking/cheating, swapping, fair and unfair trades and swaps, goods and services.  This is all explored through stories, poems, discussions, activities and songs.

The Great Shell Swap saw us trading and bartering handfuls of shells with each other as we deliberated on the value and worth of our favourite shells and what would be swapped in a deal and which shells would not be traded at any cost!  Soon we learned that shells have really been used as a form of currency before.

The story and song of Stone Soup has been the inspiration for our Soup Stall.  We have been thinking about how growing produce, working to make the soup,  and collecting and counting the money are all part of a soup stall. 

But how is this different from giving soup to a family in need, sharing soup at the Winter Festival or the Denmark Soupy Community Kitchen?

Cooking up big pots of soup in the kitchen with Pamela has been lots of fun as we use garden produce and our measuring skills to work out many litres of soup are needed for each class in the school.  Chopping and frying and blending the vegetables into delicious soups has kept us busy.

Sorting the money, counting and adding and working out how to give change is sometimes a challenge and has given us the opportunity to really look at the notes and coins and hear about the Australian Mint in Canberra, which Maya recently visited with her family!

Class Five got lots of practice with Ancient Greek style Direct Democracy, voicing their ideas and opinions during the planning of their class sleepover.  The planning of meals and scheduling of activities were debated, decided upon, and came to fruition thanks to lots of hard work and participation from the students, and generous support from the parents.

The sleepover went smoothly.  It was lots of fun and a good dry run for our trip up to the Perth Waldorf School Greek Olympics.  

Olympic event training continues, with the students measuring, recording, and graphing their results, as we transition into our new maths main lesson of decimals and metrics.  We had more practice with metrics (costings and quantities) in the preparation of our Greek Feast last Thursday.  The students made Spanakopita triangles and honey soaked, Melomakarona biscuits, for their Greek Meze platters.  The cheesy pittas were the firm favourite, but the dolmades were not so popular.

The feast afforded us an opportunity to revise our topic knowledge of Greek mythology, as the students enthusiastically role played being in attendance as the god or goddess that they had studied for their individual research projects.  There was much merriment and laughter around the table as we reminisced about the glorious battles with the Titans, the Typhon, Echidna, and the hounds of Cerberus.

Due to popular demand many precious teddies were invited to join the sleepover.  Tegan would have been proud of the students’ first aid skills, as they patched up and cared for some of their well-loved and slightly worn-out old teds! 

Class 6 is in the midst of an Ancient Roman main lesson as they learn about the foundation of Rome from the story of Romulus and Remus.  Two brothers born to Rhea and Mars who should have followed the line of succession and become the natural Kings.  They were taken from their mother and fed to the River Tiber who cared for them, as did a she-wolf who raised them until a shepherd found them and reunited them with their grandfather Numitor.  Romulus and Remus battled it out and Romulus was granted the Kingdom of Rome.  There are many twists and turns in Roman Mythology.

This week we are continuing with Ancient Rome as we learn how it became a republic and by what method they formed a government.  We have also begun practicing our play, Roma Amor - a Roman love story, which we will perform at the end of term.

Sam is bringing a wonderful Physics main lesson to the class each Friday.  Through many experiments the children are learning about sound, light and warmth.  Rooms have been darkened and fires lit to expose and heighten the children’s senses.

With our class growing we have had to relearn new skills and have revisited our basic Bothmer gym rhythms.  It’s pleasing how quickly new students adjust with the support of the class and we are back and ready to introduce another layer.

It has been an exciting start of Term 3 with the commencement of our Physical Education program at Golden Hill.  I have been welcomed by children bringing excitement and energy to their classes each week.  It has been fantastic to see high participation and an eagerness to learn, even with the challenging winter weather and wet oval. 

During Term 3 Classes 1 - 3 have been focusing on their locomotion/movement skills and cooperative games.  A highlight so far was Capture the Flag last week.  Classes 4 to 6 are also focusing on locomotion skills and have begun their first focus sports including Soccer and Touch Rugby.

Warm Regards,

Sam 

Kaya Families,

Bush Classroom news update! 

It was a wonderful busy bee last weekend to create the foundation of our healing hut. 

With the fire circle lit and some songs from Bruce, a circle of eager diggers and helpful children made light work of the task.  

Before we knew it there was a beautiful flat circle for the foundation of our healing hut.

This project is such a great opportunity to spend time with other families, to feel a sense of belonging in our school community, and to connect with boodja. 

Thank you so much to everyone who came down and lent their muscle and good cheer to the project!  

We are now looking forward to the next stage - the building of the steel frame.

Mark your calendar!

**Sunday 28th August, 10am**

Come share a cuppa and join in!  Learn how these structures are built, hold a post up, or meet some new friends while sharing a cuppa and some cake.   

It will be a good day to wander about the school as there’s also the Indigenous Literacy Foundation Book Sale on at Peppermint Cottage. 

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the go fund me link for this project.   

https://gofund.me/e28fe904

Funding will make it more possible to cover the costs of having elders visit the hut, with the larger intention of the bush classroom to be a place of reconciliation and healing.  

Please share the link widely!

If you’d prefer to donate direct to the usual school account, be sure to note ‘bush classroom’ when depositing. 

Thank you so much to everyone for making this happen. 

Via Stidwell

for the Bush Classroom Committee. 

Here’s what the steel frame being built on this next busy bee will look like - photo from a hut being built at Nowanup.

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.

Hearty Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

2.5 Tablespoons butter

1 - 2 chopped onion(s)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

6 cups chicken stock or broth

3 tablespoons wild rice

2 cups coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms

2 tablespoons long grain white rice

1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves

1/4 tsp dried marjoram leaves

1/4 tsp black pepper

1.5 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup water

1-2 tsp finely chopped fresh chives for garnish (optional)

Combine the butter, onions, and parsley in a pot.  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring for 7-9 minutes, or until the onions are tender and golden but not browned; if necessary, lower the heat to prevent the onions from browning.  Stir in the stock and wild rice and bring the mixture to a boil.  Lower the heat and gently simmer the mixture, covered, for about 30 minutes.

Stir in the mushrooms, white rice, thyme, marjoram and pepper.  Continue simmering the mixture, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until the wild rice is cooked through but still slightly chewy.

In a small bowl, stir together the tomato paste and water until well blended; then add the mixture to the soup.  Continue simmering for about 10 minutes longer.  If desired, sprinkle the soup with chopped chives.

Serves 5-7

Primary school

Enrolments are now open for VacSwim swimming lessons during the 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

Secondary school

If your child has turned 14 years old, or will be turning 14 years in the same calendar year of the course, you can enrol them in VacSwim so they can get their Bronze Medallion during the summer school holidays.  They’ll learn advanced survival, rescue and resuscitation skills to help keep them and others safe in the water.

Enrol now at education.wa.edu.au/vacswim

Edward the Emu will be performed on the main stage at the Albany Entertainment Centre on Friday 2^nd September at 4:30pm.

Ticket prices are:

• $22.00 per person
• $80.00 Family (Admit 4:  2 adults + 2 kids)

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!