In spring's sunlit hour

My heart like a flower

Unfolds with great power.

And out into the joyful world

My feeling-forces are unfurled.

All things I love - fire, water, air,

The stones, the stars, the mighty sun,

Plants, creatures, people everywhere

For God is in them, every one.

Dear GHSS Families,

Spring Fair and Open Day  Our Spring Fair and Open Day is scheduled for Saturday November 19th, from 10am - 2pm, and we can't wait to showcase our wonderful school to the wider community.  Please mark the date in your calendar.  The success of the day will depend on as many families as possible helping out with the preparations, set and pack down and contributing time to serving on stalls or at activities on the day.  We will also need our fantastic kids to be a part of the day - performing songs and activities for the community, showing off their amazing talents!  

Please communicate with your class carers and fair committee members on how you can assist.  We will endeavour to get out a timetable of events as soon as possible so you can plan your day.

Swimming Lessons  Children from Classes 1 - 6 will be participating in swimming lessons from November 21 - 25 at ALAC.  As this is a part of our PE curriculum, all students will be asked to participate.  Any child who is not swimming will still need to attend ALAC with their class.  Forms will be sent home this week for parents to complete and return so that we can pass them on to the Swimming Class Supevisors for the creation of classes.  Thanks for your prompt response in completing and returning the forms.

Camps  Camping is a communal activity where many life skills can be taught and practiced.  School friends and classmates form a microcosm of their wider community, where learning to live harmoniously in close proximity with friends and neighbours is a noble aspiration and one we believe is worthy of our best efforts.

Learning to be away from home for these short periods prepares the ground for a time in the future where children will feel confident about stepping up to the challenges of life in a healthy way.

So many opportunities exist in the camp environment for the children to meet the ‘edge’ of themselves where they believe they have reached their limits.  Watching them reassess the extent of their capabilities is a great privilege for classmates and teachers.

Some of the skills and abilities we hope to develop over the years include:

• key survival and camping skills
• increasing levels of independence and fostering the capacity of our children
  to operate out of their own thinking and feeling.
• increasing levels of resilience
• a sense of co-operative endeavour in our students - the experience of many hands make light work and that work benefits the many, not just the individual.

After this week all of our classes will have been on camp for the year.  I hope you have enjoyed and will enjoy the articles in the newsletter summarising the wonderful experiences shared by all. 

Every Day Counts  Regular attendance at school is essential for a range of reasons.  When children are absent from school they can miss crucial content in lessons that can impact upon the foundational concepts on which future learning is built.  It can also impact upon their social relationships as they miss out on the connection that occurs while they are away and then find it difficult to fit back in on their return, which can increase anxiety about attending school.

As a general rule, an attendance rate of 90% or better should be the aim.  This amounts to no more than 20 days absent in a school year - which is a lot!  And yet we have a number of children who have missed more than that this year.

Please ensure that your child attends every day of school that they are able - it really is in their best interests.  That said...

When to Stay Away  There are times that children should remain home and that is when they  are sick.  Of course, if you kept your child home just because they have a runny nose they could miss an awful lot of school so it does come down to judgement.  However, these instances are definite causes for remaining home:

Fever - This is one symptom that automatically rules out school, no questions.  Your sick child should be fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours before you send them back to school.  Australian schools won’t administer over-the-counter fever-reduction medication, so it’s definitely worth keeping your child home, making sure they drink plenty of fluids and can recover from whatever they are battling.

Diarrhoea - This could be a sign of a viral infection, so it’s best to keep your child at home.  It’s also important to keep rehydrating them with an oral rehydrating solution when they have diarrhoea, and the best way to do that is by keeping them at home.

Vomiting - Aside from the fact that your child won’t be comfortable, they could vomit again.  Keep them home until they have gone 24 hours without throwing up.

Covid positive - If your child has symptoms please test them and if positive, keep them home for 5 days or whilst they are displaying symptoms.                       

Cough - A severe and persistent cough or anything that impacts your childs ability to breathe properly should be checked out by a doctor before attending school.

Things such as coughs, rashes, tummy aches and ear infections can be somewhat trickier - its best to trust your instincts.  If your child is lethargic and not themselves then it can be best to keep them home to monitor their health.

For more detailed information, follow this link to the comprehensive list of illnesses and infections and if they require being kept home from school or not.  

healthdirect-school-exclusion-periods.pdf 

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 Service? Service is giving to others and wanting to make a difference in their lives.  It is looking for ways to be helpful instead of waiting to be asked.  The needs of others are as important to you as your own.  When you work with a spirit of service, you give any job your best effort.  You make a real contribution.  People who want to be of service can change the world.

Why Practice it? Without service, no one would be there to help when someone needed help unless they were going to be paid or had some selfish motive.  With an attitude of service, we do our work with heart.  People feel our compassion.  When we are being of service, we accomplish everything that has to be done without anyone having to ask.  We give our best.

How do you practice it? When you want to be of service, watch to see what help people need.  Then do something to help.  Look for little ways to make life easier or happier for them.  When you work, do it in a spirit of service, giving it your very best.  You can serve the earth by not wasting things, re-using and recyling.  There are lots of wonderful things you can do to make a difference in the world.

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

• Want to make a difference in the world.
• Look for opportunities to be of service to others.
• Think of thoughtful things to do to help your family and friends.
• Work with enthusiasm.
• Don't wait to be asked when something needs doing.
• Do your part to care for the earth: recycle, reduce and re-use.

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."  Helen Keller

Interviews are being organised for Kindergarten in 2023.

If you would like your child to attend Karri Kindergarten please see Jody in the office to get an Enrolment Pack or email enrolments@goldenhill.wa.edu.au.

Our 5th annual Nowanup Camp for Bush Kindy and Bush School families took place over the weekend 21-23rd October.  A big thank you to Uncle Eugene Eades, Aunty Eliza Woods and her daughter Gillian Woods for their heartfelt cultural sharing and active contribution to the camp, and also to all the parents and staff who contributed to make it such a special occasion, yet again, for the Koolangka (Children). 

On Friday evening the rains eased off for us after a beautiful meal together, and we participated in a Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and the first instalment of the ‘Carers of Everything’ story-cycle.  Thank you to Uncle Noel Nannup for his permission to share these stories.

On Saturday morning after breakfast we listened to the next part of our Carers story, then Uncle Eugene led woodcraft activities for one group while others went with Aunty Eliza and Gillian to collect Youk (bush potatoes).  After lunch and some downtime, Uncle Eugene led a walk on Country for one group, while others went with Aunty Eliza and Gillian to the Waalitj (Wedge-tailed Eagle) Healing Hut at the top of the breakaway to learn some traditional dance movements.  After our annual sunset on the clifftop, followed by dinner, we had the final instalment of our Carers story, The Coming of the Colours.

On Sunday morning the campers were awakened by the announcement that big rain was coming in 15-20 minutes.  Everyone hurriedly packed down and were ready for breakfast by 7 o’clock.  After a final yarning circle around the fire and big tidy-up of the site, we departed Nowanup, some returning home to Denmark while others followed Aunty Eliza and Gillian 50kms up the road to visit Nightwell (see below).

It is so special to witness, and be part of, the children all being together on Boodja (Country) as one big Moort (family).  With a few older siblings and lots of younger ones, together with parents, grandparents and Elders, their is a special feeling of one big continuous family in which everything flows in an organic and natural way.  The Elders commented on how much it reminds them of their own childhoods growing up on the Reserve.  The value to children and parents of experiencing being one big Mob together on Country is impossible to quantify, but is perhaps best hinted at in the comment by one mum, “Why can’t we live like this all the time?”

To conclude our Family Camp at Nowanup this year, on Sunday morning several of the families paid a visit to Nightwell, a place of deep significance to local Noongar people.  Aunty Eliza Woods and her daughter Gillian shared their cultural stories of this extraordinary waterhole, while Bruce read the passage below from Ethel Hasell, one of the early settlers in the Jerramungup district.  It was a moving and peaceful way to end a weekend of cultural sharing and community celebration.

In spring 1878 Ethel Clifton married Albert Hassell and set off the same day with her new husband to travel 150 miles through the Chester Pass in the Stirling Ranges to a homestead at Jerramungup.  Along the way they camped at the sacred Noongar waterhole Kep-kai-wymburup (water come, water go), or Nightwell. 

"After leaving the Ranges, we drove all day over sand plains and low hills; the road the whole way was covered with wonderful wild flowers in masses of pink, yellow, white and blue.  The wild bush was flinging out her welcome to me bedecked with her floral wreaths, and rapidly weaving her spells which have never been really broken.

At last we came to our evening camping place:— The Night Well, one of Nature's wonders, alas no more, being destroyed by a party of ignorant surveyors.  Imagine as I saw it that early spring afternoon!  A large jumble of rocks near the bed of a branch of the Salt River coming in from the east; a pool of salt water and below the pool a cleft between two large sloping rocks.  When the river is in flood it flows over these rocks, and for a short time the water in this cleft was brackish, but it was drinkable, and not salt like the water in the river or the pool below.  When the river ceased to flow over the crack the water became quite fresh.  In the winter the water was often right up to the crack, but as soon as the hot weather set in, all the water went away in the day-time and returned again in the night.  When I got there at four o'clock in the afternoon, there was no water, not a gleam could be seen.  My husband said—"Wait till after sunset".  About half an hour after the sun had set, a rim of water appeared at the bottom of the crack like a moonbeam.  We let a billy down and got sufficient for our evening meal.  When it was finished we went again to the crack; the water had now risen so high that we were able to dip a bucket in and get sufficient for the horses.  By 9 o'clock it was up to the top, and I could have put my head down to drink had I so wished; so water was drawn for the morning meal and the horses.  I was so fascinated with this wonder that twice that night I got up and looked at it, but it did not overflow.

We rose at daybreak and about half an hour after sunrise the water had begun to fall, and when I looked at it just before starting it had fallen a foot.  I have visited this wonderful spring many times but it was always the same during the summer—no water in the day and plenty of a night. Unfortunately, some years ago, a party of surveyors were sent by the West Australian Government to survey and map out the country around this wonderful spring of fresh water.  After camping there about three months, and during that time their horses and camp had been supplied from this unfailing spring, orders were given to build a dam or catchment, but instead of doing this, the surveyor in charge decided to blast out the rocks, and in spite of the remonstrances of the settlers and carters who for many years used it, he did so.  The water disappeared, and nothing but dry rocks remained from what was the only recognised permanent fresh water on that road, and one of the most wonderful phenomena in nature."

from 'My Dusky Friends' by Ethel Hassell, written in the early 1900's

Oh golden sun, so shining  bright
Please warm us with your golden light
Let’s all join hands that there may flow
A stream of warmth and golden glow

How joyful to return for Term 4 to find our kindergarten grounds transformed.  Last term some of our parents worked hard to remove old playground equipment to make space for the new.

During the holidays James McClean from South Coast Nature Play built two new bridges across our waterway, a climbing structure / cubby to replace the old one and stepping poles and a wobble bridge too.

Our rope swing marri which was taken down last summer has been mulched and we have been busily spreading it over our playground.

Matthew our school gardener has also been busy establishing veggie beds in our main garden.  It looks fabulous!

Thank you so much to everyone involved.

Warm wishes,

Denise

While the end of Term 3 seems a long time ago now, it was wonderful to celebrate the coming of Kambarang/Maungeran and Spring, with song, dance and games.  A heartfelt thanks to our “Bush Band” and to those who joined us for the energetic Galopede.

Class 1 have begun this term with Mathematics – building on our experience of the four processes and developing an imagination for the invisible third number.  Every day the bag of Murgatroyd delivers challenges to be accepted, whereby we move and meet one another.  These are then pegged up on our class clothesline.

Examples of our Kid Writing efforts

We welcome Susanne Haussmann from Stuttgart, Germany and thank her for helping us create elements of our Advent Calendar in anticipation of December 1.  We hope that she enjoys her time in the South West and that memories from this time will inspire her in her own future teachings.

Thank you also to Bruce, the Bush School Staff and to all the volunteers who have helped to coordinate the Nowanup camp and catering.  Class 1 have been counting down the number of sleeps until camp (and to Donnie’s birthday!).

Lastly, our “hungry” and very talented hands have fashioned some beautiful hanging ornaments from our experiments with wet felting.  Be sure to come and have a look.  And I am proud to tell you that all of our recorders now have a home.

This term we have launched straight into preparing for our Class 2 play, retelling the ancient legend of Saint George and the Dragon.  Traditionally an Autumn time Michaelmas tale in the Northern Hemisphere, there is still much that it brings to us here in the Southern Hemisphere, even as we move into late Spring and Kambarang.  The image of Saint George taming the dragon with the sword of justice and courage, represents our inner courage to face our own fears. 

A celebration of strength and courage, of facing dragons both internal and external, Michaelmas is a great time to ponder our own inner dragons and to cultivate the courage and strength necessary for self-development.”  – Excerpt from “Waldorf Publications” newsletter

As we learn the script, we have been learning other tales and verses that explore and celebrate courage, fairness and justice.  There is a lot to learn and while there has been great excitement and some hilarity in our rehearsals, the performance itself will require the children to draw on their own courage and strength. 

Brave and true I will be

Each good deed sets me free

Each kind word makes me strong

I will fight for the right 

I will conquer the wrong!

Our performance is scheduled for next Tuesday morning, family invites will be sent home this week.

In other Class 2 adventures we have been enjoying the beautiful springtime flowers made into stunning art for all to enjoy.  We have also welcomed many hundreds of class pets - silk worms! These hatched recently from eggs from the silk worms we raised last year in Class 1.  If anyone in our school community would like some silk worms to raise, please contact me.

The children were excited for the bush school camp this weekend.  I was sad not to attend this year and look forward to hearing of their adventures this week.

Mel

In Class 3 we have started the term by getting straight into our Music Notation Main Lesson, where we follow the journey of two children to the magical musical island of Phonopolis.

Here the music of creation is everywhere to be heard and the story characters are helping the King's daughter to solve the problem of how to write music to share with others. 

At the Tower of Winds the children see the Golden Bird flying up and down to the tower windows, making different musical sounds.

From this we have learnt the notes on the stave EGBDF (Every Golden Bird Deserves Fruit) and FACE, and have been writing our own tunes to play on our recorders and lyres.

At the Prince's Percussion room the children in our story discover many ways to make music, including filling jars with water to show different pitch, and we have had fun experimenting with this too as we try different instruments and appreciate the variety of sounds they make.

We have enjoyed having Susanne from Germany joining us for lessons during the week and have been amazed by her crochet skills and grateful with her help with tuning our lyres.

Many of our crochet cushions are nearing completion with a great feeling of accomplishment and are a comfy addition to our chairs.  It is also really motivating for the rest of us to see what we are working towards.

Checking on our silkworms and providing fresh mulberry leaves is a lovely start to our days as we contemplate our poem.

Our Silkworm Poem

I am a silkworm brown and white.

I only eat mulberry leaves day and night.

I am a silkworm I wiggle and squirm,

But one day I’ll stop as you will soon learn.

When I’ve spun a cocoon I’ll look lifeless and still,

But growing and dreaming and changing I will…

One day I emerge, it won’t take long,

I’ll be a moth with wings like a silent song.

Such treasure I left you, see my silken thread.

I’m no longer with you -  I’m flying free instead.

It is all systems go in Class Four as we prepare to head off to Dryandra for our school camp!  We are really looking forward to spending time together connecting as a class, as well as exploring the biodiversity and sacred sites within the Dryandra woodland.

Our school camp compliments our previous main lessons of Human and Animal studies as well as Spirituality of the Dreaming.  We are also looking forward to applying our new mapping skills, stemming from the story of a new girl in class who could not stop floating up and out of her seat, and drew all her pictures from a bird’s eye view!  We then brought a bird’s eye view to our perspective of Golden Hill and rose courageously to the challenge of generating our own maps without support of standard school maps or satellite images!

With Ashley we have been delving into the History of Writing.  We traced back the very beginning of writing to ancient Sumerian, and made our very own clay tablets and wrote our initials in Cuneiform.  When we then searched for the origins of our own alphabet we discovered that some of the letters, like A and B, came from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics!  This mystery drew us deep into the desert and we are excited to announce that we have just unearthed the Rosetta Stone.  No code or cipher is safe from our enquiring minds!  Who knows what symbols or signs we may discover etched into Boyagin rock?

Be sure to watch this space ...!

Warmly,

Renee and Ashley

No living thing alone can be

It only exists in company

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It has been a delight to start the term with the second part of our Botany Main Lesson.  We studied the wonderful world of mycelium beneath the earth, in the season of Djeran, when marvellous specimens of fungi were plentiful.  With the on start of Kambarang we have had a plethora of tree blossoms and flowers to study in the beautiful grounds of our school.  

The students have been studying the incredible processes of fertilisation and germination, with special attention to the role of bees.  The theme of cooperation in nature has extended from the life forms underground to the airborne creatures, who work in unison with the plant world to bring us beautiful, life-giving blossoms and fruits.  We also read about the collaboration of each type of bee, all working for the common good, to sustain the life in the hive.  

We have started our Ukulele skills lesson this term.  We are learning the chords and some simple strumming patterns for 'Let It Be'.  The word play was not intentional, but the days do seem to be all about Bees!  We have also been exploring some nature-inspired verses and poems during our skills lessons, as well as revising mathematical processes with decimals.

Last week we did some form drawing revision, and also revised some freehand geometry challenges to get us prepared for our geometry main lesson.  The lesson starts in full swing this week and the students will discover how to use instruments to create more complex and accurate shapes and patterns.  This week we are also looking forward to a visit from local, native plant and bush care specialist, Diane Harwood, who has been working on regeneration projects, in and around Denmark, for over 20 years.  Obi is particularly excited, as Diane is his grandmother, and he is keen to show her his botanical bookwork and drawings.

On the first week of term Class 6 headed off on our camp.  We all had lots of fun and precious memories were made.  Many thanks to Carl Dusenberg and Jewels Auburn for joining us on camp.

On Monday 10^th of October Class 6 from Golden Hill Steiner School in Denmark W.A. left to go to the Nanga Bush Camp at Dwellingup.  The Nanga Bush Camp is a group of little cabins, dorms and activity areas, such as a climbing wall, and a shallow rocky river all set in the bush.  We were all delighted when we arrived and everyone hurried to his or her dorms.

Dinner was cooked in the girl’s dorm and eaten on a beautiful patio outdoor area.

On the second day we went orienteering and played archery tag with foam tipped arrows.  We were all quite tired that night and enjoyed a vegetable curry for dinner.  The third day was a trip to Pinjarra and a high ropes course.  Nearly the whole class chose the high ropes course as their favourite activity.  It was so much fun!

The river at Nanga was fully explored and everyone had lots of fun there.  After dinner lots of us participated in a giant games session with literally giant games!  On the fourth and final day everyone was sleepy and tired and we piled on the bus and headed home.  For lunch we stopped at Kojonup bakery and walked to the park to stretch our legs.  We then boarded the bus and eventually arrived back at school.

By Sophie Wybenga

On the 10^th of October our class left school for the Nanga Bush Camp in Dwellingup.  It was a long bus ride.  We stopped at Kojonup for morning tea and our next stop was Williams for lunch.  Soon we were at the camp!

We unpacked and settled into the dorms.  The boys and girls were separate.  The boys and Carl slept in the Hermitage Cottage and the girls with Robyn and Jewels slept in the Roundhouse.

The next morning we were up early and went down to a really cool river.  After that we went to Dare Adventures and did orienteering.  It was really fun.  We then had morning tea and then participated in archery tag, which was also fun!

Back at camp we prepared dinner to make a yummy vegetable curry and it was delicious!  That evening we played board games and then the boys left for their dorm and we all went to bed.

The next morning we could sleep in a little.  And so after breakfast we went to the river to explore.  That afternoon we did a high ropes course, which was really fun.  At the high ropes course there was lots of zip lines and obstacles.  That afternoon we were able to swing on the rope swing and played card games.  It was a really sunny afternoon.

The next morning we packed up and headed back to Denmark.  We stopped again at Kojonup and went to the bakery and the park.  We then travelled to Denmark and unloaded the bus and trailer.  Home at last!

By Violet Davidson

With spring in the air we would love to share with you a recipe from the book - The Waldorf School Book of Soups.

Minestrone Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups onion, chopped

5 medium cloves garlic, minced

1.5 tsp salt

1 stalk celery, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 medium capsicum, diced

1 small zucchini, diced

3-4 cups water (may need more)

2 cups tomato puree

1 to 1.5 cups chick peas or kidney beans, already cooked

1 cup pasta (any shape)

1-2 medium tomatoes, diced

0.5 cup fresh parsley, chopped

parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large pot.  Add the onion, garlic, and salt, and saute for about 5 minutes over medium heat.  Add the celery, carrot, oregano, basil and black pepper (black pepper optional to taste), and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

Add to this the capsicum, zucchini, tomato puree and water.  Let simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the cooked beans, and simmer 5 minutes more.

Bring the soup to a boil, add the pasta, and cook until the pasta is the consistency desired.

Stir in diced fresh tomatoes, top with parmesan  and parsley.  Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

TENNIS COACHING

Denmark Tennis Club Tennis Coaching is starting up again on Saturday, 15^th October 2022.  Note Saturday (not Sunday).

9:00 am starting time.

ALL kids welcome.

The course will go for 9 weeks and costs $100 per child.

This year we are holding a junior tournament on Sunday 4^th December and our coach, Nelson Stanborough, will prepare all of our students to participate in this tournament if they wish.

Come along on the day to register and play!  Bring your friends!  Looking forward to seeing you again.

Contact Joan Bonser:  Phone 0433 511 656  Email jbonser@iinet.net.au

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!