West Coast Steiner School eNewsletter

Coming Events

August

Tuesday 19: Class 3 & Class 4 Excursion, Sunflower Kindergarten Parent Meeting 2.00pm

Wednesday 20: School Tour 9.15am

Thursday 21: Book Week Celebration 8.45am

Friday 22: Class 1 Parent Meeting 1.00pm

Wednesday 27: Class 6 Play 8.30am

Friday 29: Class 6 Play 6.00pm

September

Thursday 4: Choir Assembly 8.45am, Class 3 Parent Meeting

Friday 5: Kite Festival

Monday 8: School Photos

Sunday 14: ABODA Junior Orchestra Festival Churchlands SHS 11.15am

Wednesday 17: WCSSCA Spring Flower Workshop 8.45am

Friday 19: Class 5 Greek Olympics at PWS/ Class 3 Sleep Over

Wednesday 24: Kindergarten Djilba Festival 8.35am - 11am

Thursday 25: Michealmas Festival; End of Term 3

Kaya WCSS Community

Dear Community,

Book Week Is Coming!

Who doesn’t love a good book—especially at this time of year, when the weather invites us to curl up under the covers and dive into a story? Next week, we celebrate the magic of reading with Book Week, and we can’t wait to share the joy across our school community.

Throughout the week, staff will be sharing their favourite reads during break times, sparking conversations and perhaps inspiring your child to discover a new literary treasure. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate storytelling, imagination, and the characters who stay with us long after the last page.

One of the highlights of the week will be our Book Week Parade on Thursday morning, just before assembly. We invite all students to come dressed as their favourite book character—whether it’s a brave adventurer, a mischievous animal, or a wise old wizard. Costumes don’t need to be elaborate; a touch of creativity and a nod to a beloved story is all it takes to bring a character to life.

Now’s the time to start chatting with your child about which character they’d love to become for the day. Whether you’re crafting something together at home or repurposing items from around the house, it’s a chance to celebrate books in a playful and memorable way.

We look forward to a week filled with stories, laughter, and a parade of literary magic. Thank you for helping us make Book Week a special celebration for all.

At West Coast Steiner School, we hold a deep commitment to nurturing the unfolding child in an environment that is calm, respectful, and free from unnecessary distractions. One of the subtle yet powerful ways we support this is through our approach to clothing.

Rather than adopting a uniform, we embrace a dress code rooted in common sense, simplicity, and reverence for childhood. We believe that clothing should allow children to move freely, play joyfully, and engage fully in their learning—without the pressures of fashion trends, advertising, or adult self-consciousness. We aim to preserve the innocence of childhood for as long as possible, and to help children feel comfortable, safe, and seen for who they truly are.

As part of this commitment, clothing worn to school must be tidy, modest, and suitable for all activities and weather conditions. Natural fibres, rainbow colours, and sun-safe designs are encouraged. Please exclude clothing with slogans, brand names, or motifs, that may distract from the learning environment.

To support your child’s independence at home, a lovely idea is to help children sort their clothing into a “school clothes” drawer and a “weekend clothes” drawer. This simple system can empower children to dress independently and appropriately for school. If organising drawers feels too ambitious, another helpful tip is to go through your child’s wardrobe together and mark the tags of school-appropriate clothes with an ‘S’ or a small dot using a texta. These small steps can make mornings smoother and reinforce your child’s understanding of what’s suitable for school.

Beginning this coming Monday, we will be gently reinforcing our dress code across Classes 1 to 6. If a child arrives at school in clothing that does not meet our guidelines, we will provide them with a suitable t-shirt or jumper to wear for the day. This will be done with kindness and discretion, and parents will be informed, and children can swap back their clothing at the end of the school day.

This process is not intended to shame or punish, but rather to uphold the values we share as a community. We trust that families will support this approach and continue to help their children dress in ways that honour the spirit of our school.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership in creating a learning environment that is thoughtful, beautiful, and respectful of the child’s journey.

With warmth,

Jacqui Hollingworth

School Administrator/Principal

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!

In the Light of a Child, Michael Hedley Burton

WCSS 30th Birthday Party

WCSS had a lovely birthday celebration on August 4 with party games, popcorn, hot chocolate, a school quiz, many more fun activities and cake of course! School Principal, Jacqui wrote a delightful story about our school which she told to the Kindergarten and Primary students. Thank you to all who contributed to making the celebration so joyful!

30th_Birthday_Story.pdf

Administration Matters

Keep Your Contact Details Up to Date

To support the health, safety, and wellbeing of all students, parents and carers need to ensure that their contact details are always up to date.

If you’ve recently changed any of the following, please contact Reception as soon as possible:

Phone number(s)
Email address
Emergency contacts
Medicare details
Medical conditions
Dietary requirements

Having accurate and current information is essential for us to communicate with you effectively and respond appropriately in the event of an emergency.

Thank you for helping us keep your child safe and supported at school.

Schoolzine Translator

Any communication WCSS sends via Schoolzine (including this newsletter) can be translated into 100+ languages. To use the translator just click the drop down at the top of each communication.

Steiner Spotlight - Steiner Voices XYZ

All the skills you learn along the way...
Z: Teachers

Anna Wetzel has brought many skills to her work at Warrah Specialist School. The school is part of the Warrah community, a Steiner-based disability service providing accommodation, supported employment, day services and a biodynamic farm at Dural on the outskirts of Sydney. Anna’s life journey has been a rich and fulfilling one, from a small town in Germany to being Principal of Australia’s only school for children with disabilities based on Steiner education.

Listen Here

Family Commitment Opportunities

WCSSCA Our Community Association (WCSSCA) is always on the look out for members. Joining WCSSCA means you will be in the loop to hear about happenings at WCSS and ways to help. You can also help out without joining WCSSCA - see their section below for current opportunities.

KISS AND DRIVE Volunteers are always needed to ensure Kiss 'n' Drive runs safely. Slots are available Monday-Friday 8.15am-8.45am and 2.55pm-3.25pm (Thursdays 2.05pm-2.35pm due to early finish). See Reception for more information.

GARDENING AND WEEDING WEDNESDAYS If you would like to help with gardening let our School Gardener, Chris know - we always have tidying, weeding etc that can be done during school hours. WCSSCA also have Weeding Wednesdays at the Hub from 8.45am-9.45am.

WCSS Community Association

The West Coast Steiner School Community Association sends a warm and heartfelt welcome to all our families. It was lovely to reconnect with our community at the morning tea on Monday. Our beautiful community shop, Golden Threads, is bursting at the seams with toys and gifts as well as delicious hot beverages, perfect for these cold wintery mornings. The baskets of generously donated second hand clothing are also overflowing with items looking for a new home. Come and chat, warm up and help us reduce landfill by giving some of the donated clothing a second life.

Golden Threads would like to advise that after maintaining the price of coffee, bath-bombs and icy poles for the past three years, they have had to increase these items by 50 cents due to increasing costs. Golden Threads strives to keep items at fair prices for our community and we are reminded that proceeds from sales at Golden Threads go back into the school through provision of equipment and services. We thank you for your understanding and continued support.

If you are looking for ways to meet your Family Commitment Hours, Golden Threads and Soup Day are needing volunteers.

Golden Threads: seeking volunteers for our stall at the Perth Waldorf School Open Day Fair on August 30. The following opportunities are available:

Packing stock for the fair in the Hub on Thursday 28th and/or Friday 29th August

Selling our beautiful items at the fair on Saturday 30th August

If you can assist, please text Ayla on 0401 954 708.

Soup Day: a big thank you to our Soup Day volunteers that come in each week. More volunteers are needed so that Soup Day can continue for our children each Wednesday to the end of August. Times available:

Prep time slot: 8.30 - 10.30am

Service/clean slot: 10.30 - 1.30pm

Please contact Laila on 0457 347 215 to register your availability.

Soup Day would normally finish on July 30, however the children are enjoying a warm and nourishing cup of soup. Let’s make this happen!

Warmest thanks,

WCSSCA

Term 3 Market Day Roster

August 19: Class 3

August 26: Class 2

September 2: Class 1

September 9: Ramneek

September 16: Class 3

September 23: Staff

*** Stallholder Opportunity ***

If you know someone who would like a stall at our annual Kambarang Fair & Open Day selling Steiner friendly wares email wcssca@wcss.wa.edu.au by Sept 1. Spaces are limited so feel free to share with your networks and/or express your interest today!

Parent Education

We highly recommend the next course offered in the Steiner Parent Education Initiative by Dr Lakshmi Prasanna. Remember to register for free and you can claim family commitment hours!

BOOK HERE

Early Childhood News

The Gungarra children have been embracing the joy of outdoor play as we journey from the wet and cold Makuru season into Djilba, the season of growth and first flowers. Rainy days have brought their own special magic - we have been layering up in warm clothes to play in the elements, splashing in puddles, playing in wet sand and experiencing the changing weather around us.

The children have been helping tend our garden with love and care. We have all been busy gathering fallen leaves for our compost, digging in the earth, and planting new plants to make our garden even more colourful. Our busy hands create a beautiful place for us to be, and for our small garden friends to live. It is heartening to witness the children creating shelters for caterpillars, worms, snails, and roly polies, and learning about kindness and care for all creatures.

One day the children showed me with excitement that a bird was visiting our garden to collect twigs, and we all watched as it flew away with some twigs in its beak. Yes, Djilba is here!

Thais Bolgueroni
Gungarra Kindergarten Teacher

Primary News

Book Week 2025

Stories are at the heart of the Steiner curriculum and so WCSS embraces Book Week each year. This year's theme is "Book an Adventure" and primary school students will celebrate at school on Thursday August 21 with a procession at 8.40am followed by an assembly in the Performance Room.

Costumes should be simple and homemade and the chosen character must support our school values: there is beauty and goodness in the world, and we all play a role is preserving this. Children should bring along a copy of the book.

No movie or TV characters and please be mindful of our youngest students.

Parents are welcome to stay for the procession... and are more than welcome to dress up! We encourage families to spend Book Week exploring the magic of reading at home, reading regularly to and with your children and sharing stories special to your family.

Class 1 Keyen

Counting Fun with Gems and Number Cards!

Class 1 has been busy engaging in exciting counting activities using colourful gems! They are not only practicing their counting skills but also creating their own number cards. This hands-on approach helps them learn number direction and group numbers effectively. These custom number cards will be valuable tools for counting as we explore the four basic math processes. It’s a fantastic way for our children to build a strong foundation in math while having fun!

Mel Lenzi
Class 1 Keyen Teacher

Class 4 Koodjal Koodjal

Over the past fortnight, Class 4 have enjoyed a rich series of hands-on experiences woven through our curriculum.

From dance lessons with Bibbulman yorga Bel Cox for our upcoming play, to weaving workshops with Noongar artist Sharyn Egan as part of our local bird study, to Norse-mythology inspired bread-weaving in support of our fractions main lesson, we have embraced imaginative, whole-body learning in the Steiner classroom.

Please enjoy these photos of us becoming the spirit birds of the Dreamtime, native birds crafting our own unique nests, and the dwarves of Svartalfheim - dividing strands of "golden thread" (bread) to weave hair for the goddess Sif!

Elaine Meyer

Class 4 Koodjal Koodjal Teacher

Class 6 Maar Keyen

Class 6 Musical: Alice in Wonderland

This term, Class 6 are proud to present a musical production of Alice in Wonderland, based on Lewis Carroll’s-treasured classic — also our novel study for Term 3.

Alice in Wonderland was first published in 1865. Lewis Carroll was actually the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Many say Charles' interest in occultism and Rosicrucianism (or ancient wisdom) is a literary artwork full of archetypal characters and includes the classic hero’s journey and symbolises the evolution of the human soul!

The story follows Alice, a curious young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a whimsical world filled with strange and magical creatures. Along the way, she meets a talking White Rabbit, the mischievous Cheshire Cat, a tea-loving Mad Hatter, and the temperamental Queen of Hearts. As she journeys through Wonderland, Alice tries to make sense of the topsy-turvy world around her — learning lessons about courage, identity, and growing up.

We are now fully immersed in rehearsals, working hard on songs, dance routines, stage presence, and voice projection. Behind the scenes, students are also busy designing and creating backdrops, props, and costumes to bring this fantastical world to life.

We can’t wait to showcase the creativity, teamwork, and talent of our students in this exciting production to all in our school community.

Location: West Coast Steiner School Performance Room

Wednesday August 27, 8:30am

Friday August 29, 8:30am

Friday August 29, 6:00pm

Free Event! Everyone Welcome!

Get ready to follow us down the rabbit hole!

Aimee Waller

Class 6 Maar Keyen Teacher

Games

Term 3 is a particularly exciting time for our Games classes as Class 5 prepare for the annual Greek Olympics. Later this term, Class 5 students from Steiner Schools across Western Australia will congregate and form new friendships while doing their best in many fields, including: javelin, discus, wrestling, running, relays, and chariot races. Discovering the hidden grace within each discipline and boldly cheering each other on are just as important as one’s individual results. We emphasise tracking our progress and competing against ourselves as the supreme metric to gauge success.

During our weekly Games sessions, we play a variety of physical activities that encourage students to communicate and work together to truly excel. Our games are grounded in thematic stories to immerse the students in structured play.
In the game of “Tusker” shown here in pictures, the great toothed mythical beast, Tusker, is trying to capture woodland creatures that nimbly try to avoid its ever-growing number of legs.
To be truly effective, the “it” players at the end holding the tusks must look in front and behind themselves while making plans with the “belly of the beast” so that they can stay connected. A favourite across many year groups, Tusker is easy to learn and difficult to master!

David Hammond

Specialist Games Teacher

Sustainability

Plastic Free Term 3

Thank you getting on board for Plastic Free Term 3. We hope you are enjoying the challenge and have had some insights and made interesting swaps.

Supermarket food brands to look out for that have swapped their packaging to paper are; Brownes Dairy milk cartons (the light brown ones are sugar cane); Five:Am Organic Yogurt (switched to paper tubs); and Nuffin Dips are in paper packaging.

If you know of any other brands that are doing things differently, or have nutritious easy snacks recipes to share or suggestions, send to Sustainability.Circle@hotmail.com, we’d love to hear them.

Save the planet (and money!) with these lunchbox ideas.

Bento boxes such as Yumbox and Planetbox are wrap free. They have compartments for different kinds of food, and, most importantly, silicone seals in the lid so that food stays where it should be, including sauces, dips and yoghurt.

Buy the large version of yoghurt, crackers, sultanas, etc., and decant into small containers:

Put yoghurt into a container for children to eat with a spoon. Great for fine motor skills in kindy and one way of recycling the yellow spoons that come with kiwifruit.
Reusable yoghurt pouches. Choice magazine (2022) recommends ChooMee, Little Mashies, Squooshies, and more. See https://www.choice.com.au/babies-and-kids/feeding-children/making-healthy-choices/articles/reusable-yoghurt-pouches They also estimate a saving of $150 a year!

*At the end of the week I stew any fruit that is not going to be eaten. Max,17, eats it either on its own or with plain yoghurt. It would be great to put in yoghurt pouches.

Seaweed - buy the large sheets of Nori (10 in pack) and include individual sheets in lunch boxes. Much cheaper too. $2.20 for 5g versus $4.00 for 25g (80c for 5g), and no wrapper, insert or desiccant.
Reusable silicone, zip lock bags (not the Kmart ones, they are difficult to close).
Beeswax wraps (wash in cold water).
Cotton canvas, plant-based lining sandwich wraps and snack bags. I like these as they can be washed in the machine or sink.
Juice boxes, link here. Good luck not spending lots of time on that site!

Terracycle Update

Thank you for taking part in the Skin Care and Oral Care Recycling Program. Unfortunately, Terracycle have closed both these FREE programs. Thanks to a wonderful community of recycling collectors, Terracycle have collected and recycled nearly 3 million units of oral care products since the program began! Skin and oral care products can be recycled at Terracycle through paid programs available on their website.

Don’t let this stop your recycling efforts! The majority of skin care packaging and toothpaste tubes have now switched to a HDPE material and many councils are accepting HDPE waste for recycling via kerbside services, your local council can be checked online at arl.org.au. Also, buying skin care product refills that can be kerbside recycled avoids extra packaging eg. pump lids that can’t be recycled and the plain lids can go to our Recycling Hub.

Alumni Focus

Congratulations to WCSS Alumni, Amelia Jordan!

IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing have announced their support of Amelia and her rally car partner, Kelly Thomas for the remainder of the 2025 rally season.

"Thomas and Jordan drive a Subaru Impreza WRX in the West Australian Rally Championship and have been progressing together, while gaining experience in tricky conditions in their home state.

As Western Australia’s only all-girl team competing in the 2025 series, they are working hard to rise up the leaderboard and represent the next generation of women in motorsport."

Read the full article via the link below.

Top team pledges support for emerging WA squad - RallySport Magazine

Parent Business Directory

Welcome to the section where we share information on WCSS family owned businesses. If you are an enrolled WCSS family, run a business and would like to promote this to our school community please send your details (a few sentences describing your business and contact details) to marketing@wcss.wa.edu.au

Cheesebuddy is an Australian made Brazilian cheese bread which is gluten free, versatile, delicious and owned and operated by a WCSS family! Cheesebuddy products are available at Woolworths, Costco, IGA, Farmer Jack’s and others. Chat with Yuri on 0402 730 490

Rhema Group is a WCSS family owned building and carpentry company specialising on all structural carpentry projects, from house framing to decks and patios. Contact WCSS kindergarten parent Sam on 0434 618 735/admin@rhemabuilding.com or visit their website to learn more.

Breathwork is a practice that relaxes your nervous system with the power of your own breath. Breathwork will bring you out of the fight and flight state, allowing you to find joy, peace and bliss. To learn more about breathwork contact WCSS kindergarten parent, Giulia on 0451 119 102.

Run by WCSS Woodwork Specialist, Yolanda Millar, Yol Creative provides workshops for anyone wanting to explore their artistic side. Great for team building activities, get togethers, birthdays or just if you would like to learn some skills and have some fun! Explore the Facebook Page for more info.

WCSS parent and author, Nicole Watts has a Bachelor of Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts. Nicole's book, Little Bundle of Sorrow, is a collection of women's stories of postnatal depression. Find out more at her website.

Community News

Weekly Events

Market Day: Tuesdays 3.05pm

Craft Group: Thursdays 12.45pm at The Hub

Yarning Circle: Wednesdays 8.40am at The Hub

Weeding Wednesday: Wednesday 8.45am - 9.45am

Golden Threads
Monday-Friday 8.00am - 10.30am
Mon, Weds, Fri 2.30pm - 3.30pm
Thursday 1.30pm - 3.00pm

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School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4