School Newsletter Term 4 Week 8
Kaya WCSS Community
This week we celebrated the first week of Advent, preparation for the arrival of Christmas. The four weeks of Advent focus on the four Kingdoms of Nature. In Week One we acknowledge and give gratitude to the Mineral Kingdom. During the wonderful Class 1 play this week, the children showed awe for this special time of year, and we continue next week with an acknowledgement of the Plant Kingdom on Monday. The Advent candle will be lit as the children listen to a story, sing, and share verses as they bring their plant offerings to the Advent table. It is always such a beautiful moment to share with the children and their reverence is tangible.
Next week we have many musical performances throughout the Primary School by Classes 6, 3 and our Strings players and we hope you can come along and enjoy listening to your children and see how far they have come this year. We will be saying goodbye to our Kindy 5 students on Thursday, and it is also the final week for our Kindy 4 students. It is a busy and joyful time as we approach the end of our school year.
May we all continue to live with warmth of heart.
Jenny Dougan
SA/Principal
The waves of warmth
That strongly through the land are radiating, spreading,
Proclaim that we
To glorious, golden days of summer-sun are heading.
"Be filled with light!"
My spirit understands these words which Nature everywhere is showing.
"Let the thoughts take flight!"
My heart is told; "Be never earthbound but be always changing, growing!"
In the Light of the Child, Michael Hedley Burton
Join us on December 13 to farewell our graduating Class 6 and wish them well as they step into High School next year. All Primary classes perfom as a gift to the graduating class so please do save the date.
Blackboard Beauty
Advent Blackboard - The Performance Room.
Advent
For those in our community who mark Advent, the second Sunday of Advent is December 4.
Week 2 is the Plant Kingdom
In the second week the plant kingdom is honoured by adding little dried flowers, seeds and pine cones and greenery.
The second light of Advent is the light of the plants–Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.
For more information on Advent traditions check out our Blog.
From Administration
If you are looking for thoughtful, unique gift ideas we still have some copies of our very special West Coast Steiner School Recipe Book available from Reception or Golden Threads.
Early Childhood
Gumnut Kindergarten
Our Gumnut Kindergarten 4 are thoroughly enjoying their final few sessions before moving up to Kindergarten 5 next year. There was much creativity and excitement in their indoor and outdoor play today! Below is a link to Susan Laing's article "Creating a Peaceful and Meaningful Christmas" which has many beneficial tips for what can be a hectic and stressful time of year for many families.
Primary News
When Ramneek's son, Kyle returned to WCSS last week to visit we had three generations of buddies!
Class 1 have joyfully prepared, rehearsed and performed their very first school play, A Nature Story for Advent. The children were delighted to perform for the school and their families and share the excitement and joy of Advent.
Jayne Wylie
Class 1/Keyen Teacher
Class 2
It was so special to be able to hold our Celtic Dance this year, even if it was at a completely different time! Thank you to all who modelled for our children flexibility, resilience,
collaboration and trust in bringing this joyful celebration to fruition for our community. Special thanks to our Class 2 families who took on the organising of the event at such a busy time of the year and to our Class 2 performers!
Class 3
Hebrew Stories
Throughout the year Class 3 have focused on Hebrew culture, through bible stories and also through the festivals that are revered and celebrated during the Jewish year. The stories of the Old Testament form the treasury of sustenance for this year. These powerful stories bring with them an introduction to history and closely parallel the child’s own experiences. Each child is leaving behind the ‘paradise’ of early childhood and becoming more aware of good and evil.
This semester we have focused on the Jewish festivals, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, and later in the year we will learn about Hanukkah. Anthony, Zoe’s dad, dressed up in traditional Jewish clothing, offered up prayers to God, and Zoe and Shoshana shared apple dipped in honey; a traditional food eaten during Rosh Hashana. We made shelters in the playground during our sleepover, similar to the Jewish people who celebrate the festival of Sukkot; symbolizing God as the ultimate shelter.
A cherished and fun part of the curriculum was learning Hebrew dance. Class 3 learnt the English and Hebrew words to many Hebrew songs and dances, and enthusiastically stepped to the choreographed dance steps. Songs such as ‘Hava Nagila,’ ‘We Shall Tell You,’ and ‘Mayim’ are amongst our favorites. Hora Shalom, an Israeli dance group visited and taught us some more traditional songs. Everyone had so much fun!
The most exciting part of Term 4 was definitely our play! We practised our play, ‘Moses’ which told of the epic story of Moses, from when his mother placed him in a basket, to the parting of the red sea. We worked hard to design our set, chose, and created props, designed our costumes, learnt our lines, and worked on voice projection, movement, and character development. Our play revealed our skills in drama, music and dance and we had an absolute epic time! Class 3 absolutely loves plays!
Class 3 Garden
During Semester 2, Class 3 enjoyed creating several beautiful gardens! Thank you to Landcare Australia, who gave us a grant and Stirling Council, who gave us two vouchers. We have made a beautiful sanctuary where many vegetables have grown and have been harvested to make delicious recipes. Our native garden has thrived, as we cared for and studied bushtucker. Class 3 have built fences, shoveled soil, planted seedlings, made compost, built a scarecrow, and maintained the garden, all while learning lots and having fun. In addition, we have reduced our waste with our worm farm and, compost and have used the worm juice to feed the garden.
Aimee Waller
Class 3 Dambart Teacher
Class 4 Adventure Camp
Red tailed black cockatoos, tiny frogs, interesting insects, joeys in pouches and spectacular bush surrounds. A full moon, campfire music, pancakes, giggles from dormitories, dawn bush walks and splashing in creeks. Words of encouragement, truimphant smiles. courageous endeavours.
I will forever remember the special moments of connection and growth that I was priveleged to observe. We were blessed to have truly sensational helpers who allowed us to participate in such a successful time away. We send our love and gratitude to those who came along and helped our days flow.
Holly Peterson
Class 4/Koodjal Koodjal Teacher
German
Class 6 have been recreating a German Waldorf Advent Story as a gift for their Class 1 buddies.
Music News
As we race towards the end of the school year it is a good time to pause and reflect on the year that was in music. It has been a very busy year for us, despite some challenges and we are keeping going with events right until the end of term!
In Term 1 the Choir was very lucky to be invited to Caversham Wildlife Park to sing at an event for Harmony Week. The Choir sang beautifully and had a lot of fun seeing the animals, even getting to feed the kangaroos!
Term 2 found the Choir singing at the RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan) launch for our school. They sang Kalyakoorl, accompanied by some violists and cellists. Term 2 also brought with it the Winter Festival where a number of cellists played while the students and parents walked the spiral. The time and effort our young cellists put into helping to make the spiral an even more magical experience is certainly appreciated. The Choir also stepped in and sang beautifully for people entering and leaving the indoor spiral, as we were unable to use an outdoor spiral due to inclement weather. I was impressed by the way the students were able to hold themselves and sing beautifully while maintaining the proper reverence for the occasion.
Term 3 was very exciting for Class 3 who finally got to start learning a string instrument!
We also had a Choir Assembly where the Choir performed Rocky Mountain as a round, Friendship Canon in full and The Wellerman.
A bit later in the Term we had a Strings Assembly. Each class performed a piece and the Orchestra performed two pieces called Chinese Street Festival and Beyond the Thunder. The Orchestra sounded excellent in this performance, but they still had more to come! This year the West Coast Steiner School String Orchestra performed at the ABODA Orchestra Festival for the first time ever! We got to perform on a big stage and got really great feedback from both our audience and the adjudicators. The Orchestra had a great time performing Beyond the Thunder and Ice Mountain.
Back at school Class 5 learned about graphic scores and towards the end of the term wrote their own compositions, using graphic notation! These compositions, written and performed in groups looked and sounded fantastic!
Meanwhile Class 6 started working on their compositions. These compositions are the final theory based component of music at WCSS. The students have to draw on all the knowledge they have gained in music during their time at school to write a composition in ternary form.
This brings us to where we are now. Term 4 has been even busier than the other terms and shows no signs of slowing down.
Early in the term we had a Choir Assembly. The Choir performed “Chairs to Mend” a traditional round, based on street criers at the market. Their next song was Noongar Seasons which used body percussion during the chorus to create visual interest. Each class sang two verses and everybody joined in for the chorus. The assembly concluded with a beautiful performance of ‘The Nightwind’. Mirja from Class 6 played a violin solo and the Choir sang at times in unison, at times in harmony to bring the piece to life.
Class 6 finished their compositions in Term 4. They are currently on display at the back of the Class 6 classroom. If you have seen them I’m sure you will agree with me that there is some impressive work on display there.
Class 4 performed a string piece as part of their assembly in Term 4. ‘A Viking’s Tale’ portrayed the life of a viking, travelling the seas to explore different lands and even contained some warrior cries, which Class 4 performed very convincingly.
In Week 7 we finally had our Celtic Dance. Class 2 had many practices to make sure that they would do well on the day and the Orchestra did their best to make sure they knew their parts. We practised starting the pieces in different tempi, in case Cristina had to speed up or slow down to match the dancers. I’m sure everybody had a fantastic experience on the day!
With everything that has already happened one would think that we are about to run out of performances but there is more to come still!
In week 9 on Wednesday morning Class 3 will perform their very first string concert for their parents, to show them what they have learned in their first six months of strings lessons.
Class 6 will also be performing for their parents in week 9. This performance is a very special one, as Class 6 have been practising individually and in small groups on pieces that showcase everything they have learned since they started a string instrument in Class 3. Working in small groups has required the class to work in a team and use their time management skills and problem solving skills. It has been interesting for me to see how each group progressed from week to week. I love having the Class 3 concert and the Class 6 concert in the same week as it shows me how far the students have come in their time at WCSS!
All of that is not quite the end yet though. On Thursday of week 9 there will be one more performance by the Orchestra, our Advent Assembly. We first had this performance last year as a fun way to finish off the year. The Orchestra will be playing a variety of Christmas Carols and the audience is welcome to sing along. A program with lyrics will be provided on the day and it is sure to be fun for all!
I have had a wonderful year making music in a variety of ways with the students of WCSS and I am looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring!
Cristina Filgueira
Strings Specialist
Woodwork
Completed Class 6 Projects!
Library News
Thank you to all the wonderful people who pledged books at the Kambarang Fair. We have a collection of gorgeous books to add to our library thanks to your generosity. The children have been enjoying exploring these books during library time.
Many of the wonderfully creative children at the school have been writing and illustrating books of their own, perhaps inspired by Isla's example. The children from Class 2 in particular, have kindly allowed us to read and display their books. They have been immensely popular with all the classes and we encourage you to come in and have a look.
All library books are due back by Friday, December 2 to allow us to audit and organise the collection ready for next year. Could you please have a look around at home for any library books that may have been overlooked and place them in the returns basket before next Friday?
Many thanks,
Sally and Mary Anne
Handwork
Class 1 finished projects.
In Class 3 there are lots of granny squares being made for a secret project. The beanie and the granny square are made using the treble stitch.
When learning this stitch, the students make a square-ish shape. One student thought that would make a great pocket for a pencil case, the previous project. This student-led trend has continued and most students have made a pocket, stitching it on well so the pocket can keep things in it.
Class 5 completed socks!
WCSS Community Association
Dear Community,
We are holding our annual Christmas Markets after school on Wednesday December 14. School finishes at 12pm and a visit to the markets is a lovely way to end the school year. If you can help out on the day or would like to be a stallholder please contact Maria: mariadau@outlook.com. There will be a sausage sizzle and performances by the Staff and Parent Choir as well as other fun activities.
We have had feedback that some members of our comunity are still unsure who or what WCSSCA is! Please see below for an outline and nomination form :) We hope you can join us in 2023!
Warm regards
WCSS Committee
Employment Opportunities
Community News
WAAPA Summer School 2023
Join us at WAAPA in January 2023 for fun, new friends and lots of performing! This summer WAAPA is offering a range of performing arts courses as part of our school holiday program for secondary school students. Classes for young people from Year 7 to 12 in Acting, Dance, Screen performance, Jazz and Music Theatre means there is something for everyone with a passion for the arts. Our wonderful staff cater for all abilities and experience levels. For information about the many courses on offer please visit Summer School 2023 or contact Gabrielle Metcalf at explore.waapa@ecu.edu.au or 9370 6775.
Coming Events
DECEMBER
Monday 5: Class 6 Strings Recital 2.15pm
Wednesday 7: Class 3 Strings Performance for Parents 8.45am
Thursday 8: Strings Assembly (Advent) 8.45am at the Main Stage
Monday 12: Family Commitment Forms Due
Tuesday 13: Kindergarten 6 Crowning Ceremony 8.50am / Class 6 Graduation 6.30pm
Wednesday 14: School finishes 12pm / Christmas Market 12pm
Term Dates 2023
Term 1: February 1 - April 6
Term 2: April 26 – June 22
Term 3: July 17 – September 21
Term 4: October 9 – December 12
For further Term Dates check the school website calendar.
WEEKLY
Staff and Parent Choir: Mondays 3.15pm - 3.50pm
Market Days: Tuesday 3.05pm
Golden Threads
Monday-Friday 8.00am-10.30am
Mon, Weds, Fri 2.00pm-3.30pm
Thursday 1.30pm - 3.00pm
Craft Group
Mondays 12.30pm at The Hub
WA Anthroposophical Study Group
Mondays 7.30pm in the Staff Room