School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Kaya WCSS Community

Welcome to Djilba, the Noongar growing and birthing season which runs from August to September. Djilba heralds the explosion of the flowering season and the beautiful flowers in our school gardens are certainly starting to bloom. It is a very transitional season, with some very cold and clear days combining with warmer, rainy, windy days, mixing with the occasional sunny day too. And some days, you get a bit of everything! Despite the chilly weather, school has remained a vibrant, warm, and welcoming place as you will see by reading this newsletter. We thank the lovely parents who provided us with nourishing soups and all of those who support our Market Days.

We have been delighted to welcome David back from his period of leave and the children have enjoyed working with him again in Games. Next week, our Gungarra Kindy Teacher, Karen returns from her long service leave, and we look forward to welcoming her back too.

Class 4 entertained us today with an excellent play, Iduna and her Apples and we very much enjoyed their version of the Norse mythology. It is wonderful to see how much the children have grown in confidence from the previous year and there were some excellent performances. We are looking forward to more plays later this term.

Please do drop into our weekly Yarning Circle every Wednesday from 8.45am at the Hub and have a chat with the school leadership team. We love to hear about your suggestions and are very happy to answer any questions you may have. Be on the look out for our annual school survey which will be emailed to all parents next Friday. This is a chance to give feedback and make comments and we really value your input.

May your week be lived with gentleness and warmth of heart,

With warmth

Jenny Dougan

SA/Principal

From Administration

CURRICULUM JOURNEY DOOR PRIZE!

Have you reserved a place for the Curriculum Journey yet? As well as planning fun activities for parents to engage with the Steiner Curriculum and offering Family Committment Hours we are also giving away a unique and limited run WCSS Recipe Book to one lucky attendee. RSVP today and come along on September 13 to be in the running.

RSVP HERE

SAVE THE DATE - Book Week is coming! 

Stories are at the heart of the Steiner curriculum and so WCSS embraces Book Week each year. We appreciate your support this year as we celebrate Book Week 2023's theme of "Read, Grow, Inspire."  
Our Book Week Parade and Assembly will be held on Thursday August 24 to showcase our favourite book characters. Students are encouraged to design, construct and wear a costume to school. The chosen character should support our school values: there is beauty and goodness in the world, and we all play a role is preserving this. Please no movie or TV characters.
Making costumes together is more fun and sustainable than buying one, so now is a great time to get creative as a family! Family members are welcome to join us in dressing up.

Shining a Light On...

In order to ensure our policies and procedures are highly visible to parents/carers, we highlight a policy or important procedure in each newsletter. If you are interested in a specific policy check the Key Info Tab on the school website or email Reception to receive a copy. 

All WCSS policies are reviewed periodically and updated and/or amended guided by compliance and best practice and ratified by the School Council.

In this edition we highlight the Curriculum Planning and Evaluation Policy.

Background
Students and their needs are at the centre of curriculum planning. Schools design, plan and implement the curriculum to equip their students with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to complete their schooling and to make a successful transition to work, training or further education. Curriculum can be considered in broad terms, as all the arrangements a school makes for students’ development and learning. It encompasses course content and understandings, student learning activities, analysis and assessment of student progress, teaching approaches, the way in which lessons are organised and the use of facilities and resources. The planning and implementation of the curriculum is an ongoing process, subject to monitoring, evaluation and adaption.
Curriculum evaluation involves teachers and school leaders monitoring, recording, and reflecting on the
effectiveness of programmes, teaching strategies, resources, and teaching pedagogy in improving student learning and adjusting teaching and learning programmes to respond to student needs. Teachers are continually reflecting on key questions such as:
• What is working and needs to be maintained?
• What is not working and needs to be modified?
• Are there particular contexts and/or group/individual learning needs that are not being addressed?
• To what extent are the support and learning needs of students with disabilities and at-risk of educational failure being met?

Further information on the implementation of the Steiner curriculum at WCSS is provided in the flyer below.

Family Commitment Hours Opportunities

This newsletter section includes special Family Commitment Hours projects but there are many other ways to help out and claim hours including joining the WCSSCA Committee, gardening, volunteering at Golden Threads or the Library, monitoring Kiss 'n' Drive, baking for various events and attending talks on Steiner education. Voluntering at school provides many benefits beyond FCH.

WOODWORK

Class 1 requires a wooden, low woodwork bench, similar to the one pictured, that can accommodate two to four children working on their projects simultaneously. If you're interested in earning some commitment hours by building a bench for us, kindly contact me via email at kasia.rymarczyk@wcss.wa.edu.au for further information. 

PAINTING PROJECT

We are looking for someone to paint the back exterior wall facing the oval in our school palette. All materials are provided. If this is the job for you please contact Audrey - 9440 1771 / financeofficer@wcss.wa.edu.au

Rose Kindy Gazebo Refurbishment

This gazebo was made as a gift by a previous Class 6 and is overdue for some special attention. We are looking for a volunteer/s to sand, oil, paint and repair where necessary. Please email finance@wcss.wa.edu.au if you would like to do one or all of the above! 

Primary News

Class 1 are having a magnificent time in Ancient Fairy Land at the moment, each of the Main Lessons is brought to life by practical activity, drawing, writing and acting. Diving deeply into the plot of the Rumpelstiltskin story we have been learning about the oldest textile skill in the world, spinning of the wool. We always strive for the children to have firsthand experience but there aren’t too many humans in this modern world who can spin the wool in a traditional way and little green dwarfs such as the one from our story are certainly very hard to find. Fortunately, our kind and resourceful Handwork Teacher, Cheryl was able to invite her mum Kerry to demonstrate to the children this fundamental human skill that we have been doing since far back into the ancient past.

The stories told in the past couple of weeks inspired work such as weaving, carding wool, felting and even growing our silkworms. These useful objects of beauty take great care, skill, patience and the will to sit down every day to keep going. The work is a sensory delight, from the roughness of the wool to the visual rhythm of the weave, over and under.

Our class community had their first Lyre workshop which was enjoyed by all. Jude, our Lyre-making teacher was an absolute pleasure to be around. The sound of rasping was like music floating in the air and the community spirit was uplifting and moving.

Warm Regards,

Kasia Rymarczyk

Class 1/Keyen Teacher

Class 2 in form drawing have been discovering the 'star' as a mirror to their own physical form. We mapped our bodies using counting, direction, and movement, before creating these beautiful artworks in class. Students gather found natural objects and work in groups to create symmetrical patterns. Each group challenges the other to mirror their patterns and designs. 

Class 2 are also creating artwork in response to guided meditations. Here the students met with a sacred tree that invited them to gently hang all their worries. The tree will hold their worries for them while they play in the garden. 

Mel Lenzi Class 2/Koodjal Wednesday  Teacher

Class 3

Class 3 have chosen their instruments and had their first small group lessons and class lesson. They start with finger plucking before  learning how to use the bow.

Class 4

“Iduna and Her Apples”

Deep in the epic mythological stories of the Norsemen, Class 4  busily prepared for their annual Class Play. We went all out, and created our own swords and shields, Norse style, with the help of our resident carpenter (and dad), Jason From, which depict the bold and recognisable Celtic forms that adorn the ancient battle weapons. Students also created, their own Asgard backdrop scene thanks to the help of Mel, painted a cardboard Viking ship with assistance from Kylei and collaborated with Claire to choose costumes and props! It has been quite the team effort!

In drama we meet the world through acting/telling stories that hold strong imagination, rich colourful content, individual challenges and lively humour. Sharing a powerful story with the school community in performance gives us the experience of how we belong to the world.

By celebrating and acknowledging key human experiences and stories within a dramatic context, the child becomes owner of the content. The children develop soul courage – their new ego forces are strengthened within the security of the ensemble work, but also they develop resilience and ability by taking on responsibilities – living into their individual roles, ensemble work – trust – reliance.

This term we are developing ongoing skills in creative speech and drama as the students practise listening, observing, speaking, and use relevant movement gestures. They learn to play their own instruments of voice and gesture, learn about role, character and relationships in drama-play, employing speech, speech chorus, movement, song and music and work with drama in order to explore moral dilemmas, character building quests, tests of loyalty and challenges of betrayal, strivings towards truth, beauty and the good.

The Norse Myth “Iduna and her Apples” has been visited and explored in a previous Main Lesson and is a tale of deception and deceit, of Loki’s falsehoods and lies and how the Gods and Goddess of Asgard are in a constant feud with the Giants of Jotunheim!

Aimee Waller

Koodjal Koodjal/Class 4 Teacher

Class 5

Did you know that a single bee can pollinate up to 5000 flowers in just one day? Class 5 have been as busy as bees diving into the wonderful world of angiosperm (flowering plants). We have learned all about the parts of the flower and the incredible evolutionary tricks they use to attract pollinators. We visited the younger classes with handmade posters to help our schoolmates understand some simple things that we can all do to protect our most vulnerable pollinators, bees. We have filled the Performance Room with information sheets covering the A-Z of Noongar bush medicine. We were amazed by how many common ailments can be healed with local plant-based treatments. We have tasted a range of tropical fruits during Indonesian lessons, including bravely sampling the notoriously stinky but quite delicious durian fruit! And finally, we have written our own song to help us remember the differences between the two types of flowers, the Lily Family (Monocotyledons) and the Rose Family (Dicotyledons). Here are the words below, so you can all be ready to sing it with us at next week’s assembly! 

Elaine Meyer

Maar/Class 5 Teacher

Class 6   

In Class 6 students study physics for the first time and come to the subject with tremendous enthusiasm. Every phenomenon makes an impression; because they are so open to the world, everything is new, exciting, and interesting. Because their sense impressions are so strong and compelling, the students in Class 6 are content simply to observe the phenomena. In all our experiments, I have tried to harness and channel the students' capacity for experiencing the subject deeply and teach them how to school their sense impressions so that the conclusions they drew were sound and true. 

Music

Thank You for the Donations of Instruments

We have been very lucky at WCSS this year to get a donation of two instruments. Two families from Renee’s Class of 2022 have generously donated instruments that they are no longer using. From Holly we received a violin and from Max a cello. Both instruments are used by students who have forgotten their instrument, allowing them to join in more fully during rehearsals. The relief on a student's face when I tell them that I have a spare instrument that they may play is palpable and they are always very grateful. On behalf of the students of WCSS I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the two families for their generous donations!

Cristina Filgueira

Strings Specialist

Indonesian

Class 5 have pushed themselves out of their comfort zone in trying new Asian fruit flavours. 

They are learning about the markets in Indonesia, the bargaining procedure and describing various types of fruits. 

It was quite a colourful, mouthwatering and delicious way to explore these Asian fruits such as manggis (mangosteen)  papaya (pawpaw), buah naga (dragon fruit), nangka (jackfruit), duren (durian), belimbing (starfruit), mangga (mango) and salak (snake fruit/chip). 

Dear  Families,

Indonesia is celebrating its 78^th Independence Day on August 17 and we will be holding a cake stall on Tuesday, August 15 to raise funds for our Sister School in Bali.

Class 5 will be running the cake stall at Market Day and would appreciate any donations of healthy homebaked goods. 1 hour of FCH can be claimed for baking.

The Indonesian flag is red and white.  If possible, cakes or muffins could have those colours using natural ingredients only (berry juices, strawberries, cream, yoghurt button), but this is not essential.

Thank you for your support for our Languages programme.

SISTER SCHOOL VISIT

A big thank you to our most recent WCSS family who visited our Indonesian sister school,SD 1 Kekeran in Denpasar and delivered a lovely care package. If your family are planning a trip to Bali and would like to incoporate a visit contact our Languages Specialist, Viola at viola.sacher@wcss.wa.edu.au.

Viola Sacher

Indonesian Teacher

Handwork

Class 1 are finishing fabulous scarves knitting on their hand with a magic ball of wool that changes colour. And another beautiful recorder bag!

The start of fantastic granny squares to be crocheted by Class 3 and a terrific treasure pouch.  There is also more engineering with the crochet hook to create functional pockets for their pencil cases. 

Woodwork

In the woodwork room students are taught to look after and care for hand woodworking tools.  As part of this learning experience students are shown how old hand tools such as broken wide flat chisels can be restored to their original beauty and made functional again. 

Some of these tools are rare and hard to find, especially the very wide chisels. Handles that are broken can be replaced by other old handles in better condition, the final product resulting in a hand tool that is safe to use for many more years. 

WCSS Community Association

Dear Community,

Our Soup Days are over for another year. A big warm thank you to Damien and Claire and to everyone who volunteered their precious time to nurture our school community with yummy, nutritious soup during these cold winter days.

Our beautiful new Hub Garden is growing vigorously and that includes the weeds! Many hands, big or small, make light work so please come along for Weeding Wednesdays, to pull out a few weeds or clear away fallen sticks. Every Wednesday after school drop off, for as little or as long a time you can spare. Your time is claimable for Family Commitment Hours.

Stuck for gift ideas? Consider purchasing a gift voucher from the Golden Threads shop! There is a lovely selection of Waldorf inspired toys, natural skin care products, crystals, craft supplies and more.

WCSSCA pronounced “whiska”, is a parent and friends group that meets once a month to coordinate great events for the school, like Soup Day and Market Day and the Kambarang Fair and Open Day. Our goal is to create a strong sense of community and to raise money which goes back to the school to make it even better for our dear children. We always welcome new members, and the time and energy you put in is entirely flexible. If you would like to join us, you can find membership forms in the office and all hours are claimable for Family Commitment Hours.

With kindness and community,

Rachael

(Class 1 Parent)

SHOP NEWS

Introducing our new WCSS hoodies

These are available for pre order now! So much love goes into our beautiful school tie dye range, hand dyed and printed by a WCSS family company, Quick Tees WA. All one of a kind and so soft! Pop into the Hub and place a pre-order, or PM or email me at goldenthreadsperth@gmail.com

I just love seeing our bright and beautiful children throughout the school! 

Tie Dye School Hoodie $55

Tie Dye School Hats $25

Tie Dye School T-shirts $20

Sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 

Place your pre orders by August 16

Ayla

Golden Threads Manager

Sustainability

Blisterpack recycling is back at the Wasteless Pantry Bassendean. 

The WCSS Sustainability Group is now able to collect blister packs from the school community and drop them off to Bassendean on a roster basis. 

The little article below is the copy of the newsletter I recieved from the WLP Basso:

We are very excited to announce that we have a TRIAL box for recycling Medication Blister Packs!

Blister packs are a type of packaging made from a combination of plastic and aluminium, making them tricky to recycle; however, with a little effort they can be recycled through specialist recycling programs and given a new life.

You can recycle any brand of empty medicinal blister packs but do not bring in blister packs containing medicine. Unused medication can be taken to your local Pharmacy for correct disposal. Outer cardboard packaging can be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin.

Once collected, the material packaging is broken down and separated here in Australia. Plastics are cleaned and recycled into new products, while the metal is smelted and converted to new alloys.

So remember to collect your empty blister packs and bring them to our Recycling Hub along with your other recyclables!

Iris

This morning, on my way to work, I took a big bag of plastic lids to the local tip for recycling.  Thank you so much to all those taking the trouble to bring these to school and placing them in the bin.  May I ask that you do not add the following:
•    Wine caps (landfill, or take the plastic out, put them in an aluminum can and place in yellow bin)
•    Plastic strips that connect lids to the bottle (landfill)
•    Plastic lids that are palm size or bigger (yellow bin)
•    Metal bottle tops/lids (yellow bin)
•    bread twist ties (landfill)
•    elastic bands (landfill)
•    bits of plastic that aren’t lids!
Squeezy yoghurt lids are accepted.

Handy Tip: Make your own firelighter - Take lint from the dryer, add leftover wax from tealights and roll in paper (Who Gives a Crap? paper is good). Great for camping!

Vanessa B

Community News

Class 1 2023 Lyre Fundraising – Sockable

To help raise funds for our Lyre project, Class 1 has signed up to Sockable. Sockable is a small Australian owned business with a mighty mission to make a social impact. Follow the below link to the order page to view all the funky socks available. At checkout all you need to do is select the fundraiser from the drop down as West Coast Steiner School. Here’s to cosy cute tootsies!

https://sockable.com.au/socks

Coming Events

AUGUST

Tuesday August 15: School Tour 9.15am

Friday August 18: Kamabrang Fair Comittee Meeting 2.00pm

Thursday 24: Book Week Parade 9.00am

Monday 28: Pupil Free Day

For further Term Dates check the school website calendar.

WEEKLY

Market Day: Tuesdays 3.05pm

Craft Group: Thursdays 12.30pm at The Hub

Parent Study Group: Fridays 9.00am at The Hub or Library

Yarning Circle: Wednesdays 8.40am at The Hub

Parent and Staff Singing Circle: Wednesdays 3.15pm at the Picnic Tree

WA Anthroposophical Study Group: Mondays 7.30pm in the Staff Room

Golden Threads
Monday-Friday 8.00am-10.30am
Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri 2.00pm-3.30pm
Thursday 1.30pm - 3.00pm