School Newsletter Term 3 Week 6
Kaya WCSS Community
It has been a week of much joy. The crisp, clear Djilba weather has brought classes outside again for play and learning. On Wednesday the children delighted in dressing as their favourite book characters for our Book Week parade and sharing their stories. Yesterday, we enjoyed a beautiful performance from our School Strings Orchestra of Classes 4 – 6 students and it was wonderful to see the development of their musicality over the years. Developing proficiency in a musical instrument requites dedication and practice and I encourage you to support your children in developing a regular practice routine so that they can really enjoy contributing to their orchestra lessons and experience the deep joy and satisfaction that playing music well can bring. This gift will be with them all their lives.
Thank you to the many parents who came along to our Curriculum Journey. We are always keen for our parents to develop their understanding of Steiner education and encourage you to make the most of the talks and workshops offered throughout the year. Please drop in to Yarning Circle at The Hub on Tuesday mornings after you have taken your children to classes and enjoy some delicious food and a conversation with us. We are happy to answer any questions and are always open to listening to suggestions.
Last term we commissioned a filmmaker to make a video of our school to give prospective parents some understanding of its unique characteristics and to share what a special place it is. We thought you might enjoy this video also. I hope the beautiful smiles of the children, so engaged and happy, brighten your day and that you also enjoying reading this newsletter to see what they have been up to over the past two weeks. Feel free to share the video with others.
May your week be lived with warmth of heart,
Jenny Dougan
SA/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 the Child, Michael Hedley Burton
ANNUAL SCHOOL SURVEY
As part of our continuous improvement process, we provide opportunities for all parents and staff (teaching & non-teaching) to contribute feedback relating to their views of the School across a wide range of areas.
The research is conducted by specialist education consultancy, MMG Education, who work with many schools across Australia.
Parents and caregivers will be invited to complete a survey over a two week period commencing on Friday September 2. Staff will also complete their survey during this period.
On Friday September 2, MMG Education will email you an invitation to participate in the review and provide you with confidential, secure access to the questionnaire.
To ensure confidentiality and to encourage frank and full expression of views:
- All responses will be de-identified
- The data will be reported back in aggregated form only
- All data collected by MMG Education will remain under its control and archived according to research protocols. The School will not be able to access it
At the conclusion of the research period, MMG Education will provide me with a report. I will then provide opportunities for members of the School community to receive feedback from the research.
If you have any questions regarding the project please contact me.
I look forward very much to the valuable contribution you will be making to this important project by completing your questionnaire.
Jenny Dougan
School Administrator/Principal
Farewell Message from Carolin
Auf Wiedersehen, Good Bye
Dear children, colleagues and parents, thank you for making my time at West Coast Steiner school special every day.
I have learned so much from you all and will never forget the great times we had over the past 15 years. I will treasure the memories, the good ones and the challenging ones. It was a pleasure to work with so many of you. It did help me to develop and grow in so many different ways.
Auf Wiedersehen means see you again. I guess that’s what I will do and skip the good bye.
And to all my lovely students, be who you are, you are fantastic exactly how you are!
What would I be without my students?
I will miss you all.
Carolin
From Administration
MSP - School Photos
School Photos will be taken on Tuesday 13 September by MSP.
Order envelopes (with ordering intstructions and your child's unique shoot key) will be sent home with your child on Monday August 29.
When you receive the ordering slip log on to www.msp.com.au and follow the prompts to place your order.
If you lose your shoot key, WCSS Reception will have a copy to quote back to you.
Online orders must be received by Sunday 25 September 2022.
Any orders received after this date will incur a $30.00 archive fee.
Extra envelopes are available at school Reception should you wish to order and/or pay via cash.
The Information Sheet below has further details and Reception is happy to help with any questions.
* Please ensure the school dress code is abided by (see handbook for further details).
DRESS CODE REMINDER - HATS AND SHOES
A reminder that with the warmer weather all students are required to wear a wide brimmed or bucket hat for outside acitvity. Children also need comfortable, practical shoes to be worn at all times outside the classroom.
LOST PROPERTY is overflowing once again with various good quality jackets, hats, jumpers, lunch containers and water bottles. Please take the time to have a look through and collect your child's items.
FAMILY COMMITMENT HOURS AVAILABLE
Volunteeers are always needed for the Parent Kiss'n'Drive area. Thirty minute morning and afternoon shifts are available. Please see Reception if you can help out.
We still require fence painting around the school this term. Please contact Audrey if you can assist in completing this job. E: financeofficer@wcss.wa.edu.au
There are also often sewing and craft jobs required in the kindergartens, (please talk with your Kindy Teacher), general gardening (See Chris) and preparation is starting for our Kambarang Fair (email WCSSCA).
Early Childhood
KINDERGARTEN SURVEY
All current Kindergarten families are strongly encouraged to participate in our Kindergarten Program Review. Our Kindergarten Programs changed significantly for 2022 and as such our Early Childhood Faculty are reviewing those changes. Your honest feedback would be very helpful in considering how the programs can be improved for 2023 and what our families' needs are. The survey takes about 2 minutes and will close on Monday August 29 at 5pm.
You can access the survey here.
Thank you to everyone who attended our Steiner Kindergarten Information Session and thank you to Sunflower Kindergraten Teacher, Sandy for presenting this informative talk.
The talk focussed on the way Steiner education meets the whole incarnating child; acknowledging body, soul and spirit and the importance of extended play in the early years. Play is the most important work of childhood, developing the sense of movement, imagination, creativity and resilience. Challenges to early childhood are rushed and harried lives, presenting too many choices, a lack of rhythm and routine and intellectualising children too early. Sandy spoke of the impact of screens, particularly television, the importance of social and emotional connection and that, above all, learning should be fun!
Recommended Reading : The Incarnating Child by Joan Salter.
Primary News
The Curriculum Journey
Thank you to all the parents who attended our annual Primary Curriculum Journey and thank you to our dedicated staff for creating an inspiring and inforamtive evening.
Book Week 2022
Being connected by stories is a central value of WCSS. From Playgroup to Class 6 everything we teach is through story, capturing child's imaginations and inspiring a lifelong love of learning! What a wonderful celebration of our love of stories our Book Week celebration was!
Congratulations to our very own WCSS student who won second place in the Children's Book Council (WA) Make Your Own Story Book Competition for her age group. The tale of Panther the Lost Guinea Pig will be on display in the library for a week or so so everyone can read it!
In Class 1 we have been working on our Fairy Tales of the World Main Lesson. Last week was spent immersing in the beautiful and haunting folktales of Japan. The stories follow an interesting structure, with depictions of morality that the children may not have experienced. The imagery is both wonderous and stunning in its portrayal of the stories; fairies with glorious, cascading, black hair and rose cheeks, in dream-like, hazy forests, rolling oceans and characters experiencing humanity, a happy ending never a guarantee.
Open Rendering is an experience for the children to enter into the full scope of their creativity. We take the opportunity of the 'hands' element of the day to let our creative juices flow in an unencumbered way, using a range of resources and materials to create or execute an idea/ rendering individually or with a friend/s. The children love this session and produce fantastic artwork and feats of engineering in this structured play environment. The session culminates with a group discussion about the creations, developing their oral language skills and sharing in their creativity.
We are also thoroughly enjoying having Sally, a Practicum student from Melbourne Rudolf Steiner College with us in Class 1.
Jayne Wylie
Keyen Teacher
Class 5 By their very nature children are seekers; they are desperately searching for meaning and relationship. Perhaps part of drama’s appeal for young people is that it offers—indeed, requires—actors to incorporate both meaning and relationship into their efforts. A successful class play relies upon the creation of a “concentrated community.” For the four weeks that we worked on our play, the players learnt to act in concert; i.e, they must not only acknowledge each other, they must both nourish, as well as be nourished by, each other. We learnt to genuinely respond to one another’s characters onstage. Every character was seen seen as a crucial part of an organic totality.
Class 5 successfully sung with this harmony and beauty throughout their performances. We all were connected by a golden thread. The end result was a joy and wonder to watch, a gift to each other and an offering to our community.
Ramneek Kaur
Maar Teacher
Class 6 Physics and Ancient Rome Main Lesson Books
Music News
Dear Parents,
Thank you to those who attended the Strings Assembly today and heard a "dress rehearsal" of the piece our orchestra will be performing at the ABODA Junior Orchestra Festival on Sunday September 11. Please note Class 4, 5 and 6 students need to arrive by 1.35pm to get ready to perform at 2.05 pm.
Encouraging students to practise at home for just a few sessions a week will increase their confidence leading up to this event.
The Orchestra Festival is a wonderful opportunity for our students to show you all the hard work they have done in learning their instruments in a positive and supportive environment. Details such as parking, audience costs and further information can be found below.
Cristina Filgueira
Strings Specialist
Woodwork Projects
Class 5 completed mallets.
Students in Class 6 used a cross cut saw to perform some maintenance of the school grounds. The saw was from a farm in Toodyay and was recently restored and sharpened. Students had to work with their will and rhythym, together pulling and pushing the saw to make the cut. Other students helped by holding the tree stable. Off cuts will be upcycled into treasure/jewellery boxes.
Yolanda Millar
Woodwork Teacher
One student in Class 6 chose as her free project to make three beautiful hand sawn coasters for her family to use.
WCSS Community Association
Dear Community,
We have lots of amazing events on at the moment.
A fundraising Sausage Sizzle will be held on Sunday October 16 and volunteers are required. Sign up here if you can donate an hour or two.
The Primary School Walkathon is happening on September 7, check your emails for sponsorship forms and details.
The school's annual Michaelmas Festival is now on Thursday September 22 and food servers are needed to help out.
Our biggest event of the year, the Kambarang Fair and Open Day is on October 29 and organisation is in progress. Keep an eye out for ways to sign up and help out. We do need every family to give some time to ensure the success of this event.
Finally, WCSSCA are hiring a new Shop Manager for a Term 4 start. See below for further details!
In community,
WCSSCA Committee
E: wcssca@wcss.wa.edu.au
Market Day Baking Roster
Check in with your Class Carer regarding the Market Day baking and serving roster.
Class 3 - 30th August
Class 5 - 6th September
Class 3 - 13th September
Class 5 - 20th September
Hot Lunch Wednesdays
All items are $4 with several weeks being fundraisers for classes. GF and vegetarian options are always available.
August 31 - Sausage Sizzle (BBQ)
September 7 - Nachos
September 14 - Sausage Sizzle (BBQ)
September 21 - Nachos
Golden Threads Shop Manager Position Available.
Term 4 Start.
The West Coast Steiner School Community Association is seeking someone to love and run the shop space whilst enjoying being a part of our fabulous school community. Hours are 8.00am - 10.30am weekday mornings. Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2.00pm - 3.30pm. Thursday 1.00pm - 2.30pm. Tuesday afternoon Golden Threads is closed. This is a paid position.
Duties include making hot drinks, ordering and pricing stock, daily takings sheets, cleaning/compliance of shop, maintaining an email account and social media account for the shop, keeping accurate records of stock purchased, reporting to WCSSCA.
Rewards include meeting a wide range of lovely people, getting to unpack boxes of toys, working at your child’s school, and having all school holidays off work.
Prior Barista or retail experience would be useful, however it is not essential. A one-day Barista course will be provided, as well as all training and ongoing support throughout Term 4.
Please email your resume and a cover letter by close of business Friday September 9 telling us a bit about why you think being Golden Threads Shop Manager is the job for you.
E: goldenthreadsperth@gmail.com.au.
If you have any questions about this position, please feel free to have a chat with Jane in the shop.
Community News
YARNING CIRCLE is on EVERY Tuesday in Term 3. Stop by the Hub at 8.45am for a cuppa and chat with Principal, Jenny Dougan and Deputy Principal, Vanessa Beesley. A delicious morning tea will be provided.
PARENT ENRICHMENT WORKSHOPS are being offered EVERY Tuesday in Term 3 commencing at 2.15pm. A WCSS Teacher will guide parents through an activity from the Steiner curriculum such as pastel drawing or wet on wet painting. RSVP is essential for planning purposes and workshops will not run without enough interest.
9440 1771 // reception@wcss.wa.edu.au
Try our Staff and Parent Choir which meets every Monday 3.10pm-3.50pm.
Coming Events
AUGUST
Weds 31: $4 Hot Lunch
SEPTEMBER
Fri 2: Class 3 Perth Mint Excursion; Class 4 Play (Parent Performance) 8.45am
Mon 5: School Tour 9.15am
Weds 7: Primary School Walkathon, $4 Hot Lunch
Sun 11: ABODA Junior Orchestra Festival, 1.35pm
Tues 13: School Photo Day
Weds 14: Class 4 Zoo Excursion, $4 Hot Lunch, Class 6 Play Performances 1.45pm & 6.00pm
Thurs 15: Class 6 Play Performances 9.00am & 6.00pm
Thurs 22: Michaelmas Festival 11.15am
SAVE THE DATE: Parent & Staff Sundowner, November 4, 7.00pm
WEEKLY
Staff and Parent Choir
Mondays 3.10pm
Yarning Circle
Tuesday 8.45am
Parent Enrichment Workshops
Tuesdays 2.15pm (RSVP Essential)
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
Tuesdays 1.00pm at The Hub
WA Anthroposophical Study Group
Mondays 7.30pm in the Staff Room