O’ Mother Nature, tis thy very being I bear within me as the essence of my will. This fiery power of will Shall steel my spirit impulses So that they conceive a sense of Self And I bear my Self in me.

                            PO Box 135  Yallingup 6282 (08) 9755 2230  www.yss.wa.edu.au 
                                                                                                      Issue 3       Week 9    Term 1      28th  March 2023

Upcoming Events Term 1

Tuesday 28th March

  • Class 6 Sailing #1 

Wednesday 29th March

  • Ice cream Roster: Caitlin T & Mandy E

Friday 31st March

  • C1-C6 Excursion to BREC to see Peter & the Wolf (More information to follow)

 

Wednesday 5th April

  • Ice Cream Roster: Rebecca B & Rikki W
  • C6 Sailing #2

Thursday 6th April 

  • Last day of term-full day

Monday 24th April

  • Staff PD

Tuesday 25th April

  • Public Holiday

Wednesday 26th April 

  • First day of term 2

Welcome

Dear Families,

                        As the term draws to a close, we bring the children’s attention to the Easter imagination and facilitate the opportunities for loving service, care and compassion. There is nothing more beautiful than sitting with a group of children crafting together, making gifts for others and engaging in dialogue. Busy, purposeful hands allow the opportunity for conversation and it has long been acknowledged that crafting spaces can provide welcome calm and respite for young and old. Bringing the impulse of Easter’s symbolic representation of rebirth with simple stories and songs amidst the busy classroom activities holds the children in a warm embrace of belonging.

This week the Class Sixes have the privilege of sailing out onto Geographe Bay, what a magical way to bring the curriculum to life…So many stories of sailors have fed the students imaginations over the years spent with us. Ropes, teamwork, respecting the power of the wind and sea is perfect for the children at this age.

I am very much looking forward to taking the whole primary cohort to Bunbury on Friday for the WA Ballet’s performance of Peter and the Wolf. The staff at BREC hold our students in special regard as they are notably highly receptive and appreciative of the arts. With other performances scheduled throughout the year we will be a returning audience. The cost of these excursions is covered by the school as we recognise the immense value of live performance.

Next week on Maundy Thursday we will hold a foot washing ceremony for the children in the school hall. Please join us if you have the time available, it is always a beautiful way to close the term. Details will follow on Schoolstream.

 

It is a pleasure to be in the position to enjoy the company of your wonderful children, each and every one!

Warm Regards,

Jacqui

School Tour

Last Friday saw the school welcome families interested in Steiner Education from around the region. It was a successful morning with around 18 interested parties attending. A quiet tour of the class rooms followed a lively Q&A with  refreshments.  

YSS would like to extend our gratitude to our wonderful P&F who stepped in to provide  a delicious morning tea for all.

Parent Meetings

Class 2 interviews are been held from Week 8 through to  week 10. 

Dolphin Room interviews will be held this week (9) and next week (10)

A letter outlining dates and times have been emailed to all Dolphin  Room and Class 2 parents/guardians. 

MIchaelmas Celebration.

As a whole school, we engaged in acts of service in the morning and games in the afternoon.

My part in the morning was hands dirty, strong muscles, digging! The children helped shift soil into the relocated raised beds as part of the Class 3 Veggie Garden. It was a stirling effort given the warm day, and a sprinkle from the hose relieved the flushed cheeks!

In the games, my group took part in balance activities, as a symbol of the very balanced time of the year, with equal day/night during the equinox. In partners we leaned against each other, regardless of height, weight or strength, finding our balance and trust in each other. Building upon foundational postures, we moved to more challenging balances, with lots of laughs!

Lisa

As a College we came up with a new way to celebrate all the elements of the Autumn Equinox,  Michaelmas.

I rise with the strength of Michael

Light of Sun

Radiance of Moon

Splendour of Fire

Swiftness of Wind

Depth of Sea

Stability of Earth

Firmness of Rock

Mi – cha – el !

Archangel of Autumn.

 

Personally I really enjoyed working in the garden with children from different classes, children I don’t know very well. As a group we dug trenches, moved rocks, made edges, moved and spread soil. The harmony this bought as they worked together filled my heart with joy. The will they all showed and the pleasure in giving was evident. Make sure to check out the front garden next time you are at school.

I carried this sense of working together to the games we did. Each game had a focus on helping each other to achieve a certain goal. This time I was lucky enough to see all the children in the school. This also filled my heart with warmth and joy.

A beautiful, crazy, harmonious day.

Ruth

A mother commented on how her child had returned home, ‘beaming’  on the day of our Michaelmas Festival. The next morning, I happened to see this same child, and still beaming, he began speaking of the day before and how much he loved working with Ruth on their garden project of ‘good deeds.’ He had just walked past the garden beds, which he helped to nurture the day before. I felt that this student had been intrinsically enriched by this experience and its reflection the following day.  This act of giving, which ultimately enhances the environment for all,  embraces the transformative through the Michaelic spirit of service.

I was engaged with a group of children working on enlivening the outdoor floorboards in the Class Two and Class Three area. Helping each other with care, and exceptional will  – which is a credit to all teachers, the children worked orange oil into the thirsty wood, transforming and uplifting the space. 

Marie 

 

The Fire Dragon

(a Michaelmas Story by Victoria Robertson 2023)

There was once a terrible Fire Dragon who roamed the Bibbulman lands, wreaking havoc all around. During the hot Birak and Bunuru seasons he would fly over the forests and coastal lands, spreading his flaming fire breath far and wide. Great old Marri and Karri trees were reduced to blackened stumps, and Yongka the kangaroo, Quenda the bandicoot and Koolbardi the magpie all fled before the heat and smoke of the fierce fire storm.

Brave fire fighters would try to tame the flames with their strong water swords, and sometimes managed to douse the dragon’s fire storm. But at other times the flames were so fast that they swept through homes and bush like great waves of sparks and left enormous destruction in their wake.

The animals had had enough and decided to tame the fire dragon once and for all. They agreed to gather together in a cool cave underground, just after yet another fire storm had swept through their bushland. The tree trunks were still smouldering, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of ash when they secretly met at dusk, scurrying from cover or flying in quickly through the desolate forest. Yongka came bounding through the ashes, Nyingarn the echidna waddled in, little Djer-djer the blue wren flitted into the cave, until all the animals were there.

‘What are we going to do?’ said grandfather Yonka. ‘Soon there will be nowhere for us animals to hide, and nothing to eat’

‘My nest has been destroyed, and I have nowhere to live’, said Ngwayir the possum.

‘One of us will need to go and talk to that bad dragon’, said Quenda.

‘Who will go?’, said Wetj the emu. ‘That dragon is very big and scary’

 All the animals looked down at their paws and claws and tails. They were all afraid of the dragon.

But suddenly a little voice piped up, ‘I will go!’

It was tiny little Nyoolboongur the honey possum.

‘You can’t go!’ said the other animals, ‘You’re far too small! We need someone strong and big to go and talk to the dragon’.

‘I may be tiny’, squeaked Nyoolboongur, ‘but I’m very brave. Just you wait and see!’

As there were no other animals who volunteered, it was decided that little honey possum would indeed go to talk to the dragon. He set off straight away, scurrying off through the ash carpet until he was covered in a thick white layer. He soon found the dragon having a little nap on top of a smouldering pile of logs, tired out from his latest attack.

Nyoolboongur stealthily climbed onto the dragon’s tail which was flung out away from the glowing embers and tiptoed carefully towards the great dragon’s head. He was so tiny that the dragon didn’t even notice him tickling along his scaly body. He slept on, snoring loudly with a great rumble. Finally, Nyoolboongur reached the dragon’s head and stuck his own head into an ear. He squeaked as loud as he could, and the dragon awoke with a start.

‘Who was that?’ he roared, annoyed at having been woken from his sleep.

‘It is I’, said possum, ‘The spirit of all possums that have ever lived.’

‘Where are you? I can’t see you!’ said the dragon.

‘I am here’, said Nyoolboongur, and scuttled onto the dragon’s enormous snout.  ‘I have come to punish you for all the damage you have done for so long.’

The dragon laughed. ‘What can a tiny little thing like you do to me? There is no creature greater than I!’

‘You may be big, but you’re not great!’, said possum. ‘I may be so before me, to haunt you and give you bad dreams for the rest of your life. You wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore, for fear of the nightmares coming back. Unless you mend your ways and undo all the bad things you have done for so many years’.

Now, if there was one thing that the dragon valued above all else, it was his sleep. Breathing fire storms and wreaking havoc takes a lot of energy, and he always looked forward to a nice, long, undisturbed nap after all his burning. Furthermore, it took a good long rest for his fire powers to rekindle while he slept. He didn’t much like the idea of not getting enough sleep.

‘I’m listening’, he said to possum. ‘What would it take for you and your cousins to leave me alone?’

‘Just promise us to not burn so widely and fiercely, but to use your fire for the good of everyone’, said possum. ‘Use it to help people keep warm during the cold Makuru months, and to open up the seeds in the Kambarang season. Kindle your fire in our hearts and minds, so that we may look after one another and care for the Earth.’

The Fire Dragon thought for a while, weighing up Nyoolboongur’s words. Finally he bowed his great head and said,

‘I promise to do as you ask. I will use my Fire to do good from now on’.

The dragon and the honey possum shook hands on their agreement, meaning, the dragon touched the tip of one of his massive claws to the possum’s puny paw. Then he went to sleep again with a sigh, while Nyoolboongur scuttled down to the ground as quick as he could, just in case the dragon changed his mind.

He made his way back to the cave where the other animals were waiting and told them all that had happened. The animals were overjoyed and prepared a great celebration in honour of Nyoolboongur who had been so courageous.

From that day on, the Fire Dragon only used his power for the good of all, helping with backburning during the cooler seasons, keeping people warm at night with his little fires, and helping the bush come back to life. The people and animals of the bush were so grateful for the changed Dragon that they made a special Fire Blessing to thank him.

FIRE BLESSING – a gift from Burnum Burnum

May the fire be in our thoughts.

Making them true, good and just.

May it protect us from the evil one.

May the fire be in our eyes;

May it open our eyes to share what is good in life.

We ask that the fire may protect us from what is not rightfully ours.

May the fire be on our lips, so that we may speak the truth in kindness; that we may serve and encourage others.

May it protect us from speaking evil.

May the fire be in our ears.

We pray that we may hear with a deep, deep listening so that we may hear the flow of water, and of all creation and the dreaming.

May we be protected from gossip and from things that harm and break down our family.

May the fire be in our arms and hands so that we may be of service and  build up love.

May the fire protect us from all violence.

May the fire be in ou-r whole being- in our legs and in our feet, enable us to walk the Earth with reverence and care; so that we may walk in the ways of goodness and truth and be protected from walking away from what is truth.

Human and Animal Class 4

Class Four is spending their days immersed under water as we continue our zoology journey with the Human and Animal. During this Main Lesson the children enrich their knowledge of the animal kingdom in relation to human beings. Humans are connected and supported by all four kingdoms. The physical form of the mineral, the life energy of the plant, the instinctive feelings of the animal and the power of thought, self-consciousness of the human.

The One Life

The Spirit sleeps in the mineral

Dreams in the plant

Stirs in the animal

Awakens in the human

Each human being is like a small world in the vast universe, all the laws and all the secrets of the world, is our connection to the sun, moon and the stars that light up our sky.

R. Steiner

Fruit Ice Cream Day Information

The ice cream volunteer roster  commences on Wednesday 8th Feb and goes for 9 weeks.

Please arrive at school by 12.15pm to allow time to set-up the table, ice-cream machine, cones & fruit, before eager children arrive at 12:45 pm

As well as giving our children a healthy treat made with 100% fruit, this is a fantastic fundraiser for our school, so I thank you all in advance for your time & effort in making this successful.

P&F request all families to fill out the form available via SchoolStream and return it to the office by the start of term.

The cost of an Ice-cream per term is $25 for primary school students & $20 for Kindy 5/6 students. (K4 students are not charged.)

The ice cream/soup payment form is available on SchoolStream.

Please contact Alice Leavy 0419 956 576 should you not be able to make your commitment to this roster. 

Community Notices (Please note – the events and views in these Community Notices are not sponsored by YSS and do not necessarily reflect the views of the School.)

CWA CRAFT WEEKEND

Yallingup Steiner School is delighted to host the annual CWA Dunsborough craft weekend. This craft program is packed with eight amazing artisans presenting sessions over the weekend. A time to learn, reflect, support and be together.

Embodying the sense of community, we would like to open up spaces in these classes to the women of our YSS community.

Victoria and I would love to see as many mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters and aunties from our school and wider community take part in this wonderful opportunity we have at our school.

Please forward your expressions of interest to ruth.bolton@yss.wa.edu.au and I will be able to forward you the registration and payment details. I will require this by the 15th of April 2023. I really look forward to crafting all together and creating wonderful pieces and memories.

Just a reminder that this is just for adults, the children can probably out craft us!!!!

Ruth Bolton

The Coffee Cabin

My name is Dale, I am the owner of Two Cracks Coffee. I’m excited to let you all know that The Coffee Cabin @ Yallingup Galleries is now up and running again.

Our opening times are from 7am-1pm every day.

Be sure to call in on your way past. We have loyalty cards available with every 6th coffee free.

Hope to meet you and serve you with a delicious coffee!

SECA -Community Support Request

 

https://mailchi.mp/dc340afab9b7/community-support-needed?e=de92d5da35

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We are now accepting enrolments for our 2025 Kindergarten program for 5-year-olds.