I feel an unknown force fructify and, gaining strength, Give to me myself; I feel the life-seed ripen, And inner vision, full of light, is weaving on the power of self within.

                            PO Box 135  Yallingup 6282 (08) 9755 2230  www.yss.wa.edu.au 
                                                                                                      Issue 1           Week 5     Term 1      28th  February 2023

Upcoming Events Term 1

Monday 27th Feb

  • Swimming lessons commence C1-C6 

Tuesday 28th Feb

  • Swimming lessons  C1-C6

Wednesday 1st March

  • Swimming lessons  C1-C6
  • Ice Cream Roster Urska S & Alicia E

Thursday 2nd March 

  • Swimming lessons  C1-C6
  • C1 Parent Teacher Meeting 6pm-7:30pm.

Fridays 3rd March 

  • Swimming lessons  C1-C6

Monday 6th March

  • Labour Day Public Holiday 

Tuesday 7th March

  • C1-C6 Swimming Lessons

Wednesday 8th March

  • C1-C6 Swimming Lessons
  • Ice Cream Roster- Laila A & Emma K

Thursday 9th March

  • C1-C6 Swimming Lessons

Friday 10th March 

  • C1-C6 Swimming Lessons- Last day

 Wednesday 15th March

  • Ice Cream Roster- Carmen F & Philipa K

Tuesday 21st March

  • Autumn Equinox: In-house celebration.

 Wednesday 22nd March

  • Ice Cream Roster: Nikola P & Joanne D

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

Welcome

Welcome to the 2023 school year everyone! It is so nice to be in the company of our treasured students once again. The Class programmes appear incredibly rich and diverse, from my snapshots as I’ve had the pleasure of popping in and out of classrooms thus far. Our opportunity to come together as a staff in the first week of term was an enriching contribution to planning and preparation for the semester.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Yvonne Suares as class One teacher this year. The children are transitioning beautifully into her care and Yvonne’s addition to our College of Teachers is much valued.

Class Teacher Sonja Kelly has joined the Executive Committee for the next two terms, as a College representative, alongside Victoria Robertson for the remainder of term 1, to assist with and inform the administrative processes that are coordinated by myself as the Education Facilitator and Jane Huxley as the Business Manager.  These two rotational positions act as a conduit to and from the College of Teachers. The Collaborative approach adopted for the school’s management and leadership is an experience of developing mutual respect and building relationships that hold and foster transparency, dynamism and accountability in positive action.

In association with the Board, the School’s administration, educational operations and governance are well managed and overseen by a range of invested and specialised people.

The College of Teachers will continue to incorporate shared management ideas, as outlined by Rudolf Steiner, into the functioning of our school and continue to share the practicalities for you in subsequent Newsletters throughout the year.

This week the Primary students begin swimming lessons, a lovely opportunity also to simply enjoy a visit to the magical Geographe Bay each day. Please ensure you pack easy swimwear with good cover to ward off the cold and any stingers, also remember to apply sunscreen to your children’s skin before they come to school in the morning. Most importantly, please make sure any relevant Care Plans have been updated.

Best Wishes everyone,

Jacqui 

2023 Term Dates

Term One

Students: Monday Feb 6 -Thursday April 6

  • Public Holiday: Monday March 6

Term Two

Students:  Wednesday April 26- Friday June 23

  • Public Holidays: Monday June 5
  • Winter Festival: Wednesday June 21: Pupil Free Day-evening attendance

Term Three

Students: Monday July 17 – Wednesday September 20 (half day for students)

Term Four

Students: Monday October 9 – Wednesday December 13

  • Pupil Free Friday October 13-Open Day attendance

Open Day – Saturday October 14

Community School Health Nurse

Hello. I’d like to introduce myself and my role. My name is Jill Rogers and I am the Community School Health Nurse for Yallingup Steiner this year. School Health Nurses work with schools to promote healthy development and physical and emotional wellbeing. We are a good contact point for children and their families, providing information, assessments, health counselling, parenting support and referrals as needed. The service is free and confidential.

I am part of the Healthy Country Kids Child Development Team, alongside other School Health Nurses and Allied Health professionals, such as Speech therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Dietitian, Social Worker and an Enuresis Nurse.

Please find attached a “Kindy Talk Resource” link. Hopefully the information in here will help you and your family transition to kindy smoothly, and provide you with an abundance of great resources that you may require and find helpful throughout the year. 

I look forward to working within the Yallingup Steiner Community this year. 

Kindy Talk Resources (campaign-archive.com)

If you have any concerns about your child’s physical or emotional health and well-being, or growth and development, please contact me on 97536475 or email:

WACHS-SW.NaturalistePrimarySchoolNurses@health.wa.gov.au

School Fees

Thank you to all who have paid their school invoices. The early payment discount will end today. 

Many Thanks,

Jane Huxley

Carbunup Playgroup

We have started the year with five full groups and many lovely new families.

We welcome Mindy Meares who is taking the Wednesday group, and who also comes to my Monday group with little Freddy!

We also welcome the next generation of Steiner babies, with some YSS alumni continuing or starting their journey with us.  There are Sophie and Madeleine with their sons Hugo, Otis and Ari, as well as Bree with Zephyr and Kesta with Saffi.  Pictured are also two of the founders of our school, proud grandmas and continuing teachers at YSS, Annie Malcolm and Julie Vivian-Williams.  How wonderful to have this continuation of children coming through our school!

With the warmer weather, we have enjoyed some nice cooling water play, wool wet felting and doll’s clothes washing – all activities where we can have our hands (and in the case of our little ones, whole body) in water. 

Love, Victoria and Mindy

Kindy Gatherings

For the last three Thursday mornings, there has been an ‘open door’ held for parents and friends of the kindergartens and playgroups.

After settling the children with their play, we stood together for eurythmy. A little movement in the form of eurythmy- the artistic movement Rudolf Steiner gave us for speech and music- moving as a group in a circle, exploring the 6 directions of movement. Up, down, in, out, left and right.
Over a cup of tea, I presented the theme for the morning. Painting, drawing, wax modelling, craft in the Kindy and how this supports the children’s play.
All craft starts in the children’s first play in the garden with mud and water. We shared our experiences of the way our children play and what is essential-less is more- How to simplify and enrich the experiences we provide and facilitate, how do we do this in the kindergarten, what is an open-ended toy and how does it support the child’s education of themselves?
What is it to be conscious parents?
What are we discovering being on the journey with our children in a Steiner School?
There is so much information bombarding us on how to be the best possible parent, but can we be OK with being “good enough” parents?

The second morning’s theme was about the importance of rhythm in our day, our week, our year, our life. We are connected to cosmic rhythms, the sun with our day and night. Why is rhythm, one of the essential elements, supporting the nurturing of our children, along with good nutrition, warmth, sleep and love.
What is the rhythm in the Kindy day, week, the seasons? The 6 Noongar seasons, how do we acknowledge them? What festivals does the kindergarten celebrate? We shared some of our made-up home celebrations. We can create special celebrations for our own family e.g. a family wedding anniversary was described, a simple celebration: ‘i dress in my wedding dress, have a heart shaped cake and look through the photo album, how my young family enjoy this every year’.
We discussed challenging rhythms when parents separate and sharing how we are working with this personally and sharing supportive stories.

The third morning was filled with story time rituals, some gems of songs that help with transitional times e.g. good morning songs, pack away or getting dressed or settling for story time. We shared some of our stories we make up for our children at night “The adventures of Big Fish”… how to embellish and flesh out a story and bring colour.
We played with the kinder harp and talked about pentatonic music and ‘mood of the 5th’ that we use in the Kindy. What is circle time and why, how does circle support play the most important work in the Kindy.
Lastly I presented a short sequence of photos showing different types of play in the kindergarten, from travel play to expressing natural order to role play and experimental play, floor pay and imitation. We had many lively discussions and sharing’s.  We will share some of the songs so that they can be sung at home. We all left the last session feeling warm and happy.

I want to thank the people that came and their generosity of self, sharing their personal stories.

I would also like to thank Jacqui for her wise contributions and for helping settle the children.

Thank you,
Julie Vivien-Williams

Welcome to Class 1

On Monday morning, the first day of term was a special day for the Class 1 students.  After meeting in the Kindy Rainbow room, they walked through the beautiful archway created by students and teachers until they arrived at their classroom, where they were met by Donna and myself.  Each one was greeted with a handshake and a good morning before we started our first Main Lesson.  Everything was new to them but it didn’t take them long to follow our lead and join in with the activities. 

What a wonderful way to start their primary school year journey.

 Yvonne Class 1 Teacher

 

 

It was with tremendous pride that the kindergarten staff greeted the brand new Class 1 on their first day of their Primary school journey. The children always seem to have grown over the holidays and bring with them a sense of accomplishment and a recognition that something special is about to happen.

We thank the whole school community for the wonderful arch and the beautiful singing which led our children to their new ‘home’ with Yvonne. It was a joy to stand at the bottom of the steps and watch as the children made their way up to shake their teacher’s hand. The children, and our school community are very lucky to have such an accomplished and warm teacher in Yvonne. And of course, Yvonne is very lucky to be spending her days with this very special group of children.

Charlie & Karin

Kindy Teachers

 

Crafting in Term 1

With our Handwork teacher Annie taking a bit of a sabbatical this first term, only teaching two classes, I have taken on the Crafts programme for Classes 1, 2 and 5.

We have started the term in the two lower classes with lots of wet felting, which has been received with great gusto. The various projects will result in some beautiful handmade crystal pouches, rainbow butterflies and animals. I am looking forward to the rest of the term with these vibrant, enthusiastic groups of children!

In Class 5 we are busy sewing up a large wool felt Asian elephant, a project which has also been welcomed with enthusiasm by the children. The project is tailor-made for the Ancient Cultures main lesson theme of this year (and Ancient India specifically in Term 1), as well as the focus in handcrafts on toy making. It is a challenging pattern, with lots of separate pieces to stitch together, pipe cleaners to sew into trunks and tails, and legs to fill with sand and compacted wool. The children are taking the work in their stride, and are sewing with concentration and diligence. I will post some photos of the work in progress in the next newsletter.   

Warmly, Victoria

Spice Lesson

Class Five have been immersed in Ancient India in these first three weeks of term. This Main Lesson has focused on the rich story of the Ramayana and the children have developed an understanding of the culture, geography, history and stories of Ancient India through story and art. To complement this Main Lesson, the children had the opportunity to experience the smells and tastes of India through a Spice Lesson incursion with Sarina Kamini. We spent an hour smelling, touching and tasting a range of Indian spices. We learned how the different spices are like the elements of Earth and Fire and the different ways we experience them when combined together.

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.)

SECA -Community Support Request

 

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

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