The silent strength of starlight's gleam Is filling my soul with new heavenly might. In darkness of winter, I woke from a dream Like a child from sleep in the middle of night. Now new hope is dawning-strong and supreme, And declaring, "Go forth out of darkness to light!" In the Light of a Child, Michael Hadley Burton
- Issue 14 • Week 9 • Term 3
- 10th September 2024
Upcoming Events Term 3
Monday 9th September
Tuesday 10th September
- Incursion C1-C6
- C2, 4 & 6 Strategic Planning Committe Meeting 3:30pm
- Class 6 Parent Meeting 4:20pm
Wednesday 11th September
- Soup Day: Serena & Molly
- Complimentary Yoga 5:30pm-6:30pm in Hall
Thursday 12th September
- Class 5 Greek Olympics Excursion
Friday 13th September
- Greek Olympics at PWS
Monday 16th September
Tuesday 17th September
Wednesday 18th September
- C1-C6 Spring Festival Walk 9:30-11am
- Kindergarten Spring Gatherings 2:30pm
- Last day of Term 3
Week 9
This afternoon primary students participated in a musical workshop led by Indigenous performers Gina Willliams and Guy Ghouse.
Our workshop song, Wanjoo written by Gina Williams, highlights the Noongar language of our South West corner of Western Australia.
Wanjoo, also known as The Welcome Song, invites us all to acknowledge each other in the spirit of genuine warmth and friendship; a wonderful message to share, spread and sing!
Wanjoo, wanjoo (Welcome, welcome)
Kwobodak koorda (Beautiful friends)
Wanjoo, wanjoo (Welcome, welcome)
Moorditj koorda (Strong friends)
Ngalak djerabin (We are happy)
Noonook djinaniny (To see you)
Ngalak warangka (We sing)
Wanjoo (Welcome)
Djiraly-ak (wanjoo) (From the north (welcome))
Koongal-ak (wanjoo) (From the south(welcome))
Boyal-ak (wanjoo) (From the east (welcome))
Marawar-ak (wanjoo) (From the west (welcome))
Ngalak djerabin (We are happy)
Noonook djinaniny (To see you)
Ngalak warangka (We sing)
Wanjoo (Welcome)
Words and Music – Gina Williams 2010
Wishing everyone a lovely end of term and a restful, relaxing school holiday break.
Hope to see many of you walking alongside us next week as we welcome each other and the beginning of Spring (Wednesday 18th September at 9:30am – Walking from Sugarloaf Rocks to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse).
Sincerely,
Rae-Lee (on behalf of the College of Teachers)
Strategic Planning & Community Consultation
Seeking Perspectives, Searching out Horizons
“If you have an ideal before you, at least under some circumstances, you can work in that direction.”
Steiner, Rudolf. Faculty Meetings. 23.I.1923, Stuttgart (GA 300c)
Dear parents and carers,
To support the YSS Strategic Planning Committee’s work to develop the 2026-2030 YSS Strategic Plan, facilitated consultation meetings are planned with each class parent group throughout Term 3 & 4, in 2024.
A Committee representative and a College representative will guide each class parent group through a 30-minute workshop exercise to enable each family to contribute ideas for strategic planning at YSS, as well as evaluate and identify priority items.
The collated contributions will be aggregated and considered by all members of College and the Strategic Planning Committee to inform the development of the YSS Strategic Plan 2026-2030.
Initial trends from the community consultation will be shared towards the end of Term 4, 2024 with the development of an updated Strategic Plan to continue next year.
Meetings will be held in the hall and times are detailed below. Class teachers will be in attendance to welcome you and take care of your children during these scheduled sessions.
Tuesday Sept. 10 3:30pm Classes 2, 4, 6
Thursday Sept. 12 2:00pm Kindergarten (Rainbow and Dolphin)
Tuesday Oct. 15 3:30pm Classes 1, 5
Thursday Oct. 31 3:30pm Class 3
Sincerely,
YSS Strategic Planning Committee (on behalf of the College of Teachers)
P&F Raffle
Congratulations to all the raffle winners and thank you to everyone who supported this initiative.
Prize 1 – Johnny Govan
Prize 2 – Luca Weiss
Prize 3 – Jethro Sercombe
Prize 4 – Inti Newen Briones
Prize 5 – Sarah Lawrence
Prize 6 – Maureen McManus
Prize 7 – Anne & Paul Boult
Prize 8 – Melissa Woodard
Sonja: Wellbeing
On Mondays, the kitchen transforms into a warm inviting space for children to come to throughout the day for food, craft and connect socially with their peers. By creating an extra artistic space where all children feel valued, they are more likely to engage in learning and maintain healthy social and emotional relationships.
‘Steiner emphasised the role of arts as a force for individual and social renewal. Therefore, the arts play a focal role in education and wellbeing.’
C4 Norse Mythology
Different stories are told to the children as they move through their years at school. Stories are not brought to the children as entertainment or motivation for the skills they will learn or practise for the day.
In the early years, archetypal characters were strong: Good overcomes evil and the individual striving against obstacles.
Animal fables reflected the difference in people’s characters and displayed the imbalance of moral characteristics like greed, pride, flippancy or slyness.
The inherent understandings (or morals) were not explained to the children, but rather left to sit and dawn at the appropriate time for the individual.
Rudolf Steiner encouraged teachers to construct and tell their own stories, particularly relating to everyday dramas. Short, colourful stories also help in the delivery of maths.
As we move through and past the 9-10year old change, myths and legends from various cultures are brought to the children. Currently we are immersed in Norse Mythology. The stories were all told by the poetic Edda, which itself is an ideal of beauty (like we will extend more on in Greek mythology in Class 5). The Edda is a tale sung by bards during the Viking era. The children feel a strong connection at this stage to the Vikings, with their PRIDE, BRAVERY, COMMITMENT, HARDWORK, NOBILITY, SKILLFULNESS, RISK, HONOUR etc etc etc. Every type of character can be found in the mythology but often the above qualities are paralleling the children’s experience at this age.
The morning handshake is firmer, voices are louder(!), laughter comes from the belly and concentration and effort (hopefully) intensifies. Individualities are becoming more apparent, and the children can struggle with social identity. Alliances can be fierce, battles arise and the risk of being shunned by a friend or dumped as the hero is real. There have been challenges, tears, discomfort (paralleled to icy cold fjords in a viking longship) but the children are learning to row in time to bring the ship across turbulent waters.
Our ship, our class is experiencing the Norse soul life with colour, drama, song, eurythmy, writing, poetry, visual arts and an excursion to a forge (see photos below). We are striving to be fearless as we move out of the early childhood into something new. The worst kind of death for a Norseman was a ‘straw death’. Whether a setback or a victory we continue to strive and learn. I am very grateful to share the learning journey with your children in this creative and dynamic way. The children were excellent visitors during today’s excursion. Thank you Julie, Donna, Paul and Jo.
Needful needful masterful sword
What blow it was that broke thee?
To shreds it shattered my shining steel
Now flames the fire round it’s fragments.
Hey ho, ho hey
Hey ho ho hey
Blow bellows brighten thy glow.
C6 Business Maths Main Lesson
Following their Business Maths Main Lesson, Class Six ran a cafe selling hot chocolate, teas and chai to students and teachers on Friday mornings to fundraise for homelessness services. Through this experience, the students could relate to the three uses of money: buy/sell, borrow/lend and give/receive. We decided to donate the $450 we raised to AccordWest as they provide services in our local region. On Friday, Simone from AccordWest came to speak to the boys about the ways in which their money will be used and to share some stories of the challenges faced by those families who are sleeping rough or couch surfing in our region. Simone answered their questions and they were able to get an understanding of that important third use of money, to give and receive.
Soup Day 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.)
