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30/11/2011 Silver Leaves Edition 266.pdf
Last Wednesday, a talk was offered regarding the upper primary years and the high school. It was good to see such a strong attendance by parents from a range of classes. One of the highlighted themes was the way the curriculum works to strengthen the will of the individual and that this becomes more evident as children reach the upper primary years and into the high school when children are seeking and receiving more independence. I saw evidence of this when I attended 2 events recently.
The first was the graduation assembly of the year 12 students at Perth Waldorf/Steiner School. A majority of the graduates had been together for more than 12 years, since kindergarten. They presented as very mature, grounded people, displaying no strong egotistical or cynical traits. One felt confident that they were ready for life’s challenge. The adults I spoke to were full of awe at the strength of character they exuded.
By having to complete the curriculum in its wholeness including doing all the academic subjects as well a range of the visual and practical arts the students had confronted work they may have preferred to avoid if they were not expected to study all areas. For example, the boys have become accomplished artists and all the girls can work with wood. The less academic have been given a full science education and the more academic have performed in plays and competed in sports. By having the same teacher and classmates for a number of years, they have worked through and worked with differences and difficulties to become stronger as a cohesive group who are able to deal with human relationships.
The second event was the Class 8 play, Macbeth. The same 14 year olds that visited our school last June and helped lay rocks for retaining walls and rendered our limestone walls, were on stage after only 3 week’s practice. The performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy was magnificent. With will and determination they had mastered a complex play in only a few weeks but the preparation for such a fine achievement had commenced in playgroup and kindergarten, all those years ago.
KALGOORLIE CAMP
This week the Explorers (Class 6/7) are away at camp in Kalgoorlie. They left early on Monday by train. We wish them well.
WELCOME APPOINTMENT
Hayley Spracklen has been appointed to the Community Development role in the school. The role focuses on school enrolments, fundraising, marketing and grants. By having one person giving significant attention to these important functions in our rapidly growing school we can continue to expand while maintaining the school’s focus on our core objective of delivering a high quality Steiner education in The Hills. Hayley has already laid a lot of groundwork by making contact with community groups and local papers leading to a range of articles being published in the last 6 months. Please offer her your support and goodwill in this new position.
Bruce Lee
Administrator