The children in Antoinette's group (pictured above) have been making and baking, listening to stories and going for walks. We use our imagination to create our play together, whilst we take care of our environment. Getting muddy is fun as we help in the garden. Making juice is one of our favourite things to do on the verandah. We love working and playing together and having lots of fun.

Craig d'Arcy
Preschool Coordinator

Carefully, the children make their way through the trees and across the grass, hoping to catch a glimpse of a spider, a fairy wren, an eagle or an eel. Soon they are immersed in still observation, drawing and writing about what they see – a rare moment of calm and immersion in the life of a 10-year-old. Each day, the drawings are more detailed and the descriptions more refined.

We discover that a cow’s hoof, a fish’s fin, a bird’s wing are all singularly suited to their task. In comparison, it astounds us ever again to notice how our hands are able to swim, knead, draw, play an instrument, climb, dig – the list is endless, really. How versatile humans are!
 
Our class, tucked away near the cows from next door, has enjoyed their bovine company and attention - their wet noses, their long eyelashes and their curling tongues, reaching for a sugar cane leaf.
 
The Class 4 child has inwardly crossed a threshold, experiencing, for the first time, a separation from others and from the world. Lesson content now needs sharper definition. By studying the animal world, the children are discovering how their own inner, and outer, uprightness affords them discernment and individualisation.
 
Next week, we are off to our Human and Animal camp. Equipped with drawing pads and colour pencils, we will be studiously observing and documenting all we can find climbing, slithering, swimming or running on K’gari (Fraser Island).

Anja Grapentin
Class 4 Teacher

​After a beautiful Winter Festival at Birdsong Kindy, the children have enjoyed a long rest and many adventures over the holidays, and have come back with a spring in their steps. At the end of last term we planted brown bulb babies into pots, and there was much delight as the returning Birdsong children were greeted with golden daffodils.

So far this term our stories and songs have been focused around ‘Winter in the Bush’, and each child has blanket stitched a wattle blossom cape to make their own gumnut forest friend.

Mother Earth, Sunny Sun and the Rain Dancers have all been helping our plants in the veggie patch to grow tall.  In the warm winter sunshine the children are harvesting beans, snow peas, and other yummy herbs and vegetables.
 
Kara Mallory
Kindergarten Assistant

​Congratulations to Year 10's rising soccer stars Daisy Scriven and Jade Kerry, who were recently selected to represent Football Gold Coast in their under 16 girls' team who traveled to Cairns to compete in the Queensland State Community Cup tournament.  The girls' team came second out of all regions in Queensland! 

Both girls started playing soccer at the age of seven and fell in love with the game, for its fun, freedom and fitness, and now train three to four times a week.  Daisy plays in the Brisbane Women's Premier League with her Gold Coast club, Broadbeach United, and Jade with her Lismore club, Liverpool.  Daisy, whose whole family have played for the Mullumbimby Football Club was also selected for trials for the professional pathway training program with the Queensland Academy of Sport.

Well done Daisy and Jade!

Magnum Brotto
PDHPE Teacher

The 11-year-old child learns fast, developing graceful agility in all endeavours, thus ushering in a ‘golden year’ of childhood. With a subtle balance in heart rate and breathing achieved, new neural pathways emerge.

This year, we have begun to deepen our learning into many of the subjects introduced in previous years. We have expanded fractions into decimals, dollars and percentages and approached science through the observation of natural phenomena. 

The thematic thread in 2019 has been the wisdom of the ancient Greeks. Whether through myth, history, mathematical knowledge or artistic pursuits, the quest for beauty and perfection has broadened the children’s scope and attitude towards learning, with artistic work embracing more individuality. We traced the influence of Ancient Greek on the English language and began to recite passages from the works of Homer. This was complimented in Eurythmy with Greek poetry and the representation of the Ancient Greek alphabet. 
 
After our sports carnival early this term, we began training for the Greek Olympics, which will include several other Steiner schools from our region. While some of the events will be similar to those of the athletics carnival, many of the techniques will be different, with an added emphasis on grace and beauty, in addition to speed and strength. Long jump will be done from a standing start and javelin introduced, along with discus. The students will also compete in wrestling, for which training has begun, with much enthusiasm (pictured above)! Our regular classes in Bothmer Gymnastics have also been building the students' strength, agility and coordination.

Our first main Lesson of Term 3 is a study of the Antarctic. Along with the fascinating animal forms and dramatic geography, the students were enthralled by the incredibly heroic journeys of Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott and Mawson. We have also done numerous experiments involving ice, salt and water, one of which involved measuring the temperature of ice in fresh water, compared to ice in salty water. While the fresh water was measured at two degrees celsius, the salty water plunged well below zero. We will conclude this fascinating main lesson with a project and an ice skating excursion.

The students are currently weaving , knitting and learning leather craft, and soon will begin to build and fire a Greek urn, a classic Class 5 project. We have also begun to learn the alto recorder and some fun pieces on our violins, violas, cellos and basses for a concert at the end of term.

William Keyte
Class 5 Teacher