Our Class 6 students recently completed the Yellow Lantern public speaking program, culminating in the presentation of their speeches last week - a wonderful display of courage, insight and humour. Yellow Lantern is a national provider of public speaking school programs and speaking clubs for kids, with an emphasis on positive self talk, empowered speech and celebrating personality.

There was a good variety of topics, from animal rights, climate change, bullying and the empowerment of women to model trains, making tiramisu, wave pools, and why we should not fear sharks. There were philosophical speeches about the power of friendship, the bridge between astronomy and astrology and why money can’t buy happiness.

This year, because of crowd restrictions, parents were unable to attend the speeches at school, but the event still carried enough excitement and anticipation to test the nerves of most of the students. They certainly rose to the occasion and presented beautifully written speeches. With thanks to Gemma West from Yellow Lantern who was the facilitator this year.

William Keyte
Class 6 Teacher

​Spaghetti Circus has been at the School this term for some fun skills-building workshops with our Primary classes. We also had Nash Campbell, from Byron Beez, providing basketball sessions which inspired lots of lunch-time ball play.

These additional sports experiences were funded by the federal government's Sporting Schools grant, which will be spent on swimming lessons in Term 4.

The Athletics Carnival results have now been finalised and I am pleased to announce that more than 30 records were broken from classes 4 to 11. Well done Shearwaters! Thanks also to the cheerleading group for their energetic opening of the event and to Year 12 student Bodhi Hallas, for gracefully sharing her experience and enthusiam with the Class 6 student cheerleaders.

In Term 4, Shearwater will participate in two regional sports activities, with tennis in Grafton in October and basketball in Coffs Harbour at the start of November.

Watch this space for more exciting news on the inaugural Shearwater Olympics 2021!

Wishing all our students, families and staff a happy and active school holidays.

Magnum Brotto
PDHPE Teacher

​​The Year 8 Personal Interest Project (PIP) is a six-month journey, providing students with the opportunity to delve into an area of interest, a passion or something they would simply like to learn. Students are encouraged to seek a mentor in the community to support them along the way, to provide feedback and to discuss ways of overcoming problems. In addition, students are required to journal their experience through writing, drawing or photography and to document their process, thoughts, feelings and struggles.
 
A significant part of the Personal Interest Project is the development of time management skills and creating realistic and achievable goals. For many students, their projects stimulate ideas and choices for future creative direction and career opportunities. This year, our students had additional barriers to overcome due to COVID-19 and the lockdown period, just when the PIPs were well underway. Many had to change course or redirect their topic to suit the ensuing restrictions. Another challenging concept for the students was the fact that parents, mentors and friends were not able to attend their presentations.
 
Regardless of these obstacles, the class put together an incredibly diverse, unique and artistic array of displays and their speeches were just as impressive. Projects ranged from documentaries to fishing lures, coding to fitting out a boat. Please take the time to look through the photos and congratulate Class 8 on their projects.

Lindel Gass & Rhys Edwards
Year 8 Guardians

​As the nine-year-old child begins to develop an awareness of the wider world and forms opinions and ideas on the way they see the world, we bring them into the development of mankind through farming, creation stories, deeds and misdeeds, human values and more.
 
In their third year of Primary School, the children work by using their hands to mould and form that which is within reach. Working with the elements to nurture seeds; watching them unfold into shoots and moving forward into blossoming and fruiting is fulfilling in their yearly cycle. Using the fruits to turn the harvest into a meal completes this and the children have made turmeric powder, planted wheat, cared for chickens and ducks, weeded and planted gardens, and enjoyed the citrus that grows around the School.

The use of wool, fleece, fabrics, clay, wood and wax allows the children to experience the development of home industry. The beautiful reality of creating something helps develop their sense of will and, with encouragement, they achieve to the best of their ability.

Stories of creation from around the world have allowed the children to see the world from different perspectives whilst noting the connections we all share in our history.

The children are currently writing their own newspaper called Dreams and Scenes, using their English skills to present an insight into their weekends and other events in their lives. This was inspired by our sister class who have been writing for some time, and we hope to move into other areas of classic newspaper writing soon, including a sports section and some advertising.

Class 3 have also been learning about the history of measurement, punctuation, times tables, Indonesian, Eurythmy, painting, form drawing, crochet, choir, the science of air and have begun their strings ensemble lessons.  Our days are full. They are busy with industry and as each day closes, we stand together in completion knowing there is always a new adventure beginning tomorrow.

Julie Marx
Class 3 Teacher

Last week, our Year 11 Drama and Entertainment Industry students, performed their production of The Woman in the Window by Alma De Groen to appreciative audiences of students from Years 9 to 11. Unfortunately we were unable to invite parents and the wider community to this year's event. But a film was made for parents, capturing the wonderful performances and stagecraft.

"We were very impressed by the students' interpretation of what is quite a complex play," said parent of one of the performers, Catherine Bartlett. "The staging, lighting and music were quite spectacular and Charlie and Flynn did an exceptional job on the lighting design.”
 
Kumari Ellis was another parent who wrote to express her delight at what she described as an “amazing performance". "I honestly was so impressed with the production, the set, the design, the lighting, the professional standard of the experience, and then the play itself. What a fabulous play! It really was profound. And all the more so for these times we find ourselves in.

“Everyone was exceptional. That they managed to learn and remember so many lines was incredible. It was a treat to go out and see great theatre so well done [and] also a timely reminder of how fortunate we are to live with free speech, to be able to write what we feel to, and all the rest.”
 
The production was an absolute pleasure to direct. I want to thank these talented students for their hard work and perseverance, and for their dedication to making the production a success. I also want to thank Flynn for being there after school so many times, and being so committed to making our technical dreams a reality.

I particularly want to thank Charlie Gill for all his work: designing the lights and vision and calling the show as stage manager, as well as the hours of work he put in after school and on weekends in order to make the show beautiful. Charlie is passionate about this work and has purchased his own lighting and vision equipment which he generously lent to the School for the performances. His participation in The Woman in the Window was invaluable.
 
April Galetti
Drama Coordinator

Sadly, Rosewood Cottage has had to shut its doors this term, due to COVID-19 restrictions. We were so lucky to have the first five weeks of the term to come together and deepen our connections. It was wonderful to see the children bonding and engaging more with each other in their play. I noticed parents seeking each other’s company more than ever, sharing support, warmth and laughter. We also enjoyed crafting whales, dolphins, kangaroos and brumbies out of the beautiful felt we made.

First thing in the morning, as the children arrive at Playgroup they head straight for the shelves and baskets. Here we see self-initiated play at its best, with its quality of attentiveness and the absence of premeditated purpose or set goals.

Self-initiated play is how the young child makes sense of, and processes experiences from, everyday life. It activates an inner mobility, particularly if we are using ‘open-ended’ toys such as cloth, rocks and sticks. It is deeply satisfying and empowering. Allowing children the time and space to experience the sense of wonder and deep nurturing that quality play can bring, is one of the keys to healthy childhood development, and something that is being lost amid the busyness of modern family life.

In Term 3, the children have been full of spring energy and enjoying exploring their physical strength. Gardener Renate had many helping hands with the mulching (pictured above) and the children had fun with the garden trolley, transporting their friends around the yard. When the billy cart got stuck as it was driving over the bridge, the children discussed how they were going to solve the problem and soon had it back on the road.

We hope to be able to welcome our Playgroup families back to Rosewood Cottage soon.

Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator