Shearwater's Primary basketball teams headed down to the NCIS regional carnival in Coffs Harbour, where around 120 students from independent schools across the region (Tweed Heads to Coffs Harbour) enjoyed the perfect conditions and the friendly competition.
 
It was a big day, with an early start and a long drive at either end. The students played four matches each but their enthusiasm never flagged - losing or winning, they were having lots of fun! They were a joy to watch, with a great improvement on last year, almost making it through to the finals.

We thank all the staff, parents and students for their support, especially Anthony Hack for his decicated training of the girls' team throughout the year.

Our participation in NCIS events has finished for this year. Well done to all the participants for their enthusiasm and sportsmanship.

Magnum Brotto
PDHPE Teacher

Clockwise from top

Overall Grand Winner (Gold Sponsor - James Hardware Mitre 10 Mullumbimby)
Rider of the Atmosphere by Year 7 student Aniella Lev​


Director's Prize (Silver Sponsor - Fuji Xerox Business Centre Northern Rivers)
Invitation to Wonderland by Year 9 student Tiehj Kerry


Most Creative Use of Materials (Bronze Sponsor - Baxter & Jacobson Architects)
Dame of the Dragon by Eloise Galea


Winner Section 1: Ride Like the Wind (Silver Sponsor - Chincogan Real Estate)
Aeras by Year 9 student Radha Hamilton-Young


Winner Section 2: Met Gala @ the House of Dragon Five (Silver Sponsor - Chincogan Real Estate)
Princess Kiyohime by Year 9 student Ishtar Dempsey


Winner Section 3: Paint the Sky with Stars (Mayor's Office Byron Shire Council)
Starry Night Shroud of Van Gogh by Maggie Wretham 


Winner Section 4: Suitably Splendid (Silver Sponsor - Fuji Xerox Business Centre Northern Rivers)
Cirque de la Suite by Susan Germann 


Winner Section 5: Emergency Transformation (Gold Sponsor - James Hardware Mitre 10 Mullumbimby)
Emerging Woman by Year 9 students Thandi McAllister, Coco Best & Lalita Ali 
​

Student Encouragement Award (sponsored by Shearwater Alumni)
Meliorism by Year 10 student Adrianna O'Donovan 

 
We love seeing our Shearwater graduates come back, and over the years we have seen many ex-students return to the School to support WAVE, as competition entrants, judges, production assistants, performers, stage crew and to work on props and sets. This year, however, we had an award sponsored by Shearwater graduates for the first time.

Analise Denney (owner of Sonder Intimates), Millie Hartigan (owner of The Lacuna digital marketing), Roslyn Barnett (owner of R’Oil) and Shantih Duvel (owner of Silience Design Studio) graduated in 2014 and have maintained strong relationships with the School and staff since. These amazing young women have all started their own small businesses and have teamed up as an alumni collective to give back to the School and support this year’s WAVE competition.
 
“After participating in WAVE throughout our high school years at Shearwater, we felt honoured to be able to come together as a group of alumni and small business owners to support the next generation of creatives at Shearwater," said Millie.
 
Selecting the recipient of the Student Encouragement Award was a challenging task, due to the standard of work this year. Adrianna O’Donovan’s work Meliorism (the belief that the world can be made better by human effort) was chosen for its skill and technique. "The handmade chainmail was executed to an extremely high standard and the beautiful embroidery was a great touch.”

Congratulations to Adrianna and all of the winners, and a huge thank you to Analise, Millie, Roslyn and Shantih, and to all of our amazing sponsors, for their support in our extraordinary 20th year of WAVE.
 

Southern Cross University’s Head-Start program provides an opportunity for students to gain direct entry and advanced standing into a variety of courses. Two of our Year 11 students successfully completed the program this year - Alfie Miller-Sharp completed Visual Communication and Design and Louca McAllister completed the Australian Legal System. The students were unable to attend the graduation ceremony, so we had our own here at Shearwater, complete with caps and (biodegradable) confetti. Congratulations Louka and Alfie!​

Always Was, Always Will Be was the overarching theme for NAIDOC Week 2020 – an opportunity for us to share with the children and young adults in our care that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.

The Shearwater school community came together to acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be spiritually and culturally connected to this country.

What does culture mean for us today was the question posed by our guides, Mudjai and Djuaan. Key themes emerged based on connection to the land and the seasons, our shared caring for place, and a deepening of the understanding that the very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples. With these themes as a thread, the entire school embarked on a week of creativity, sharing in the realms of painting, singing, storytelling and dance.
 
A whole school gathering at the beginning of the week set a reverent and respectful tone, as a rainbow serpent of children, led by the Shearwater Kinship group, weaved through the School bringing everyone together. A fire  lit in the amphitheatre would burn for the entire week until the whole school gathered again on Friday to present their artistic offerings and dance up the energy shared over a week of creative collaboration.
 
Children from early childhood through to the young adults of Year 11 honoured the First Nations custodians of this place as misty rain added to an atmosphere of respect and hope. Finally, the rain, the seasons, the water ways, the ocean and the creatures sustained by these sacred systems unique to this place were celebrated in dance and song in a cacophony of rhythm and exuberance.
 
With respect, 
​Shearwater Mirrabooka Group

​We are all so happy to be back at Playgroup. It is wonderful for the parents to be able to come together again, sharing the challenges and joys of their parenting journeys and realising they are not alone.

Term 4 is an important term with some of the children showing readiness for Preschool - packing up the toys is done with gusto, as is setting up for juicy fruit time, and our little cottage is full of big, strong voices, singing, telling stories and sharing the events of the week. Some of the older children are creating little puppet shows themselves, retelling our much-loved Playgroup stories and bringing some of their own.

In these last weeks of the term, we are going for little walks over to the Farm and to Preschool, in order to familiarise the children who will be taking their first big steps away from home next year. It is wonderful to see these older children helping the little ones, building a train track, packing up or simply nursing one of the babies.  

We are all very busy, with some wonderful toys being created by the parents, such as this little wild Brumby (pictured above), made with hand-felted fleece. One of our fathers brought in some little pots and soil, so the children could take rosemary cuttings from our garden to grow at home and remember Playgroup by.

Our first painting activity for spring combined lemon yellow and cobalt blue to create green. The children added leaves, grasses and flowers, collected from our garden, and laid it all out on the wet paper before painting over and around the plants, to create lovely shapes and patterns. 

It is a bittersweet time as some of us will soon say goodbye. But I am always happy to have a visit or a wave over the fence. Seeing the little bright faces ever so proudly going off to Preschool is a gift in itself.

Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

​Generally speaking, a school board is responsible for the Governance of the School.  Basically, this means the board oversees the performance of the school including the school’s management and the school’s financial performance. A school board is also responsible for maintaining the school’s mission, values and objectives.

The Shearwater School Board guides the School management to ensure decisions made are aligned with the School’s mission, values and objectives, whilst ensuring financial viability, educational and legal compliance. Last but not least, as Shearwater is an incorporated not-for-profit organisation, it must by law have a constitution (aka rules) and the Shearwater Constitution requires our School to have a Board.  

Have more questions about the School Board? Click here to see all Ask the Board questions to date.
​

Congratulations to our 2020 Student Representative Council, Anouk, Olive & Ella (Year 8); Solly, Jimmy & Thandi (Year 9); Flynn & Noni (Year 10) and Charlotte & Tashi (Year 11).

This year our SRC were very constructive given the restrictions of COVID. They stayed in a positive frame of mind and went on to create several initiatives which all came to fruition. This included the re-painting and upgrade of the High School toilets, the addition of much needed seats and benches in the Year 8 and 9 areas, as well as getting bubblers repaired and working after COVID closures. Many thanks to the fantastic maintenance crew, Lee, Simon, Beau, Paul and Greg with whom they worked.

Ross Nobel
SRC Director

Term 4 has seen a return to our sporting adventures as COVID restrictions began to ease.

In the Primary School, it has been nice to see all classes experiencing camps this term, utilising their Outdoor Education skills, a hallmark of a Shearwater education.

Classes 5 and 6 have been thrilled to get back in the ocean with Beau, picking up their COVID-disrupted surfing where they left it in Term 1, and Classes 1 to 3 have a full week of swimming lessons at Mullumbimby Pool, funded by the federal government's Sporting Schools program. 

In the High School, it has been a gift to see our WAVE performers busting out their moves, honed through the High School dancing program. Many thanks to those who worked on these performances, especially Class 7 teacher Cherie Kendall and parent volunteer Vicki Lawrence.

In the pool, Class 7 finished their swimming and survival course last week and, this week, Year 9 will begin their Bronze Medallion, while the Year 10s continue with their diving.

We also had  a series of basketball sessions delivered to Years 7 and 9 during their WAVE block, by Nash Campbell, coach from Byron Beez and funded by Sporting Schools.

Finally, there are a number of regional competitions on this term, in which Shearwater is participating, including the tennis (pictured above) where our players showed determination and sportsmanship in a full day of games at Grafton. A rewarding experience. 

Next week, we are travelling to Coffs Harbour with our Primary basketball teams and, later this term, our Senior High School volleyball teams will play some friendly games with Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School.

Magnum Brotto
PDHPE Teacher

 
Here at Shearwater, we offer our Year 12 students an alternative pathway to the HSC. The Shearwater Certificate provides students with the freedom to create a unique learning experience for themselves by developing a particular passion and creating a project of personal interest - a courageous and rewarding path.  This year we had six students complete their Shearwater Certificate.

The learning that comes out of undertaking a year-long project, and the skills these students have developed will serve them well. They have learnt things no text book can teach and no exam can assess: how to communicate clearly, to think critically, to problem solve, to ask for help when it’s needed, to get up and keep going when things are hard, to support others and work together and, perhaps most importantly, to believe in themselves.
 
Last Wednesday Ashta Hall-Hart, Bodhi Hallas, Venus Herbert, Ean Lott, Nelle Lovatt and Chloe Oliver transformed the School Hall with their visual displays and took to the stage to talk about their projects and the year-long journey. There were circus routines and costumes, an eco-friendly surf wear brand, a tattoo design installation, a collection of clothes, jewellery and ceramics, an online vintage clothing business and an EP of original songs.

We had a very small audience this year due to COVID restrictions. But the students were  inspiring as they spoke about their individual journeys which had in common: the struggle to maintain motivation, the challenges of COVID and their pride in bringing their projects to completion. 
 
Year 12 is challenging at the best of times but this year has been particularly difficult and we congratulate and celebrate these wonderful Shearwater graduates. 
 
“Our highest endeavour must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility – these three forces are the very nerve of education.”    Rudolf Steiner

Anna Delzoppo
Visual Art & Design Teacher

Within the shadow of the caldera, adventure was afoot for Classes 4 and 5 as they experienced all Tyalgum Ridge Retreat had to offer at their joint camp, last week. The three days were full of activity and complete immersion within our amazing natural environment, nestled between the beautiful Border Ranges and majestic Wollumbin.

We were certainly kept extremely busy, with high ropes, low ropes and a flying fox; waterfall walks, rock-hopping and canoeing amongst the water lilies; finding our aim and balance with archery and mountain bike riding (not at the same time!); not to mention meeting the Wildlife Twins and their menagerie of animals and baking fresh damper on the campfire.
 
After all that activity, the true highlight of this experience was the opportunity to meet new friends, to cooperate together across classes, and of course to have laughs and fun along the way! Below is some camp-inspired poetry from our Class 5 students.
​

Dark mountains looming
Mount Wollumbin is shining
Clouds are moving fast
HEATON FREER
 
Rock hopping in rain
Cooking damper over fire
Thunder and Lightning
ISLA CHAFFER
 
We got soaking wet
Making damper in the rain
Beautiful sunrise
LUKAS TOBER
 
Lightning strikes the ground
Mountains lurk above the clouds
Darkness fills the sky
DJALI ADAMS
 
Swimming in the pool
Sitting around the campfire
High ropes low ropes Yikes!
SCARLETT RUSHTON
 
Pouring down with rain
I can feel the storm coming
Having so much fun
AYLA EDWARDS
 
S  torm extremely loud
T  error struck (inside my head)
O  rgans lurched inside my body
R  aging thunder
M  unching on hotdogs
OLLY HEATH
 
T  yalgum was so beautiful
Y  ummy damper
A  nimals are all around us
L  oved staying there
G  um trees surrounded us
U  p from the sky came the rain
M  y experience was really good
ASTYN MACVICAR
 
Penny Martin
Class 5 Teacher