If you have practiced hard for Olympia
And if you have not been lazy or done
Anything dishonourable, then
Go forward with confidence.
We will judge before the gods
with truth and honour
All those who compete before us.
Judges' verse
​

Last Friday, athletes from the mighty city-states of ancient Greece (Shearwater, Cape Byron, Aetaomah, Casuarina, Chrysalis, Tallowood and Rainbow Ridge Steiner schools) came together, in the shadow of Olympus, to prove their strength, grace and agility before the gods. Irascible Zeus opened the proceedings, imploring the athletes to lift their efforts into the realm of truth, beauty and goodness. With gifts of song, strings, verse and gymnastics, let the games begin!
 
Mixed-school groups went around the pentathlon stations where rigorous standards of sportsmanship were apparent in each and every encounter. New friends encouraged each other to greater and more graceful efforts. 

Discus events aimed at 'floating' the discus aerodynamically; Running was approached as 'graceful technique.;
the Standing Long Jump employed 'coordination and weight shift', Wrestling worked on 'balance, strength and poise.; Javelin, demonstrated by Zeus with lightning bolts, required parabolic arcing and point-perfect landings.

Throughout the day, the athlete's inner qualities of determination, effort and sportsmanship were as highly valued as strength and skill.

After suitable midday repasts, Zeus called all athletes to relive the exploits of Pheidippides, the first Marathon runner. Mighty praise was showered on all athletes and medals presented. Athletes returned in glory to their city-states fulfilled and honoured.

Accurate Historic Account rendered by
Rheumatoid Pseudo Zeus the Imposter (aka Michael Lester)
Class 5 Teacher

Class 7J has recently completed their class play, 'Trystan and Essylt'. This tale of love and sorrow, woven into Arthurian history, was taken up by the students, and over a two-and-a-half week period, they brought the story together and performed for their peers and parents. 

This was an immense challenge for the students. Key actors fell ill. The script had to be extended and edited along the way, something many of the students worked upon, ensuring a connection with their characters. Costumes were created (and often re-created) as characters were developed. The drama room had to be set up to cater for the various scenes in the play, and the final touches of lights, music and backstage activity all combined to form the final piece in a very short amount of time.

As well as writing a number of scenes, two key students, Olive and Evie, took on the tasks of costuming and directing. Their interest and dedication to those roles supported the final production, beautifully.

Julie Marx
Class 7 Teacher

Two of our Primary School athletes, Keahi Avery-Numa (Class 5) and Matilda Vial (Class 6) travelled to Sydney to compete in the CIS State Athletics last week, where Matilda continued her winning streak, bringing home gold in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump, with personal best times in all three events. Congratulations to both of them and good luck to Matilda who is now competing in the national championships in Darwin.

With a recent injection of funding to deliver extra physical activity to students in the Primary School and junior High School this term, years 3 to 8 have been enjoying gymnastics with Spaghetti Circus and classes 6 and 8 have had tennis lessons with Infinity Tennis Coaching.

Gymnastics and tennis provide children with opportunities to develop their fundamental movement skills by participating in a range of safe and engaging activities. The lesson plans were developed by coaches and teachers and are aligned with the newly endorsed Australian Curriculum. With the Term 4 funding, which has recently been received, we plan to establish an orienteering map of the School campus.

Also in Term 4, we are getting prepared for the regional tennis competition in Grafton and the Primary School basketball regionals in Byron Bay.

Magnum Brotto
PDHPE Teacher

PICS by Jala and Endre


Pele Moments by Ellen Bartlett
The boat sits low in the water. Low enough to make us feel like we are sitting in the gentle lap of the sea. The deep, quiet thrum of the motor, constant and reassuring, reminding us that we are dry, safe, and privileged. Pushing us forward to new places yet to be experienced. A random handful of people, happy, satisfied, and on the start of their journey to contentment.
 
Today we danced. We danced at dusk on the sand, feeling the weight of the night slowly sink over us. Heat emanating from the center of the circle, warming over our bodies and our spirits. Taking us to a place of familiar unknown, bringing back nostalgia and filling in the empty slots with new dance. Movement compact with decades of culture and centuries of warm-hearted generosity. Different people from every way the wind blows brought together by the warm light of the fire that the soil is always craving. Sparks of joy flying, crackles of curiosity flickering and our energy slowly, slowly, burning.

Children by Finn Morris and Yanik Scheffers
 The kids are full of energy and quickly grow attached to you, they are often bustling with excitement from the moment you wake to even late at night. Each family has at least two children who are introduced to us as our siblings.

The family we stayed with was large and we had many younger siblings between us. Ronny our eight-year-old brother was constantly demanding attention and always wanted to play a game, Jaylene our youngest sister, somewhere between the age of five and six, was extremely shy and would attach herself to Yanik and I, then cling for as long as she could. Rex, our smallest brother was hands-down the cutest kid on the island. He spent the first few days with us but soon left for the mainland with his father.

Taz and Ariel’s house was a hub for the younger kids and was nearly always surrounded, which at times did get irritating. Due to the language barrier, it was sometimes difficult to communicate boundaries and ask them questions but the majority of the time it wasn't a huge problem.
 
Hard at Work by Finn Morris and Yanik Scheffers
The first days on the worksite, consisted of trips down the island shorelines collecting coral for the wall; mixing concrete; constructing the framework for roofs and putting together the window frames. The first half of the day, most of the class would come and go between the worksite and their bungalows, although some worked constantly, only resting when lunch came around. After lunch, there was usually a solid hour before everyone would have to return for the afternoon meeting. At these meetings there was often a firm pep talk from Nick, followed by a solid 15 minutes of hard work from the class before everyone would scatter across the island.

When the building was nearing completion more kids jumped on board to help finish off the building - carvings were engraved into the coral walls, patterns were chiseled into the wooden support beams and the final nails were hit into place.

Banners, flowers, and ribbons decorated the building when it reached completion, the islanders laid out an enormous feast of traditional meals along a huge centre table. After a two-hour ceremony of appreciation for the community's new meeting place, the feast commenced. The class lined up first and tried to fill their plates with the most recognisable foods. After us, the entire island began to gather around and form long spiraling lines.

During our time on Pele Island, it was clear to see just how much the building meant to the community. From the workers' dedicated enthusiasm to the project to the sheer joy expressed when the building reached completion - they saw the entire experience as a gift. In 12 days our class helped to create a building that would serve the community and bring joy for years to come.
 
 

We've had a wonderful year to date, full of laughter and learning together. Over the mid-year holidays the maintenance team manifested a fabulous sand pit in the little courtyard outside our classroom. It's under shade and private and the children adore playing in there - often all together. They are so creative; it's a joy to watch.

We began Term 3 with Animal Fables, Aesop's and others. At this stage of development, children relate easily to tales in which animals bring pictures of human foibles and attributes to strive towards, and they loved acting out each story and working out the inherent morals.

In our most recent Main Lesson we are discovering how indigenous peoples also related to animals, to share history through stories. During this block the children have attempted their first writing project, learning to put their developing skills together in texts, rewriting and illustrating, to create their own books.

During Book Week the children brought in their favourite books to share in class, and animals featured strongly. On Book Day many children dressed up as animals from their books. It was a delightful sight and tricky to remember everyone's name, all day.

We have just completed a significant Main Lesson introducing place value. Watching the children grasp the conservation of number has been wonderful, as they worked collaboratively using hands-on materials, gemstones and coloured sticks, bundled to grasp hundreds, tens and ones.

Tying our literacy skills together, we have just spent six months deeply immersed in our reading program, supported by volunteering parents each morning. Everyone in class has made significant leaps in reading and comprehension. Many blessings for the school and home help from families and a warm thank you to our class assistant Sophie, who is always diligent and patient, caring and insightful.

Linda Mayer
Class 2 Teacher

After our beautiful Winter Festival and happy holidays, our Hummingbee Kindies returned refreshed to a garden filled with Dancing Daffodils, and veggie gardens bursting with fresh ingredients for our baking days... One of our favourites was potatoes baked in our fire pit. We collected wood on an exciting walk to the Big School, prepared our toppings of herbs and grated cheese and wrapped the potatoes for the fire dancers to bake. Another was Afghani filled flat bread Bolani Katchalu... rolling dough, chopping potatoes and silver beet and herbs, filling and cooking in our outdoor restaurant kitchen in the frying pan.

For Book Week we dressed up from our baskets of silks and muslins, and even used our finger-knitting to dress up as characters from our Kindy stories... Bobber Blue Wren, Jingle Jangle Jellyfish, Flutterby Butterfly and many more. The children loved being a part of it. We watched the Primary School parade with interest and delight.

The children have been enjoying putting on shows for each other, re-telling our stories and creating their own. We are all learning quickly how to be good audience members!

Our busy fingers have been weaving our finger-knitting to make the beautiful rainbow shell of Grandmother Shellyback Turtle.

We've been enjoying the sunshine with extra outside play, making cubbies, obstacle courses, and learning new group games. Some favourites are Puddledock Farm, Ultimate Tips and Hide and Sneak. Our mud pit has seen many alterations... including speed bumps, trenches, pipe laying, form work and concreting. It's always a hive of activity with our big garden trolleys out collecting gravel, timber, pipes, mulch and furniture for cubby building!

We continue to extend our skills on the monkey bars - backwards, twisting and turning, skipping bars, and combinations of all three, as well as practicing balancing and hopping for hopscotch.

Our guinea pigs, Daisy and Jasmine are enjoying their new home, and caring for them is a focus every day, with the children lovingly picking fresh greens, filling their water bowl, cleaning out their home and putting in fresh straw for their bedroom and, of course, lots of cuddles!

This week, we are looking forward to our first class outing, to see Wink Blink Lighthouse and watch out for Wash Wallow Whale and his family. Next week we have our Spring Festival to end the term with song and dance, flower crowns and a feast for morning tea before our next happy holidays.

Joanne Owens
Kindergarten Teacher

During the first three weeks of Term 3, Julie’s Class 7 students planted 530 trees. 208 of these were donated by Mullumbimby’s Rainforest 4, to coincide with a visit to Shearwater by an Indonesian delegation dedicated to saving orangutans  through education, conservation and plantings in their country. These trees were planted in a sharp bend of the creek beyond the music rooms and Grandfather Fig.
 
The other 322 trees were planted along the watercourse of our ephemeral wetland that was altered to facilitate the construction of the Kindergarten and Preschool.
 
Cathy’s Class 7 plantings from just six months ago behind the Kindy have absolutely thrived as a result of the wonderful wet weather that followed the dry hot summer.
 
These latest plantings behind the Preschool will have a harder time of it as we appear to be heading into another long, hot and probably dry spring and early summer.
 
As I am retiring after 19 years of  environmental restoration at Shearwater, this will be my last Class 7 planting and I congratulate this class on the magnificent effort they put in. There was no shade for this planting, just full sun and some very windy days. Thank you Julie for what you have given these bright young students.
 
The School received a for $6,600 grant from the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (you’ve seen their Land for Wildlife signs all around the shire) to cover this planting and the next two years of wetland restoration.
 
With the help of farmer Beau (who probably planted some of the more established trees when he was a student of the School), we have also managed to plant 150 trees along the road verge, beyond the Farm dam, with Classes 8, 9 and 10.
 
All told, we have planted over 20,000 trees at the School since 2001 - an epic project and one I will miss being a part of. But I am confident Shearwater will continue its environmental restoration well into the future.
 
Thank you Shearwater, for letting me be the guardian of our forest.
 
Ken Ohlsson
Coordinator Gardening and Bush Regeneration

Students from classes 6 to 9 enjoyed Fresh Faced Friday last week, with a series of workshops run by the Year 10 students, aimed at building body and self positivity. Fresh Faced Friday is an annual event held in schools and organisations around Australia, developed by a group of young people involved in the ABC Heywire program, whose concept was to create a day full of celebrating being who we want to be, judgement free.