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.

For their first project, the Shearwater Environment Club is holding a community screening of Damon Gameau's exciting new film, 2040. The film will be shown in the Shearwater Hall on Friday September 13 at 6.30pm, with refreshments on sale from 6.15pm. Entry is by gold coin donation with all funds raised going to an environmental project at the school.

The Environment Club is the initiative of a group of Year 8 students, who meet each week to work on projects aimed at increasing environmental awareness within the school community. The club, which meets at lunchtimes on Thursday, is open to interested students from the high school. HSIE teacher Nikki Treanor is the teacher to talk to if you would like to join.

Please support this wonderful student-led initiative and be inspired by a positive vision of the future!

Term 3 has been very busy for our athletics team, with 45 students competing in the North Coast Independent Schools Athletics Carnival at Coffs Harbour last month. A special mention to Class 6 student Matilda Vial for her record-breaking sprints in the 100 metres (13.47 seconds) and 200 metres (28.72 seconds), and to Year 8 student Felix Trapman, who broke the javelin record (31.90 metres).

Despite a very long day - leaving Mullumbimby at 5am and returning at 9pm, it was gratifying to see the students' enthusiasm, dedication and good humour. It was a joy to take so many energetic and engaged students to an inter-school sporting event. Congratulations to the state qualifiers, Keahi Avery-Numa, Isabella Hawes, Matilda Vial and Sol Bailey from the Primary School, and High School students Mika Asherovitch, Charlie Gately, Charlie Heath, Felix Trapman and Ezra Pitman Blackley, who will compete in Sydney this month. We wish them luck.

Big thanks to Michael Lester, Andrew Carter, Chad, Marcella and Trent for helping out on the day, and to all the parents that came along to offer their support.

Watch this space as we prepare for the tennis and Primary School basketball regionals in Term 4.

Magnum Brotto
PDHPE Teacher

​This year marks the centenary of Steiner education and more than 1100 schools around the globe are marking the occasion with a range of projects and initiatives.
 
As part of the Waldorf 100 celebrations, 12 students from Shearwater, the Mullumbimby Steiner school will be unravelling the big questions of our times at a national youth conference, hosted by Brisbane’s Samford Valley Steiner School, this week.
 
The conference will bring together senior students from Steiner schools around Australia, to explore social renewal, with a focus on racism and prejudice; divisions and world conflict; indigenous perspectives; minority groups; Australian and world-wide responses to refugees; the environment and sustainability; education and imagining the future; and the role of the arts, money and ethical business.
 
The students will spend three days immersed in workshops as diverse as moral technologies, living with bees, pliable ethical urbanism, refugees and art, indigenous perspectives, mural painting and song writing.
 
Year 10 students Hanini Schembri and Elzie Bambach who have just returned from a two-week camp to Vanuatu said they were all about expanding their horizons.
 
“My intention for this year is to take every opportunity that’s given to me,” said Elzie.
 
Hanini, who plans to become a Steiner teacher when she finishes school, said Steiner education may have its roots in the past but its focus is strongly on the future and preparing students for the world beyond school. “I would have to say the camps are a highlight – getting out of your comfort zone and having these amazing experiences with your class.”
 
“It’s like being part of a family,” added Elzie.
 
The first Steiner school opened in 1919 in the German city of Stuttgart. It was built at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory, and its students were the children of the factory workers seeking a new approach to education following the devastation of World War 1.
 
With its emphasis on social renewal, it’s no surprise that Mullumbimby is home to one of Australia’s biggest Steiner schools. Shearwater will be celebrating 100 years of Steiner education at its annual Spring Fair on Saturday between 10am and 3pm. The fair will feature live music and entertainment, delicious food stalls, and crafts and activities for the whole family, including candle making, Sideshow Alley, spring garland weaving, a Wearable Arts showcase, Monster Raffle and one of the event’s highlights, the Spring Fair Busking Competition, which will again bring some of the most exciting emerging musical talent, from high schools around the region, to the stage.

Some of the most distinctive memories from school life for most students are their class camps. Hopefully, Class 6 will remember their wonderful trip to Fraser Island and all that they experienced and learnt there.

Camps provide students with increased self esteem, independence, resilience and social learning. Students become more actively engaged in their education when they have the opportunity to learn in the real-world context of a camp.

Class 6 participated in a wide variety of activities including horse riding, bush tucker walks, raft building, hiking, archery and sea kayaking as well as eco-tours and educational talks from the rangers. They visited Kingfisher Bay, Lake McKenzie, Eli Creek, Central Station, the Maheno Shipwreck and the coloured sands at the Cathedrals. One of the many highlights for them was seeing a pair of young dingoes stealing beach towels from tourists and running away with them through Eli Creek.

Since our return to school the students have created a camp book with recounts of each day. They have also written a report about Fraser Island based on all the things they saw, heard, experienced and learnt. Most of them have also completed either a persuasive essay or a discussion on whether Fraser Island should have its name changed back to K’gari. This was the original name given to the island by the Butchella people and it means paradise.

Here is an example of a short discussion piece written by Otto:
 
Mist and haze surrounds the debate on whether Fraser Island should be actually called K’gari. There are different viewpoints about this potential change. K’gari is the traditional name given by the Butchella people of the island. Our “white” name for K’gari is Fraser Island and it was given this name because of Eliza Fraser who was stranded on the island with her husband in the early 1800’s. Her husband died on the island and she was taken by the Butchella people.

When Eliza went back to England after being rescued she apparently made money by telling horrific stories about how the Butchella people treated her. So the press dubbed K’gari Fraser Island. Many believe that K’gari should not be named after the Fraser family because they did nothing for the island and maybe Eliza lied to get money. But maybe in Eliza’s eyes she really was treated badly by the Butchella and they killed her husband so she deserved the money.

Also, Fraser Island is known for tourism, so changing the name would affect this and the island may lose money.
So, all in all, whatever we call this beautiful island we need to protect it no matter what and care for it.

Spring has sprung and the children are full of enthusiasm. Our silkworms are growing rapidly and need fresh leaves and a cleaned box every day. Ren decided to hammer some air holes into the lid and, despite his initial reluctance to use the big ‘grandfather hammer’, he managed it it very well and showed great determination and hand-eye coordination.

Sahara is showing our silkworms to her Grandma Kay, who lives in New Zealand and has never seen them before. Everyone joins in cleaning out the box, showing great care and gentleness when handling our little pets.

I brought in my spinning wheel and some parents gave it a go while others watched on. It does take a bit of practise to master!

Some of the children got very excited about making a Fathers' Day card and the table had to be moved into the middle of the room to fit them all in.

Finally, it was time to sit down for songs, stories and juicy fruit. We always have a great team of helpers getting the table ready for morning tea and serving the fruit.

Nixie, Winter, Leilei and Ivy are cleaning the table after making our crunchy buns, with lots of bubbles to make our table sparkle and shine. What a busy morning we've had have and now it is time to rest.

Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator