NEWS

S T R E N G T H G R A C E A N D S K I L L

Term 1 - Week 7 - Mar 2018

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Class 11 Botany Camp – Tasmania (returns 29 March)

6.30pm Class 10 Parent / Teacher Meeting

Important DatesMarch - Week 7

7pm Combined Kindergarten Parent Teacher Meeting - Louise Schnitzhofer “Nutrition”

9am - 1.00pm Class 3 Excursion Forest End Farm

8.50am - 12.35pm Kindy Autumn Festival

9.00am - 11.00am Craft Group - Parent Room

Primary Autumn Festival11:15-12:35pmLiving Arts Centre

PHONE

FAX

ADDRESS

08 8391 0411

08 8391 2386

27 Sims Road, Mount Baker, SA 5251

www.mtbarkerwaldorf.sa.edu.au

office@mtbarkerwaldorf.sa.edu.au

/mtbarkerwaldorfschool

WEB

EMAIL

FACEBOOK

St. Michael’s Harvest SongIn autumn time Saint Michael with sword and with shield

Passes over meadow and orchard and field. He’s on the path to battle ‘gainst darkness and strife–

He is the heavenly warrior protector of life.The harvest let us gather with Michael’s aid;

The light he sheddeth fails not nor does it fade, And when the corn is cut and the meadows are bare

We’ll don Saint Michael’s armor and onward we’ll fare.We are Saint Michael’s warriors with strong heart and mind, We forge our way through darkness, Saint Michael to find.

And there he stands in glory; Saint Michael, we pray, Lead us into battle and show us the way.

Welcome to Autumn!The cool morning mist settles in and reminds us to slow down. Autumn is a

time to gather and reflect. Gather up the abundance of our crops and gather as a community. This week we will hold our Autumn Festivals in Kindergarten on

Thursday and Primary School on Friday. Please join us to celebrate.

Helen Platell, JD | Principal

I encourage all Kindergarten parents to attend a combined Parent Teacher Meeting/talk on “Nutrition”by Louise Schnitzhofer this Tuesday evening.

Important Notice

Board News

There are many roadworks happening around the Mount Barker area at this time and I would like to make you aware of some that may have an impact on your way to school. There are two areas that will be affected between March and September 2018.The first area involves the sewer upgrade that is happening in Mount Barker. Works will be from the rear of the school through to Dean St and Hartmann Rd. There may be traffic control in place at the intersection of Hartmann Rd and Dean St during this time that could impact on travel time (map 1). The second area of works is in the Aston Hills development area. There will be road closures on sections of Sims Rd between Heysen Boulevard and Harper Rd (map 2). Detours will be in place but it may be best to plan an alternative route to avoid possible delays.The most likely to cause most disruption will be in the Aston Hills area.

As a community, in 2017, we completed a 30 year Master (Building) Plan and just recently “turning the soil” for our new school buildings.This year we are setting the schools direction for the next 5 years. To do this we are using some new approaches, and for this Strategic Plan you are deciding the direction of the school. We welcome all parents, teachers, friends, alumni and high school students to get involved.We would like to invite you to a public information session explaining the process that will begin right away in Term 2.Throughout the year there will be a series of planned, public forums culminating in a finalised Strategic Plan in Term 4.Our strategic plan will be the guidebook for the whole school to work from over the coming 5 years.Please join us on Thursday 5 April at 7pm in the Living Arts Centre and we will take you through the process.

Mark Lucas | Business Manager

Richie Khoo | Strategic Planning Co-Ordinator

Map 1

Map 2

Front Office

Strathalbyn Bus RouteRoute 855W AM Strathalbyn 7.35amStrathalbyn Stn 7.42am Wistow 8.00amWaldorf School 8.13am

Route 855W PMWaldorf School 3.35pmWistow 3.37pmStrathalbyn Stn 4.07pm

Gardening

Host Families

Craft GroupFriends of the Garden

Volunteers meet every Thursday morning from 9am to 10.30am during term time to help propagate, pot up and maintain plants in the school plant nursery. No experience necessary. Money raised is put towards improvements in the gardens. Please contact me if you are interested, or just turn up.

Plants for Sale!

Plants grown in the school nursery are for sale on Thursday mornings from 9am to 10.30am. If this time doesn’t suit please contact me to arrange another time. Prices start from $3.

Host families ugently need in April/May 2018

Each year we have a partnership with the Class 10 students from the Abhaya Waldorf School Hyderabad, India who attend our Flinders Ranges Surveying Camp and Main Lesson study for a month. They are a particularly large group next year and we are seeking hosts from the wider community. Host families need to be able to supply:• DCSI clearance for anyone 18+ living at your home• Visiting student must have their own room• Be able to accommodate for about two weeks (they will be on the Surveying camp for two weeks).There is a small donation of $150 per week to the host family for their stay.The dates are not locked in yet but the students usually arrive the weekend before Term 2, 2018 and for four weeks following their arrival.Please contact Katherine Goodrick on kgoodrick@mtbarkerwaldorf.sa.edu.au if your family would like to apply to host a student.

Craft Group is held each Friday at 9am – 11:30 am in the Parent Room. You are warmly welcome to join us each Friday as we continue to make craft to sell at the Spring Fair.All materials are provided for you to create something handmade to raise funds for our school, or you are welcome to bring along something that you are working on of your own.If you are in a class that contributes to Autumn Trading Table or Craft for the Spring Fair why not join us as you stitch and sew? We welcome new ideas and are generous in sharing our skills and knowledge.Children are welcome under the supervision of their parents. Please bring along your own snacks. Tea is provided.

Sue | 0408 854 919 Kylie | 0417 812 726

Autumn Festival

Primary School Autumn Festival

Friday 23 March 201811:15am-12:35pmLiving Arts Centre

All Welcome

Please bring contributions of fruit and vegetables for the harvest table in each classroom. This produce will then be donated to a charity in Mt Barker.

Please see attached flyer.

Primary Faculty

Autumn play is often about settling in, home building and nesting, food gathering and storing - and our indoor play is a wonderful example of just this. Recently I observed a group of children build a large cubbyhouse then proceed to gather and store much of the indoor play materials into their home. While outdoors we are busily snapping twigs to make kindling for the winter and planting crops to harvest in the spring. We have left our summer circle and are enjoying early autumn songs along with a circle about a princess, a knight and a dragon, very timely as we journey toward the autumn equinox and festival. This Thursday we shall celebrate our Autumn Festival from 8.50am-12.30pm. All the children are invited to attend (even if it is not their day) and preparations for this celebration have begun as we engage in some autumnal activities. Could each family bring along an item of their harvest this week leading up to the festival. This offering may be either from your garden (fruit, vegetables, herbs, flowers or autumn treasures), the kitchen (homemade jam or preserves) or a neighbours/relatives garden. As the children watch the offerings displayed on our nature table and busy themselves with activities preparing for the festival, they will enjoy the anticipation and wonder

Kindergarten

Leesa & Georgie | Kindergarten

of the awaiting celebration. On Friday 23 March, the kindergarten children have been invited to the school’s Autumn Festival in the Living Arts Centre to share some autumn songs and a play performed by Class 3. Thank you to Karen McLeod who has taken on the role of opening the library each Thursday morning; to Tony Randall who shall be our class representative on the PSPG and to Fiona McIntosh who has begun work on co-ordinating the Autumn Trading Table. Please see noticeboard for information about the roles that need urgent attention and for craft ideas see the board outside Nightingale Kindergarten. Over the coming weeks we look forward to celebrating the 6th birthday of Felix, Charlie, Emma and Dakoda.

Banksia Rose

On our morning walks we are noticing that the leaves are beginning to change on the trees. The children have been listening to a story that reflects this and the story begins with a song; “Autumn fairies wake today, mix your colours as you play. Red and gold and russet too, yellow, brown and purple hue. Once each leaf is painted so, from the tree it can let go.” At meal times there has been much chatter about what is growing in our gardens and what has been picked for us to enjoy at kindergarten.With the change in season and the nearing of the equinox, we turn to preparing for our Autumn Festival. In short: on Wednesday 21 March please bring autumn foliage etc to the kindergarten verandah.On Thursday 22 March from 8:50am-12:30pm is our Autumn Festival. All children attend (even if it is not their regular day). At 11:50am all parents are invited to our songs and story in the kindergarten. At 12:30pm all children go home with their family.We are regularly adding to our notice board on the verandah. Please keep an eye on it.

Kindergarten

Dimity | Kindergarten

Nightingale

Class 8 were undertaking their cycling / sailing camp last week.They spent 2.5 days mountain biking through Kuitpo Forest and 2.5 days sailing around Hindmarsh Island.We were blessed with fantastic weather although the wind varied from nearly 30 knots to nothing. This meant our sailing crews had wildly different experiences.The cyclists also had moments of dragging bikes through sand, climbing steep hills and being thrilled going down the other side.We thank Wilderness Escapes for their wonderful guides and organising two great programmes.

Class 8

Robert | Maths & Physics Teacher

The class imagined walking along a creek in a valley and followed instructions to draw the valley. Next we found the ‘V’ in the valley.

Class 1

Emily | Class Teacher

Camp

In Class 3 we are looking at Old Testament and Creation stories which involves looking at universal lores and truths of right and wrong, good and bad and how to look after one another through co-operation and solidarity.The New Testament brings with it many parables for farming which connects with our Class 3 year of sewing, growing and harvesting grains.

Aaron | Class Teacher

Class 3

During the first three weeks of this term the Year 12 students completed an exploration into the evolution of Human Beings and a look at their possible ancestors. It was great to see the enthusiasm with which they embraced the practical challenges of trying to light a fire and making stone tools using what was around them in nature. They managed to achieve heat and smoke but no fire although it was very close to ignition. Over the three weeks, we explored what life may have been like for our ancestors and distant cousins and what it may have been like to meet other upright walking beings that fossil evidence suggests coexisted in the past. We explored the major fossil finds that have influenced the various theories of human evolution, and the students created and tested their own theories based on the fossil evidence. We discussed the problems with theories, like the implication of the Piltdown Man skull and the discovery of Homo floresiensis (the hobbit people of Indonesia).It was wonderful to observe the beautiful drawings that were produced by the students as they examined the morphology of the various skulls that have been found and compared them to the modern human form. From this we hypothesised the future of human evolution; what we may look like with further evolution. This Main Lesson did not aim to bring closure to ideas but open possibilities and explore theories that evolve with the discovery of each find.

Class 12

Nick | Class Guardian

In morning sing we have learned “A Song of Peace” and “Lingmarra” which was sung at Brian’s funeral.

Music

Main Lesson

Ruth | Music Teacher

On Thursday the 1st of March, students from classes 5, 6 and 7 participated in the annual Hills and Barker Districts Swimming Carnival - The Courier Cup at the Mountain Pool. The students all had a great attitude and represented the school beautifully. The class 5s, in their first Courier Cup, participated in the 4/5 freestyle relay. The class 6s and 7s participated in both the freestyle and medley relays, making the medley relay final and coming fifth out of 18 schools. The individual swims for the Barker District are organised by age and gender. In class 5 Kayla came 3rd in the backstroke and 4th in breaststroke and Orland also came 3rd in backstroke. In class 7, Akacia came 5th in freestyle and 4th in backstroke for her events, Linden was 4th in breaststroke, Peter came 5th in freestyle and Arthur came 1st in freestyle. In class 6, Oscar came first in breaststroke for the Barker District. Maia came 1st in backstroke for Barker District and 2nd in butterfly. Maia also came 1st in both Hills and Barker Districts for breaststroke, and made the finals in the butterfly and breaststroke, where she came 5th and 3rd respectively. The finals are swam by the five fastest swimmers of both genders and all age groups. With the results from the carnival, Oscar, Maia and Arthur will

Our school competed in the C-grade Secondary School Swimming Carnival at Marion on Monday 5 March. This is the first year we have entered a team, and we started off very modestly with just four participants: Jayde Koth-Smith (12), Ella Brown (11), Isaac Brown (10) and Aileen Gideon-Takasawa (9). It was an exciting experience for the students to race in the pristine 50m pool against other schools from around SA. All four students represented the school with pride and swam many personal bests. Ella came 2nd in the div 2 Breaststroke, Aileen came 1st in the div 1 Breaststroke, 4th in Backstroke and 2nd in the Butterfly. All students scored points for the school, but with such a small team we were firmly in last place. It was a great introduction to the competition for us, and we are hoping to significantly grow our team next year. See Jayde or Elise if you are interested in joining the High School swim team.

be heading down to Marion for the SAPSASA Country State Championships to represent our Barker District. A huge thank you to Class 12 student, Jayde Koth-Smith, who helped the students prepare for their swims on the day and thank you to the parents who helped with supervision, timekeeping and cheering on from the side of the pool. It was a wonderful day and we are all looking forward to next year.

Courier Cup

Secondary School SwimmingChampionships

Elise | Bothmer Gym and PE Teacher

Elise | Bothmer Gym and PE Teacher

Lost Property

We have an abundance of lost and found clothing.Please come sift through and reclaim any items of clothing. Located outside the Parent Craft Room.All clothing not collected by the end of term one will be donated to a local charity.

Head Heart and Hands Imaginative Play81A Main Rd Nairne

Children’s and Adult’s Workshops

Making Felted SeascapesFor 7 year olds to adults by appointment

Cost: $20 includes materials

Making Easter Chickens For 6 year olds and older

Saturday 17 March at 10amCost: $16 includes materials

Decorating Pysanky Easter EggsFor 8 year olds and older

Saturday 24 March at 1pmCost: $20 includes materials

Bookings essential phone 8388 0075 Shop Hours: Wednesday to Saturday 11am to 2pm We are happy to open after hours by appointment

Phone 0423 202 784You can find us on Facebook

Easter Fundraiser

The SRC will be holding a fundraiser at Sophie's Patch over the Easter weekend- Saturday 31 March Sunday 1 April and

Monday 2 April.

50% of the funds raised will go towards a memorial for Brian at the school. The remainder will go to the SRC, to be spent at

their discretion.

If you are able to assist in any way or on the day, please let me know and add your name

to the roster (link below).

Thank you for your support,

Elise Duffield

https://tinyurl.com/SRCEaster

Doll Making Workshop