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School NewsletterTerm 2 Week 10, 2016IMPORTANT DATES

Please see our online website calendar TERM 2Fri 17 Jun Last day Term 2Wed 20 Jul Primary Parent Teacher Interviews 11-12 Jul Curriculum Days - Teacher Professional Development

TERM 3

Wed 13 Jul First Student day Term 2Wed 20 Jul 2:30-8:00pm Secondary Parent Teacher Interviews25-29 Jul Class 6 Astronomy CampWed 7 Sep Annual Music Concert

Term 2 Week 10, June 2016 www.sophiamundi.vic.edu.au

Dear all,

As always the term ends in a flurry of events. No more so than for Class 7 as they say farewell Katina as their Class Teacher after six and a half years. Katina spoke in College of her love for her class and their families and the challenges she faces in letting them go. The students have just completed the semester with a fabulous presentation of two Canterbury Tales.

The SMSS Annual General Meeting was held this week. At this meeting, the Board of Directors present the Annual Report and Audited Accounts to the Members, share the School Improvement Plan and look to the future. I enjoy meeting the Members who have held the vision and the School for so many years. It is an honour to work with them: Wendy Duff, Bill Cook, Judy Weatherhead, Teresa Martin, Robert Stemp, Carlo Lacota, Lucas Bester, Mary Howell and Dilys

Next newsletter admissions deadline: Tue 12 July

From Calendar of the Soul, by Rudolf Steiner

Feel the spirit child in soul wombFreed from enchantment.It has in heart brightness

Begotten the Holy World WordThe heavenly fruit of hope,

That jubilantly grows in world extentsOut of my being’s godly ground.

Hannaford. Judy Abbott, a founding parent of Sophia Mundi offered her resignation to the meeting. We thank Judy for her ongoing and dedicated service to our school over the past thirty one years – as founding parent, Board Member, Company Member and for a short time, employee.

Tonight our Senior School staff, students and families will gather for the annual Mid -Winter Dinner. This event is particularly pertinent for me as these young people are very dear to my heart - I was their Class Teacher and Guardian for six wonderful years.

Thank you to Fiona Coutie for her training and mentoring of the debating team.

I wish you all a nourishing break and hope this mid-winter time brings you peace and inner quiet.

Warmth and blessings,

Fiona Cock

2Term 2 Week 10, June 2016 www.sophiamundi.vic.edu.au

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A SOPHIA MUNDI HOME STAY FAMILY?We are receiving an increasing number of requests for Cultural Visits from all around the world - Venezuela, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Italy and Germany. Students arrive in Australia on a Tourist Visa and spend timestudying with us at Sophia Mundi for up to three months (one School Term).It goes without saying that as a Home Stay Family, the student would be immersed in your day-to-day family life and as such, you would be reimbursed for food and accommodation. On weekends and school holidays, you would need to be prepared to arrange outings and day trips to introduce your homestay student to Australian/local culture. Interested? Please email our Registrar, Tania Sarmas to discuss: registrar@sophiamundi.vic.edu.au

NEW IMAGE CONSENTThank you to al of the families who have returned their image consent form. I have attached another copy of the form to the newsletter email for the families who have not yet returned them. Please help us showcase our wonderful school and students by returning this form. There are hard copies available at reception if you do not have acces to a printer or scanner.

MUSIC CORNERCongratulations! A huge congratulations to Mia Violet in Class 5 for passing her AMEB Grade 1 cello exam with an A. And to Atsu Tsuru in Class 7 for passing his Grade 7 viola exam with an A. Congratulations also to their tutors Chien and Myf for supporting them to achieve such a great outcome. Music exams can be a great way to inspire students with their music learning. If you’d like your child to take on an exam have a chat with their Instrumental Music Tutor. You can also find out more at www.ameb.unimelb.edu.au

Annual Music Concert This year our Annual Music Concert will take place again in The Oratory on Wednesday 7 September from 6pm. The evening will take the form of a Soirree with intimate performances from individual students and enembles in Classes 6 to Class 10. The evening is always a very special event on the schools musical caldendar, so be sure to save the date. More info coming soon.

DEBATING On Thursday 16th June, our new Class 6 debating team spoke eloquently in their first interschool debating competition.They won the debate by one point against a Year 9 Marcellin team.The adjudicator commented on the clarity and expression of all three speakers; Ben Nekvapil, Yani Johannidis and Sofia Riquelme .

Yani was singled out by the adjudicator for his well-paced, clear natural and free-flowing speaking. This ability is a hallmark of our students and a testament to their Class teacher’s speech work.

Taki Johannidis , a parent who attended, made the following comment: ‘As a parent I was in awe. Our young (under 13) inexperienced (first attempt) debating team tackling and overwhelming a much older opposing team with confidence, good arguments and an uncanny ability to convince...Thank you for enabling and inspiring our children.’

FAREWELL MELCHIORMelchior Hoeksema has been with Sophia Mundi since February undertaking a teaching internship for Semester 1 2016. He has been working closely with Class 6 and 8 consistently - following the Main Lesson cycles. Melchior also participated with the IB programme (Class 11& 12) subjects; Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Psychology and History.We thank him for his enthusiasm, patience and generous contributions to the School and wish him a wonderful onward journey in creating his dream - a Class 10 Steiner inspired school program in Denmark!All the best Melchior - Ben Darby

3Term 2 Week 10, June 2016 www.sophiamundi.vic.edu.au

Australian National Championships Bronze Under 12 - 30kg. Max won 3 out of 4 bouts, only loosing narrowly to the eventual Gold medallist

BABYSITTERS NEEDEDWe have had an number of families looking for casual babysitters. If you know of anyone loking for more babysitting work, please email reception@sophiamundi.vic.edu.au so that we can ad them to our babysitters list. We currently have 4 names on our list and would love to grow this resource for our paretns.

Elemental Living,! Therapies & Education for Living Well!!

Elemental Living offers:!Shiatsu Bodywork for One and Two people,!

Clinical Japanese Therapies!Qigong Classes!

!Our treatments improve health, wellbeing and understanding !

for the following conditions: digestive, respiratory, women’s health, musculo-skeletal, sleep, emotional and stress.!

!Would you like to learn !

the wonderful practice of Self Healing Qigong?!!

The next comprehensive course will be run Term 3: !!Thursday mornings, 10am - 1130am, !

July 21st to September 15th, 2016.!!Can’t make Thursday mornings? … then you can … !! ! ! Make your own group! at a time that suits you. !!Would you like more details? Please call Lisa: 0401 167 223.!

Cadwyn & Co.Hi everyone! I am quite pleased to announce that tickets are available to come and see me play with my very lovely band!Bridie O’Reilly’s BrunswickSunday July 3. 4pm $10 entry Looking forward to sharing my tunes with you. Contact me directly for tickets and feel free to share with any friends or family that may be interested. Love Cadwyn (Caddy Newman:Ayla’s mum Class 3 ) Contact for tickets: 0410 403 994 Facebook: Caddy Newman Instagram: @cadwynclare

Cadwyn & Co. Hi everyone! I am quite pleased to announce that tickets are available to come and see me play with my very lovely band!

Bridie O'Reilly's Sunday July 3. 4pm $10 entry

Looking forward to sharing my tunes with you. Contact me directly for tickets and feel free to share with any friends or family that may be interested. Love Cadwyn (Caddy Newman:Ayla's mum Class 3 ) Contact for tickets: 0410 403 994 Facebook: Caddy Newman Instagram: @cadwynclare

DONATIONS IN KINDWalter Bakowski completed his IB Dipolma in 2015. He has recently had all of his photography eqipment stolen, almost $4,000 worth!Walter is offereing free photo sessions to any families who can make a donation to help him replace his camra and lenses.Please contact Ben Darby if you can help.ben.darby@sophiamundi.vic.edu.au

FAREWELL KATHERINE CRISPKatherine Crisp who has been with Sophia Mundi since 1998, completed her last day with the students on Wednesday. Her connection with the school began as a parent and in her professional capacity started as a teacher of Basketry! Most of us know her however as a Support Education Specialist. In this role, she has supported many, many students to regain their confidence and develop their skills and capacities in Literacy. The students have seen their time with her as a respite, where they can work through the programs developed by Katherine, building their skills step by step. We thank Katherine for her generous spirit, dedicated and professional work and the warmth she has brought to her students and colleagues. We wish Katherine all the very best in this next phase of her life.

4Term 2 Week 10, June 2016 www.sophiamundi.vic.edu.au

Caring for the Adolescent – two evening lectures at the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner Seminar July 2016

We invite parents, teachers and anyone interested in the life of the adolescent to join us for two evening lectures on the theme of Care of the Developing Soul, presented respectively by Rob Gordon and Lisa Devine.

These lectures are open to the public and are offered as part of our International Steiner High School Teacher Intensive program which begins on Monday 11th July.

Lecture details:

Rob Gordon, Tuesday 19th July from 7.30-9.00 p.m.

“The Astral World of the Adolescent: The Passage between Scylla and Charybdis”

The period between puberty and adulthood sees the soul life of the adolescent emergence as a realm that is decisively different from earlier ages. The scope and intensity of feelings, the independence of thinking, the strength of will impulses and most of all the intensified sense of self all challenge the developing person. Sometimes these challenges can get the better of them, throw them off their path and expose them to depression, suicide, substance abuse, self-harm, anorexia and other disorders. The presentation will describe typical crises of adolescents related to the developmental processes and offer some guidelines for supporting them in the school environment.

Rob Gordon, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who worked at the Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital for 15 years and since then has conducted a private practice in psychotherapy of adults, adolescents and children.

Lisa Devine, Monday 25th July from 7.30-9.00 p.m.

“Adolescence: Shaping the crucible of destiny.”

The new etheric heart that adolescents receive can be experienced as a blessing or a curse. The world is experienced through the organ of the midnight hour when they decided to come here. It is tinged by promises made and witnessed at this genesis moment of destiny. Unless the world we offer them can resound to the mystery of this destiny moment it is hard for them to find the fire that can hold them here. Anxiety about a future they did not agree to and depression about the identity they do not feel at home in can overwhelm them. How can the curriculum shape a vessel into which the music of their destiny can resound so they can find the fire of love for the world and themselves.

Lisa Devine is a psychologist, counsellor and has worked with young people at risk. She continues to provide chaplaincy and counselling support to young people in Steiner schools in Victoria and New South Wales.

FOR SALE: Bunk bed $395Lovely wooden bunk bed in great condition (w mattresses)7 years old. Paid $800 Sell $395Sms Janie 0412 863 741 Kew

Kids Yoga & Story Time Yoga

on again in Term 3!

Kids Yoga Yoga for kids aged 6-9 years

Mondays 3.45-4.30pm with Kaela Snibson

Kids are welcome to drop in for a single try-out class

Story Time YogaFor ages 2-5 years with carer

Mondays 2.30-3.15pm by school termwith Kaela Snibson

Booking is essential for both classes.

For full details please contact Anahata Giri

info@oneheartyoga.com.au 0410 950 606 www.oneheartyoga.com.au

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONSIf you would like to place an ad or notice in the newsletter, the fees are $15 for a 1/8 of a page size and $30 for a 1/4 page size. These should be sent to newsletter@sophiamundi.vic.edu.au by the Tuesday of a newsletter week. This date is always at the top of each newsletter. If the contributions are recieved after this date they will be carried over to the following newsletter.