From the Principal

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Hello everyone,

As I write this the wind is howling and the rain is pouring down – it seems our wet season may finally have arrived. With the extended dry season there has been a real feeling of longing for the wet and then the cooler, less bright and sparkling atmosphere which heralds the turn towards autumn. In the last couple of weeks, as the humidity has built and the weather has become more unsettled, I have noticed this reflected in my own feelings and in the people around me. It is really worth noticing and acknowledging the effect of the cycle of the seasons on all of us – and in noticing, we become a little more patient and understanding (with ourselves and others).

This week saw the High School Swimming Carnival taking place at Mullumbimby. It was wonderful to see the high level of enthusiasm and participation on the day. It is a real theme of our High School that students are expected to participate in all events in the life of the School. This really helps to build a sense of belonging and community. I was particularly impressed to see the way our senior students were leading, encouraging and caring for the younger students.

This week I have really enjoyed watching our Primary students playing during break times. The creativity and vibrancy of play is wonderful to watch. In one corner of the garden, ‘horses’ are galloping around chasing each other and leaping through the air, in another corner there is some serious trade happening in the shop, where macadamia nuts can be purchased for the price of a piece of bark. Meanwhile on the monkey bars, children are swinging hand over hand as they attempt to cross a river full of crocodiles! This rich, imaginative play is absolutely essential to the developing child and will be the source of much growth and development through into adulthood.

Down in the Kindergartens, our newest students are settling in to their new routines really well. As this is our first year where there is no younger group of children, the classes seem to be settling relatively quickly. Emily and Jenny (supported by Elizabeth and Anat), do a wonderful job of helping the children settle into the gentle daily routine of Kindergarten.

Finally, this week I met with the small group of parents and friends who have put up their hands to help organise our Centennial Ball (which will happen in May). We are very excited about this really special social event in the life of the school. We are planning a wonderful evening of celebration and I encourage you to put the date in your diary now (you can find the details further down in this bulletin).

Peace
Nerrida

Important Information re Child Safety

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At Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School, we work hard to ensure we provide a child-safe environment. Staff undergo regular training in relation to Child Protection, Reportable Conduct and Mandatory Reporting. All staff meet requirements in relation to having a valid Working With Children Check and we have a culture of collegiate and individual responsibility for child-safe behaviour. We have added a new parent information sheet to our school website, explaining the process for parents to report any concerns they may have around reportable conduct or staff misconduct. Ensuring our school remains a safe place for our students is a responsibility we all share!

You can access the Parent information sheets on our website here

Friendly reminder re School Fees due

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Term 2 school fees are due today – Friday 24th of May 2019. Thank you to all who have already paid.

If you haven’t paid for Term 2 yet and you are not on an approved payment plan please address this promptly.

Please remember to include your parent code when paying fees so we can identify you.

Thanks
Julia & Strawberry

Important Parent Evening at CBRSS – Save the Date!

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On Thursday 14th of March 2019 from 6pm until 7.30pm, Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd. will be at CBRSS to talk to parents of students in Classes 4-12 about how to keep children safe on Social Media, this is a very important topic so we ask that at least 1 parent from every family with students of that age attend.

Safe on Social Media offers a unique solution that combines cyber safety with information security and risk management skills so that audiences at our presentations learn practical things that they can use in everyday life.

We have presented to more than 300,000 students, their parents, and teachers. By building a long-term relationship with schools (K-12), we can be called on for support when needed. Our face to face talks and professional development training is engaging, entertaining and practical. We offer the most comprehensive suite of consulting services available in the cyber safety sector to organisations across Australia and New Zealand.

We proudly deliver a non-biased, fact-based solution without the hysteria that often accompanies cyber safety talks.

For more information about Kirra and Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd. please visit their website. https://www.safeonsocial.com/about-us

Tricks to Tunes Books – Please return urgently

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Please return any Tricks to Tunes books for Violin (Books 1 and 2) or Cello that your child is no longer using to the library urgently.
We need them for the strings programme which has just started in Class 3.
Thank you
Charlotte, on behalf of our wonderful strings teachers

Save the date!

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CBRSS Centennial Ball – can you help us plan?

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We have now set a date on which to hold our Centennial Ball, this will be Saturday 25th May 2019. Planning is now underway to have a wonderful Ball – celebrating 100 years of Steiner Education in Australia! If you would like to join our planning group, please email Penny pa@capebyronsteiner.nsw.edu.au. We are currently at the exciting ideas and possibilities stage of planning and would love some additional input.

Mosquitos

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Due to the extended dry period with a much shorter wet period Mosquitos this year have been forced to condense their breeding season into a much smaller period.

Thus there will be many more of them working at a more furious pace to provide for their young ones.

We do all we can to limit breeding sites on our school site, but the larger environment provides ideal mosquito breeding habitat as it does along much of the east coast.
So it is advisable to take your own precautions by providing your child with suitable clothing & mosquito repellent of your choice to apply to your children.

Site Manager
Gavin Colley

Seeking expressions of interest for Friday Market Stalls at CBRSS

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Expressions of interest are being sought for new market stalls at our mini-markets each Friday afternoon after school during Term time.
Available areas:

~ gluten free & vegan snacks
~ chai stall
~ class fundraising, e.g popcorn stall or whatever your class would like to do.

Forms can be collected from Reception.

Check out Mercurius for beautiful gifts

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Are you looking for quality art and craft supplies or a Steiner inspired gift or toy?

A beautiful array of quality art and craft supplies, as well as Steiner based toys and lovely gifts, are available online at Mercurius http://www.mercurius.com.au/

Enter the promotional code: FRIENDCBRSS and 15% of the sale will also go towards P&F fundraising!

MERCURIUS AUSTRALIA

Nurturing the Senses | Fostering Creativity | Nourishing Imagination

Our vision is to support healthy development for children and all ages through education, art and play. We partner with socially and environmentally conscious businesses to offer products of aesthetic beauty, outstanding craftsmanship, quality and durability.

New local slipper supplier approved for CBRSS

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I was inspired as a local Steiner Mother, to offer an affordable and sustainable choice in slippers, so I created ‘Upcycled Slippers’. They are durable and have a unique design, which I hear the children love too!.. Plus pull tags for little fingers independence. I also offer a foot measuring service, another bonus of buying local! Come and peruse my Facebook page, you can order there, and see how I hand-make Slippers all the colours of the rainbow…

Introductory Offer: Adult Sizes at Children’s Prices!

If you’d like to chat feet, you can call me, Karena on 0431 458 953. Website Coming soon upcycledslippers.com

Seeking donations of old magazines

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Thank you for the mystery magazine delivery to the art room! We really appreciate it!

If anyone has any more appropriate magazines for artistic collage please drop off your boxes of magazines to the front of the art room. Thanks!

Adult Eurythmy Classes at CBRSS

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CBRSS is excited to have Eurythmy again, don’t miss your chance to find out what it’s all about!

CBRSS Painting Workshop for Parents

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CBRSS Workshop – Transforming Destiny

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School can be the best days of a parent’s life

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Looking back at my children’s time at school, I wish I knew everything would work out all right so I didn’t waste time worrying.

I have three children, all very different academically, but they’ve each found their own path. There is so much opportunity post-school today, there really is a path for everyone.

As a parent, there is always something to worry about; when they don’t do well at school, if they’re not chosen for something, when their peers are unkind to them. The trials of adolescence.

Being a teacher has helped me see everything is a phase, and we will get through it. At the time problems seem enormous, but they pass. Sometimes it is just a case of riding out a difficulty and not catastrophising it. When my children had difficulties I used to tell them to get up, keep going, and one day the sun would shine again. And it always did.

Read the full article in the Sydney Morning Herald here

By Dr Julie Townsend.

‘Our house is on fire’: Greta Thunberg, 16, urges leaders to act on climate

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Some of our students recently were involved in a Strike against Climate Change, this Global movement was started by 16 year old Greta Thunberg from Sweden. This article is from a speech given by Greta.

Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.

According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%.

And please note that those numbers do not include the aspect of equity, which is absolutely necessary to make the Paris agreement work on a global scale. Nor does it include tipping points or feedback loops like the extremely powerful methane gas released from the thawing Arctic permafrost.

At places like Davos, people like to tell success stories. But their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag. And on climate change, we have to acknowledge we have failed. All political movements in their present form have done so, and the media has failed to create broad public awareness.

But Homo sapiens have not yet failed.

Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have everything in our own hands. But unless we recognise the overall failures of our current systems, we most probably don’t stand a chance.

Read the full article or watch the video at The Guardian here

Greta Thunberg (left) takes part in a ‘school strike for climate’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Class 1 news

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Last week Class 1 was treated to a visit by Class 7 as part of the Class 7 Wish, Wonder and Surprise Main Lesson. It was a great pleasure to have my old students connect with my new students who worked one on one to construct kites and read stories. Both groups of children were excited to meet each other and greatly benefited from the occasion particularly those without siblings. All the children are keen to meet again and as it was a rainy day we have had to postpone our kite flying and all look forward to the next windy day!

James

 

HS Swimming Carnival 2019

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Year 7 News

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Year 7 is exploring Medieval sculpture starting by building a castle.

Denis

      

      

Year 9 News

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As part of our study of the novel Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, set during WW2, Year 9 had the great pleasure of a visit from Rina Genis, grandmother to Elsa Poole (Y9), Reuben Poole (Y10) and Jules Tait (Y10). Rina shared with us some of her experiences as a young child growing up in Amsterdam during the war. She spoke of personal stories of hiding Jewish friends, of vivid memories of Nazi soldier raids, of starvation and true hardship, of loss, fear but also of love and acts of kindness. She reminded us how such events impact real people’s lives (not just fictionalised characters, such as those we are reading about in our novel). When asked how this experience changed her perspective on life, she said, it gave her strength, reminding us how even the most devastating experiences can enable us to grow as human beings. Thank you Rina for sharing some of your extraordinary life story with us! We were humbled and graced by your presence.

Alix

Congratulations Lizzie!

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Lizzie Kirkpatrick in Year 9 was thrilled during the summer holidays to discover her short film, Seeking Safety, had won an award in a competition she didn’t know she had entered! The 6-minute film contrasts her life growing up as a 14 year old in the Byron Shire with that of her friend Abdul, a refugee from Afghanistan who moved to Australia to seek refuge from violence and warfare in his homeland. Lizzie made the film as her Tobias project in Year 8, and her mentors Michelle Eabry and Ghita Fiorelli entered her into the Byron All Shorts 2019 Awards, where Lizzie was lauded with a Highly Commended and Encouragement Award. If you were fortunate enough to see her moving and impressively made documentary, you will agree that she is very deserving of this accolade. Well done Lizzie!

Congratulations to Yr 12 Students

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Congratulations to Lily, Yani, and Yemaya in year 12 for being nominated for the Youth Women’s BASE Awards, in the areas of Community Service and Citizenship, Sports Leadership and Performing Arts. The students will be attending an interview this week by industry experts and then will attend an awards breakfast on the 8th of March to find out if they have won their category. We wish them the best of luck!

Human formative forces

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What the human being sees, what is poured into his environment, becomes a force in him. In accordance with it, he forms himself. – Rudolf Steiner

From the Principal

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Hello everyone,

It was wonderful to welcome our students back to school last week. Teachers and support staff had already been back at school for several days before the students returned – but the school only really comes alive when it is filled with the laughter, chatter and striving of our wonderful students.

Our teachers gathered together for a short staff retreat together in the time before the students returned. This is something we do every year and is a great way of coming together to start the year. In this, the 100th year since the first Steiner School opened, we focused our attention on thinking deeply about the core tenets of this educational philosophy and how this might evolve so that we continue to meet the needs of the students coming to us. The discussions were vibrant and thoughtful and I am sure they will continue into this centenary year.

The first event of the year was the Rose Ceremony, where Class 1 teacher, James Deefholts, welcomed each of his new students to begin their journey together. I enjoyed meeting with Class 1 parents at a morning tea on the first morning, there is a real sense of excitement as the next part of their journey begins.

The next day, we welcomed our new Kindergarten students to the school. Again, it was lovely to spend time with Kindy parents talking about their hopes and dreams for the journey ahead and watching as the connections between families are forged. These connections will strengthen as parents work together to support the children through their school journey.

It is such an enormous privilege to be able to work with the children and families in our school community. It is no small thing to have a part in helping each young person grow and learn so that they can shape their own destinies. I know we all feel both the privilege and the responsibility deeply. Core to the success of our task are the relationships we build and the way we communicate with each other about this. My wish for this year is that we are all able to work together with positive spirit and good will to achieve the best possible outcomes for the young people who are part of our school community and who are at the centre of all we do.

Peace
Nerrida