No: 10 6 April 2018

THE Friday FLIER

KOTAHITANGA

Waikato Waldorf School, Kindergartens and Playcircle

Dear Waikato Waldorf Community

Last Thursday we celebrated our Autumn & Easter Festival. It was wonder-

ful to see the students enjoying the challenges of the outdoor activities.

Class 6 students led their groups around the course and supported and en-

couraged the younger students magnificently. Class 7 & 8 students were

well versed in explaining and organis-

ing the games and ran their activities

like clockwork. Well done to every-

one who participated! It was lovely to

see everyone so actively involved. I would also like to thank

our ‘Charity Group’ who did an amazing job at advertising, or-

ganizing the collection and the display of the Food Bank goods

and of course everyone who sent in the produce for us to pass

on. The shared lunch tables were a joy to behold and thank

you for your generosity in providing such healthy and wholesome food. Lastly thanks goes to Class

4 for their lovely violin performance and Elizabeth for her beautiful Easter story.

All in all a great festival!

This week, on Thursday 5 April, Fairfield College held their annual Honours Assembly. We were

very proud to see a significant number of our ex-students receiving awards for achieving the Nation-

al Certificate of Educational Achievement endorsed to merit or excellence level.

NCEA Level 1 Achieved with Merit 2017 Eillish Coulsby and Tane McFadden

NCEA Level 1 Achieved with Excellence 2017 Jaide Theobald

NCEA Level 2 Achieved with Excellence 2017 Izzy Cleaver and Jade Te Bogt

We are always really keen to follow the lives and paths of our ex-students. My own daughter

achieved NCEA Level 3 with Excellence last year from Dio and is now attending Waikato University

studying Business Management and Communication. At the moment our students go on to many

different high schools across Hamilton and we often hear very similar stories across many different

fields. I know many of our old families still receive the flier so please keep in touch and let us know

your stories.

UPCOMING EVENTS

10 April Community Information and Consultation Meeting 3.15pm and 6.30pm

12 April Journey Through School (Open Day) – 6.30pm

13 April Last day of term—school finishes at 2pm

30 April Start of term 2

Autumn Festival Food Bank Collection

This years collection was very successful. The fundraising group collected 7 huge boxes filled to the brim with food and supplies.

The Hamilton Christian Combined Food Bank will be picking up our do-nations this week.

A big thank you to everyone who donated items.

Jacson Shirlow

From the Kindergartens

A reminder to families that we are open during the school term break. If your child is attending please remem-ber to pack a lunchbox for both morning tea and lunch.

The mornings are starting to get a little cooler; please remember to dress your child in warmer layers. We can always remove layers as the day warms up. Remember, the rule of thumb is that your child needs one more layer than you wear - this is providing you aren’t one of those folk who are perfectly comfortable in short sleeves on cold days. The young child needs warmth to grow their bodies and we can help with this by ensur-ing they are dressed according to the weather.

Please see your kindergartens weekly emails for regular information and notices from your child’s group, we hope these are useful for you.

Margaret McCarthy ECE Principal

Next week I would like to remind you that we have a

‘Community Information and Consultation Meeting’ in the hall, on Tuesday at 3.15pm

(with supervision of children outside) and repeated at 6.30pm (no supervision available).

It would be great to give you an update on all the building developments taking place in school and on

the formation of our Junior High. Your thoughts would be greatly valued on our priorities as we con-

tinue to grow our beautiful Waldorf school.

Finally a special message to all our new parents and kindy and early childhood parents. If you

haven’t already been to one of our open evenings, A Journey Through Waikato Waldorf School, we

have another opportunity for you to meet our teachers and experience the rich curriculum throughout

the school. The evening starts at 6.30pm – 8.00pm on Thursday 12th

April. Adults only please.

Nga mihi

Sue

CLASSROOM CORNER

The art (and health benefits) of free play.

A century ago Rudolf Steiner pointed to the importance of self-initiated play for young children, especially between the third and sixth

year of life, and he warned of the consequences of replacing the child’s self-directed play with activities which are planned according

to programs and pedagogical intentions held by adults. His reasons for suggesting non-interference of the adult in respect to child-

initiated play are based on a deepening of the understanding of play in relation to three fundamental areas:

The nature of play in early childhood as distinct from the play of older children

The role of play in the development of the child

The role of play in the biography of the human being

The urge to play appears in young children up to the age of five with such elemental force that one can compare it to the natural ne-

cessities of eating and sleeping. Rudolf Steiner likens the urge to play to the flow of a river, to the water’s continuous moving along in

the river bed. What happens in play in not premeditated but occurs out of the spur of the moment with a great deal of willpower. The

release of will through the play action is a source of joy for the child, a joy not linked to the achievement of a specific purpose. Turning

to the role of play in the biography of the human being, he says:

The urge to play, the particular way in which a child plays, disappears and sinks below the surface of life. Then it resurfaces, but as

something different, as the skill to adapt to life. There is an inner coherence in life throughout all its stages. We need to know this in

order to teach children in the right way.

The child has a spiritual-soul activity that, in a certain sense, still hovers lightly, etherically over the child. (That is, the spirit-soul being

of the child is not yet fully incarnated.) It is active in play in much the same way that dreams are active throughout the entire life. In

children, however, this activity occurs not simply in dreams, it occurs also in play, which develops in external reality. What thus devel-

ops in external reality subsides in a certain sense. In just the same way that the seed-forming forces of a plant subside in the leaf and

flower petal and only reappear in the fruit, what a child uses in play also only reappears at about the age of twenty-one or twenty-two,

as independent reasoning in gathering experiences in life.

Play reveals its greatest importance for the human biography, in that self-directed play is a practice for and a foreshadowing of taking

responsibility for one’s own life.

Play is an activity in which the child relates to the outer and inner world and experiences different qualities of life on earth. There are

six types of play:

Play in which the child actively explores the environment and forms mental representations of this world which are later linked to

concepts.

Play that specifically develops the coordination and dexterity of the limbs and the mastery of the body.

Play in which the child reproduces the roles and events of everyday life and in replaying social experiences builds an understand-

ing of the social world.

Play in which the child expresses inner experiences and works through trauma.

Play in which the child enters the world of images and archetypes, which are the heritage of humanity, and reproduces those

images in playing out stories or producing pictures related to long times past.

Play in which the child creates something new, actively changing the given.

Encouraging free play gives children the opportunity to enhance their imagination, critical

thinking skills, gross motor skills and sensory integration skills. Logs, stumps, seeds,

puddles, coloured veils transform into rocket ships, castles, bridges, and treasures. Cre-

ating a healthy inner and outer life force.

Maree Smith RN

Anthroposophical RN 021 150 9433

LOST PROPERTY

Please take the time to check lost property

(hanging up in front of the disabled toilet).

Anything left behind at the end of term will be donated to charity.

Community Information and Consultation Meeting

10th April 2018 3.15pm and 6.30 pm

Part One

The faculty and governing bodies would like to invite all members of the community to find out more

about the building developments that are taking place this year on site.

This will mostly be information shared by members of the Proprietors Trust (PT), who are responsible for

providing the physical structure of the school, and the school Principal. It will centre on the building projects

already initiated and inform on where they are in their various points of the construction cycle.

It will also include the development of Class 9, which completes us as a Junior High.

Part Two

We would also like to ask for feedback from the community on how we can successfully move from a

Junior High to a full High School.

To successfully go from a Junior High to a full High School is a big journey. We will discuss how this journey

looks to us as a community, and how we might successfully complete it! We will look at it from Educational,

Property and Financial perspectives.

Anthroposophical Reading Group

Dear school community,

This Tuesday 10th April is the last reading for the term and we will read from Rudolf Steiner’s Easter lecture series, which is very inspiring and insightful. Please join us if you would like to. Next term we begin a new topic on the 12 senses and their relation to imagination, inspiration and intuition.

Also, we are considering a change to Monday evenings and I would like to hear if this would make a difference to you being able to attend – please send me a text or email.

Sarah Oliver 027 805 0850 sarah@parenteen.com.au

85 Barrington Drive, Huntington, Hamilton Ph: 07 855 8710 email: office@waikatowaldorf.school.nz website: www.waikatowaldorf.school.nz www.facebook.com/WaikatoWaldorf School

MASTER YOUR POSTURE (FOR MUMS AND DADS)

SERIES OF AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT ® LESSONS

“Correct posture is a matter of emotional growth and learning”

M. Feldenkrais)

Hello Waikato Waldorf School community, I’m excited about bringing new movement classes here and sharing what I

have been hugely benefiting from myself:

In these lessons we will focus on what M Feldenkrais called “the world’s best kept secret” – the good posture. We’ll ex-

plore the meaning of standing / sitting “straight”, which kind of posture is efficient and requires less effort, the idea of

dynamic equilibrium. You’ll become more aware of how your skeleton supports you and start re-educating your bodily

senses. It’s not possible to find a better posture by willpower or thinking, so these lessons are exploratory and involve

gentle and slow movement with a lot of awareness. This method of education is non-judgmental and talks straight to

your nervous system, empowering it to make the best choices. The lessons are suitable either you’re in chronic pain or

a high-performance athlete or anywhere in between.

FIND WHAT REALLY SUPPORTS YOU WHILE YOU’RE SUPPORTING YOUR FAMILY.

These lessons will give you a solid foundation to explore other topics, i.e. pelvis, breathing, use of eyes in movement,

walking / running etc.

WHEN:

Term 2, weekday evenings or Saturday mornings*, 1 hour

lessons

WHERE:

Waikato Waldorf School Hall

or Rimu Cottage

INVESTMENT:

$15 per lesson

or $130 for a block of 10 lessons;

30% of proceeds will be donated to Uriel Trust to support our

children who have special educational / therapeutical

needs.

*Please e-mail or text your Expression of Interest to Alina (mum of Alfred in Class 3 and Adelina in Class 1) alina-

kom@mail.ru / 021 029 43935 with your preferred day / time.

To find out more, go to my Facebook page (@KoruMovement), or just come to talk to me and I can guide you through a

very short teasing lesson !

Awareness Through Movement ® Lessons – Term 2 WWS

PARENT LIBRARY

We are currently revamping the Parent Library in order to make it more accessible to our community. Our first step is to catalogue all the books that we have. To be able to do this accurately and completely we are asking for all books that are currently out to please be returned by the end of the term next Friday April 13th. Thank you!

Helen Black

Board of Trustees, bi-election

The Waikato Waldorf School is seeking three new parent representatives on the

Board of Trustees.

If you are interested to see what it’s like to be on the board, this is a great opportunity to dip your

toe in the water as the appointment will be for 12 months with a full board election in May of 2019.

Being a school trustee is a very important and rewarding role. Trustees are active leaders in our

school and need to be able to work well in a team, ask challenging questions and have good com-

munication skills. Having a board of trustees with a range of skills and experiences is important,

however just as important is the motivation and commitment to making a positive difference to our

children’s progress, learning and development.

We hold the children at the heart of all we do.

If this sounds like you, I encourage you to complete a nomination form and put yourself forward to

support our school and community. If this letter sparks your interest and you would like to know

more, please feel free to contact me directly. If it’s not you, but you know of someone in the com-

munity you think would be ideal for the role, invite them to nominate themselves, or you can nomi-

nate them.

A nomination forms will be sent to every parent by the 20th

April

and completed nomination forms must be returned by Friday 4th

May.

Andrew McFadden

(Board Chair, on behalf of the board of trustees)

Celebration of National Organic Week

In 1924 Rudolf Steiner delivered a series of eight lectures to a group of farmers in Austria. These lectures defined biodynamic agri-culture and the Demeter symbol was created in 1927 to identify foods grown by these methods. This contributed to the founding of organic farming.

In August 2017 Waikato Waldorf School and ECE campuses were included in the widening of existing Organic Conversion of the Community Garden, with the certification area reaching across the block between Te Manatu Drive and Barrington Drive, bordered on the South by a reserve and the North by social housing.

Members of the Waldorf community are invited to join the public meeting this coming Monday to learn more.

Organic certification 101

Monday April 9th 5- 6pm, Go Eco, Hamilton

Organic certification is good for growers, good for the environment and easier than you think! Come and find out how to get started with organic certification. An informal session hosted by Organic FarmNZ Waikato.