Leaning Tree Steiner School eNewsletter

Education Manager

Dear Families

It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were wondering if it was even going to cool down. The beautiful rainy days and the alternative days of warm sunshine have certainly given our grounds a rebirth. We are fortunate indeed to have such a lovely place to come to each day. Our junior classes’ gardens are flourishing.

We were also blessed with fabulous weather for our annual Riverwalk. I would like to thank those folk who were able to join us on the day. I have had great reports about the day.

We have another busy term ahead of us with Book Week, The Spring Festival, the School Open Day and the Family Fun Day all approaching us. Please, remember that Monday the 26^th August is a pupil-free day.

As part of our continual teacher development, we have been fortunate enough to have Mr. Kevin Mazza join the primary staff for two days next week. Kevin is currently the head of Primary at Perth Waldorf School. Kevin has completed two rounds of teaching (Classes 1 through to 6) at Perth Waldorf and is a very experienced educator. He will spend time with each of the primary classes, observing and supporting our staff. If you happen to meet Kevin, please make him welcome.

Later in the term, the Lighthouse Class are embarking on their camp and the Class Five students will travel to Perth for the Greek Olympics. I am sure they will have fantastic experiences.

I wish you all a fabulous term.

Yours

Mike

Business Manager

Hello families,

We are excited to share that our Bariya playground is making impressive progress. We’ve been informed that the safety auditor will be available in September to conduct his inspection before the playground opens to our students. This is an important step in ensuring everything is safe and ready for the children.

Given that students are not allowed in the playground during construction due to safety concerns, we’ve decided to move from the originally planned Saturday morning busy bee, to seeking help during the week of August 26th to 30th. During this week, Brad and Guy will have a variety of tasks to tackle, ranging from planting to tidying up and other finishing touches.

If you’re available and willing to lend a hand, please email me at business@leaningtree.wa.edu.au with your preferred date and time. We will organize a timetable based on your availability. Any hours you contribute will count towards your family commitment hours, and your support will be greatly appreciated.

Attached are some photos taken yesterday that showcase the progress. As you can see, the playground is really starting to take shape and look fantastic!

A heartfelt thank you to Brad and Guy for their incredible dedication and hard work. Your efforts are truly bringing our vision to life, and we’re excited to see the final result!

Kind Regards,

Lisa Thackray

Community Manager

Hello everyone,

We are buzzing around like bees gathering nectar from the flowers this term. Enjoying those magnificent sun filled, windless days in amongst the welcomed rainy ones. We have a full term of events that started off last week as our whole school ventured along the Chapman River for their annual river walk. Deep respect and reverence for nature can only come as we immerse ourselves into it. All of the children’s senses were awakened by the wonders that the beautiful river has to offer. Wildflowers galore, a rushing river (the highest it’s ever been!) and a glorious day to top it all off. We give thanks to mother nature for providing us with this amazing classroom!

We have our book week (dress up as your favourite book character) parade coming up on the 16th of August. As with our low technology policy, we look for your support and ask that characters from ‘licensed’ entities such as ‘Disney’ are avoided. Please help the children create a costume that is meaningful, authentic and fun! Home made are always most enjoyable.

The following week we have the ‘Book Fair’, that is a fundraising for our school and purchasing opportunity for our families. Children view books and parents can then make decisions about purchasing them during week 6. More information coming soon.

The school will be holding its inaugural Nadhua Spring Festival on the 23rd August and we are excited. A morning filled with spring themes, flowers, shared picnic and the maypole performance. Festivals and re-occurring events provide comfort and support for children just like routines. They behave like a big hug over the calendar year, letting children know what is coming next and all is as it should be.

Following this we have an Open Day on 25th August, where we spruce up our school and open the doors to anyone who is curious about our school and Steiner education. Teachers will be on hand to welcome attendees and provide information and our Seabreeze class will provide a Maypole performance. We are celebrating 5 years at this site with cake and the P & F will be supporting this event, with a sausage sizzle, frozen fruit ice-creams and the drawing of our major raffle. So please continue with the sale of your raffle tickets.

There will be a Pupil Free Day on 26th August.

The Chapman Valley Show is on the 31st August, and we have our usual display of our children’s work at the show. The Show organisers have given a wooden llama to many schools to decorate and display on the day. We are so excited to be working on this and are currently involving students during our handcraft lessons. Watch this space! You will not miss our llama when it is done, our progress is already stunning! In my eye that is, although they might be biased!

Winter blessings

Lisa Scamporlino

Relief Community Manager

Starflower Kindergarten/Pre-primary

Starflower News

“One little, two little, three little fishies,

Three little friends in the river blue,

Swimming and flitting in the long green grasses,

Hideaway, hideaway, peekaboo.

One little, two little, three little fishies,

Three little friends in the river blue,

Flying is a pelican, a hungry pelican,

Swim fast little fishies so he can’t catch you!”

Dear Starflower families,

Term 3 had a happy, sad beginning for the Starflowers, as we said farewell to our beloved Helen when she headed off on an exciting adventure to Christmas Island with her husband. Happily, we had the good luck to find Nina, who was keen to take on the role and she has stepped smoothly into the classroom and is quickly winning the hearts of our Preppies and Kinders.

One of my favourite times of the year at Leaning Tree is our annual Riverwalk. The preppy children and the Blossoms group of Kinders were happy little adventurers as we headed along the northern bank of the Chapman River towards the river mouth. We welcomed the assistance of some enthusiastic family members and hopped on to our ‘ little rope train’ to keep all the little carriages chugging along together. Morning tea time found us at Sunset Beach, where we enjoyed tucking into our fruit, snacks and then a treat of tasty Banana Bread, made by the children with Nina’s expert assistance. After filling our tummies we were ready for some serious beach play, digging, leaping, sliding and fossicking on the shore. On the journey back to Spalding Park, the ‘big, black train’ was definitely chugging a little slower, with some puffed-out engines. However, a play on the playground, followed by lunch and a resttime story under the shady trees revived us and then we finished the day flying our wind wands down the grassy hill.

We all went home with full, happy hearts after our nature-filled day at the River. Huge thanks to all of our helpers on the day.

Warm Winter Blessings to you all,

Kathy and Nina

Sunflower Room Class 1

Burning brightly! Flaming fiercely!

Soaring upwards leaps our fire!

We flash and we flame! We search and we see!

By Sophie Hudson

The Sunflowers have had a sensational start to the term. After the spectacle of Winter Solstice and witnessing the geometric fire dance for the first time, Sunflowers have been firing ahead and rehearsing for their own performance. With lots of winter colds and the like, we had to postpone our class play “King Winter and Lady Spring” to the following term. After much rain, rehearsals, and more rain the heavens cleared and shone down on our Sunflowers. We delighted family and friends by our bravery, resilience, and dedication on the day of the performance and made everyone proud. Thank you to all the family members who cheered us on.

The days are becoming warmer, and we have been closely watching the wattle flower around us. We have heard many seasonal stories which speak to the children during this transitional time. Sunflowers have also been making popcorn, pancakes, cinnamon scrolls, and hot chocolate to keep warm on the cooler days. Sunflowers have spent sunny afternoons in the garden tending to native plants and clearing winter grass. We have been watching from our window a new nature playground arising from the sand and reaching high into the blue sky.

On the 2^nd August, the whole school had an amazing time exploring the Chapman River for our annual Riverwalk. The Sunflowers spent the day roaming around the river, climbing trees, sliding down sand dunes, and rolling down grassy hills. We spotted egrets, herons, pelicans, ducks and even ducklings. We watched surfers and kayakers enjoy the waves. Sunflowers played with seaweed, made tunnels, and buried each other’s legs at the mouth of the river, frolicking by the sea. Thank you to the parent volunteers who supported our Sunflowers by the river and sea. I am sure the Sunflowers needed a sleep-in the next day.

Sincerely

Susan

Dear Families,

We hope this newsletter finds you well! Here’s a glimpse into what we’ve been learning in Jilinbiri over the past few weeks.

In our main lesson, we have been exploring fascinating Celtic tales. These stories have captivated us with their rich history and imaginative themes. The students have shown great enthusiasm in discussing and sharing their thoughts on these enchanting narratives.

We’ve also delved into First Nations culture, focusing on the remarkable story of the Rainbow Snake. The children had a wonderful time creating snake mobiles and crafting snakes out of salt dough, which helped them connect with the cultural significance of the story. Additionally, we built a traditional humpy in the bush play area, enhancing our understanding of indigenous housing and community life.

Our science lessons have been filled with excitement as we continue to observe our beautiful vegetable garden grow. The students are actively involved in caring for the plants while learning about the crucial role bees play in our ecosystem. This hands-on experience is helping them appreciate the importance of nature.

In maths, we have been skip counting and exploring patterns, which has allowed the students to develop a strong foundation in number sense. They are also writing multiplication number sentences, making connections between different mathematical concepts.

A highlight of the first four weeks was our annual river walk. The students had so much fun exploring the natural environment, learning about local wildlife, and enjoying each other's company. It was a fantastic opportunity for connection and exploration.

Thank you for your continuous support! We look forward to more adventures and learning in the weeks ahead.

Warm regards,

Leisl and Ann-Marie

Seabreeze Room Class 3

Seabreeze News

I am delighted to share the wonderful experiences the Seabreeze children have been enjoying during their ‘Farming’ Main Lesson. Each morning, the children eagerly head to the garden to harvest fresh produce, which they then get to enjoy as a healthy snack. It has been a joy to watch them connect with nature and learn where their food comes from.

Our wheat crop is growing tall and proud, and the children take great pride in observing its progress. This hands-on learning extends to their creative activities as well. They have been sculpting clay farm animals and creating beautiful watercolour art that captures the essence of our farming theme.

Last Friday, we spent the day strolling along the Chapman River for our annual whole school River Walk, a beloved tradition that brings our community together in celebration of nature and physical activity. After a beautiful 7km walk, we ended our day at the beach playing in the dunes.

The Seabreeze children have also been practicing the Maypole dance every morning, and we can’t wait to see their hard work and joyful spirits shine through in their performance.

I hope you are all enjoying the cool winter weather and the abundance of rain we’ve been blessed with. Winter has always been my favourite season for these reasons.

Tara & Claire

Hello parents and families,

Welcome to the latest update from Rivergum. We've had an exciting start to Term 3 filled with hands-on learning, exploration, and discovery. Our classroom has been buzzing with activity, and we are thrilled to share some highlights with you.

Our class garden plots are flourishing! The students have been dedicated gardeners, tending to a variety of plants with great care. We've planted everything from tomatoes and cucumbers to sunflowers and marigolds. Each student has taken responsibility for their individual plots, learning valuable lessons about patience, responsibility, and the wonders of nature. The garden has become a vibrant, living classroom where we observe the growth and development of our plants daily. The students are excited to see the fruits of their labour (literally!) and have already begun harvesting some of our crops. The joy of tasting fresh, homegrown vegetables is unparalleled. We invite you to visit our garden and see it first- hand.

This term, our first main lesson block focuses on "The Human Being and the Animal World." It’s a fascinating journey where we explore how animals can be sorted into categories by examining their characteristics. Our studies have taken us through various animal kingdoms, understanding the unique traits and adaptations that allow different species to thrive in their environments.

Our class jigsaw table has been quite busy- it is a fabulous way to practise problem solving skills, critical thinking, spatial awareness, strengthens short-term memory and has many emotional and psychological benefits. We have worked our way up to 1000-piece puzzles, and they require a lot of concentration!

In Math, we are continuing to learn a variety of card games, this includes classics such as Rummy, Kings in the Corner, Garbage, Steal Wars, and several others. Many card games require counting, addition, and subtraction, and involve logical reasoning and deduction. Students learn to make connections and draw conclusions based on the cards they and their opponents have. Playing card games involves a lot of verbal communication. Students practice articulating their thoughts, negotiating with teammates, and explaining their moves, which enhances their communication skills. Card games teach students to follow rules and instructions carefully, understanding and adhering to the rules of a game is a valuable skill that translates to other areas of learning and life.

Rivergum had their first circus lesson this term! Everyone was so enthusiastic. It was led by a circus instructor, who introduced us to a variety of circus arts, including juggling, spinning plates, stilt walking, unicycle, and batons. We can’t wait for another session.

This term in our Make and Do lessons we bravely ventured into the world of origami, armed with colourful paper and boundless enthusiasm. What started as an innocent exercise in folding quickly turned into a hilarious parade of paper chaos. We had whales that looked more like crumpled pigeons and frogs that seemed to be performing their own form of interpretive dance. Despite some tricky folds and the occasional paper disaster, the room was filled with laughter and the determined chant of "just one more try!"

We finished Week 3 with the River Walk. It was a long way, but we slogged through wet grass, muddy puddles, and dodged hungry ants and had a fabulous day. Many thanks to the parents who walked with us.

Regards

Kelly and Helen.

Dear Families,

A warm winter greetings to all.

We had a whole special Winter Solstice newsletter at the end of last term; however I just want to congratulate our Year 6 students once more for their fire routine performance. This was the culmination of lots of practice and self-control. In weeks 8 and 9, courage and resiliency will be required yet again, as both year groups head off to different camps.

We commenced this term, thinking about goal setting while learning about some change makers and Indigenous leaders. We looked at some important songs, the stories and people who inspired them written by Archie Roach, Adam Briggs and Paul Kelly.

We then turned towards Paris and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. We have learnt about the connection to Ancient Greece, where the games began and the symbolism of different elements such as the rings, flame and olive branches. We have contemplated how athletes get to the Olympics, needing a huge amount of mental toughness, talent, hard work and goal setting abilities.

In math, we have been reviewing measurement concepts and continue with geometric constructions when time permits. Students are creating their 24 division of a circle boards ( nails in wood), which we hope to start “weaving” soon.

Our garden is growing well, with bulbs pushing through and everlastings sprouting too. We have lots of lettuces which we welcome you to come and taste (pick the outer leaves). Some carrots are looking reading to harvest, we even have some purple ones!

To me, August is really SPRING in the Midwest, as this is when all our wildflowers bloom. We have been looking forward to our Chapman River Walk, so we can explore and see what is out there.

Warm regards,

Lisa Keeffe

Voyager Room Class 7

Hello Voyager families,

It has been a great start to Term 3 for the Voyager crew. Having recently finished our Chemistry focus, the Voyagers have shifted to getting their hands dirty in the current main lesson: Gardening Horticulture. In this main lesson, we have been looking at the history of gardening and agriculture and its subsequent impact on human civilisation.

Furthermore, in class 7 we have been busy creating housing for a measurement maths unit and creating a unique and workable business. We are also preparing for an exciting few weeks ahead with sculpture lessons and the creation of short films, all while strapping ourselves in for some morning adventures to be had very soon!

Next week, we turn our attention to our new main lesson: Indigenous Societies and Civilisations, as well as looking at Languages throughout the world.

I look forward to continuing to bring varied and interesting learning experiences to the Voyager students during the remainder of Term 3.

Kind regards to all,

David

Prospect Room Class 8/9

Dear Families

This term I have awarded tickets to all of the class to fly around the world to four countries (pretend) and given them a budget. The students have created their airline, found accommodation and activities to do in each country. Some students had $500,000 and some as low as $20,000, so we will see how they spend their money!

They have created a travel pamphlet to persuade me to go on their trip and below are some examples of travel pamphlets made.

We also had a circus excursion, where they got to have time on stilts, a unicycle, pois, diablo, juggling, hoops and plate spinning. Photos are below.

Coming up this term for the class are an excursion to Dongara and the art gallery, an incursion from TAFE and cooking for the Year 7 class, Voyager.

Yours sincerely,

Anita

This term, we are working on some fun projects with Middle School. Several students have been involved in the design of a chook pen, with site work having commenced. The project will be entirely built by the students.

After an excursion visiting the op shops, the Prospect class are repurposing and redesigning items of fashion. There are some highly creative people in our senior class, and I look forward to showing you some completed items in our next newsletter.

The students have also been carving a three-winged flying object, utilising their knowledge of both the lift created by a wing and the returning flight of the boomerang. These three-winged tri-merangs are great fun to make and even more fun to fly. It also gave us an opportunity to study how the traditional owners used flying objects for hunting and ceremonial purposes.

The Voyager class has been working on a model car. This involves creative cuts, chiselling, filing, and design. They can add accessories of their own choice, leading to the creation of many interesting vehicles, including surf vans, monster trucks and farm vehicles.

This term, the Lighthouse class has also commenced woodwork. Their first project has been to create a board with a 24-nail circle, which will be used in their main lesson to weave a geometric pattern. Keep your eye out for some pictures of the finished products in the next newsletter.

Regards,

Paul

Wastesorted

This term we would like to introduce our Waste Warriors Team!

Each class has reps who support the Terracycling and other Waste Sorted initiatives across the school:

Catherine and Neavah from Prospects 9 will support the Star Flowers K/PP class with their oral care recycling program;

Leo and Naomi from Sunflowers 1 are collecting coloured plastic bottle lids, cling wrap and ziplock bags;

Sail and Huey from Jilinbiri 2 are collecting writing instrument recycling;

Quill and Mia from Seabreeze 3 are collecting coffee pods;

Lacey from Rivergum 4/5 is collecting dish and air care;

Jaycob from Lighthouse are collecting skincare packaging;

Marli and Declan from Voyager 7 are collecting haircare and colour packaging;

Rueben and Kaylee from Prospects 8/9 are collecting hair aerosols.

We are now a public drop-off point for these items so please support us to keep these out of landfill. Once packaged up and sent away, TerraCycle will reward our efforts with $ per kilo which we can put towards our sustainability programs. Please have a look at out our recycling hub located at our school exit.

Our Waste Warriors Team will meet several times each term. Positions involve:

-Being a class lunch box detective: on the lookout for waste wise lunches and encourage peers to swap plastic for bees wax wraps and/ or reusable containers. (We have signed up for Glad TerraCycle but need to be careful how this is used as its better to prevent than encourage more plastic).

-Conduct waste audits with the team and report back to classes.

-Check their classes TerraCycle bins at front of school weekly with EA and let the class know when it’s time to pull out bin, take to oval and as a class clean, dry and box up, ready to send to TerraCycle. They will let me know how many labels are needed for postage. These will be printed and given to teachers to attach to boxes and then taken to post office.

-Ensure class scrap buckets are taken to chooks/ worm / compost daily and rinsed out to keep fresh.

- Collect scrap paper from Karen in office (ECE/primary) and middle school teachers (secondary).

- Report to community at Friday gatherings as appropriate.

Positions would be held for a full term to keep consistency.

We have just completed our first Waste Audit together on Friday the 26^th July. This study took a closer look at the amount of waste in bins across several categories collected over a day. Findings showed that there was a red alert for snack wrappers! Although these lunch box treats are a convenience for busy families, our aim is to encourage home baking/ treat making or purchases to come to school in a sectioned lunch box or reusable zip lock/ wax wraps where possible. These changes can save families money, create kitchen fun and most importantly reduce land fill waste.

Happy waste sorting

Dani and the Waste Warriors Team

Community News

OPEN_DAY_2024_final.pdf

Spring_Festival_parent_info.pdf

Noticeboard

25_Things_to_Do_Cold_Weather.pdf

7 Feb	Class 7 Knighting Ceremony 8.45 am All day

10 Feb	Parent Nights 5.30 pm - 6.30 pm 10 Feb 2025 - 13 Feb 2025

19 Feb	P&F Meeting All day

28 Feb	Pupil Free Day All day

3 Mar	Labour Day All day

4 Mar	Swimming Lessons 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Gumnut Bulletin 5, 2024