A Breath of Fresh Air: Taking the Inside Out
18 Nov 2021
There’s an old architectural design mantra that promotes Bringing the Outside In, which is about using large natural forms and building them into internal design principles. Over the past few weeks we’ve been doing exactly the opposite, and Taking the Inside Out. The need for good ventilation has driven many classes outside, and what a breath of fresh air it has brought, in all meanings of the term.
At Middle Cove we are using seven “official” new outside learning spaces to ensure all our high school lessons are as ventilated as possible. There are other less official spaces that teachers have found, in outdoor nooks and crannies that can accommodate smaller groups of students. Our bushland campus has really come into its own as all schools struggle to ensure students and teachers are as ventilated as possible.
Now there are challenges in outdoor learning. As any good teacher knows, a lesson needs to have a sense of integrity, a “skin” around it that holds the students and teacher/s in a unity with a common purpose in learning. In simple terms, everyone, both students and teacher, need to focus on the lesson and on their common task, otherwise the learning is less.
The four walls of the usual classroom space provide a physical boundary that gives one layer of the “skin” around a lesson. But as we all know, that’s not enough, and a lesson can so easily lose focus even within the most solid walls.
It’s the art of the teacher to create the intangible “skin” by drawing the students into the web of interest, enthusiasm and focused attention that every good lesson needs. Teachers create the “skin” themselves and learning this art, for an art it is, is the result of the sheer hard work that goes into training to be a teacher.
So taking lessons outside has a big challenge in one sense. How do you sustain student attention when you have kookaburras cackling, the wind on the trees, a distant chainsaw and the odd brush turkey wandering past, not to mention the visual distractions of a panorama of pleasant trees to look at? So the art of the teacher comes into its own in the outdoor classroom setting. Teachers need to be on their toes keeping attention and focus.
But the benefits are immense. At a time when clean air is a precious commodity, the sheer quality of fresh air at Middle Cove is impressive. The thick natural forest next to the waters of Middle Harbour create a highly oxygenated air flow which must make the campus one of the healthiest educational settings you can imagine.
Outdoor learning is nothing new to Glenaeon, it’s been part of our DNA since inception. Embedding learning in a natural environment was the foundational design of the school. One of the founders of our school Eric Nicholls, the junior partner of Walter and Marion Burly Griffin, first articulated his plans for a school in a natural setting as early as 1952, when he described his vision of creating a village-like series of classroom buildings in a bushland setting. His foundational design has echoed on in all the design principles that have shaped Glenaeon’s grounds ever since. Every window in the school looks out on to trees and green spaces.
How ahead of his time was that? Research that started at the University of Colorado in the 1990’s found some interesting results regarding health and wellbeing connected with “green” school yards. In general, and screening out such factors as socio-economic advantage, they found a connection between green spaces on a school campus and the health and wellbeing of its student population. The research is population research, so it covers many schools and many students, but it does suggest we have about as healthy a schoolyard as you can get. The Japanese “Forest Bathing’ movement with its associated research is demonstrating the physical benefits of extended time in forest settings, which is what our students enjoy every day.
The research is so pertinent in this time when air quality for students is such a hot topic. A local researcher is now working on the health of Australian high school grounds: Gweneth Leigh at the University of Canberra is completing a PhD on the how the design of secondary schoolyards has an impact on the wellbeing of students. She is hoping to raise awareness of how profoundly important green school grounds are for student wellbeing and health. Glenaeon is part of her study and we have shared our vision and practice of learning that is integrated into the natural environment.
Hopefully one silver lining from this challenging time might be a realisation that we need to take the inside out more often in schools. Students need their learning integrated into natural spaces for health and wellbeing reasons. If as a society we can learn that, it really will be a breath of fresh air.
Andrew Hill
Head of School
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Returning to school and life after lockdown
04 Nov 2021
Returning to school has been a joy. How wonderful it is to sit in my office or walk through the campus and hear the sounds of vigorous handball negotiations, games of tip, and (best of all) the sound of children's laughter! After our long winter in lockdown, with most of us having very restricted contact with friends and family, watching the children rediscovering each other is fascinating and beautiful.
Returning to school and life after lockdown has also been an enormous shift. There is no doubt that finding 'normal' again can be challenging as well as wonderful. At school, we initially saw some homesickness in a few younger children while our older students are learning again how to manage their energy within the rhythms of their regular timetables.
There are many excellent resources available to support families at times of change such as this.
This term, Our Parent Education series focuses on the theme "Out of Home and into the World" https://glo.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/homepage/1397 . And Student Wellbeing Coordinator Emily Fam has compiled strategies and ideas which parents and students can find on the GLO Health and Wellbeing page https://glo.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/homepage/919.
Sometimes though, I look a little closer to home when I'm managing a significant shift. Juliette Najar was my paternal grandmother, and when I was a child, she represented a place of calm in a sometimes uncertain world. She was born the third of five children in Tripoli, Lebanon, in about 1917 (she was always pretty hazy about her birth date). I was her first grandchild and, of course, the favourite (just ask my brother and our six cousins)! We called her Sittee, which is Arabic for Grandma, and she was, in short, magnificent! Elegant, composed, and with much to teach about making a child feel safe and secure.
Here's a little of what I learned from her:
Sit and listen
Sittee would sometimes sit right next to me, put her hand on my hand and say, "Yes, darling?".
I mostly didn't have much to say, but I knew I could if I did – and that made all the difference.
I know now that children and young people need our unguarded presence – someone who is still and undistracted for just long enough.
Take time
Time moved slowly at Sittee and Jiddy's (Grandpa's) house. In a Steiner school, it's what we call rhythm. Slow and steady, predictable, calming. If your children need it, let them take time coming back into the world – see what works and what doesn't – the old 'normal' might fit, and it might not. Take time to relish the extraordinary inside the ordinary. Sittee could make a bus ride to Bondi Junction seem like an adventure in a way that made us appreciate every little step of the journey.
Above all, be kind
In her 80s, Sittee had her handbag ripped from her arm in a random bag snatching. Being elderly, she fell and sustained injuries. We were shocked, upset and angry, but somehow, Sittee reacted with empathy and kindness. "What a terrible life that young man must have to take a handbag from an old lady", she said. In a time of uncertainty, change and division, we are called on to find a fraction of my grandmother's kindness and empathy.
Change can be wonderful, and it can feel uncertain. Sometimes, it can make me think that we could all do with a Lebanese grandmother! I hope Glenaeon families may enjoy a little of Sittee's wisdom as we readjust to the joy of life after lockdown!
Dani Finch
Deputy Head of School (K-6)
The Elephant in the Zoom Room
19 Aug 2021
To support our parent community through the extended Sydney lockdown, Glenaeon recently launched a series of talks on the theme "Wellbeing During Difficult Times". Evan Sanders, our IT Integrator, hosted the first in the series last week. His talk 'Digital Wellbeing’ addressed the Elephant in the Zoom Room …. how do we, as a school that has long championed an 'unplugged' childhood reconcile the paradox of online delivery?
Dr Steiner and his contemporaries could scarcely have imagined the devices used in many modern classrooms. However, his indications were clear; children thrive when they experience connection with nature, play, home and self. Now reinforced by current research, Glenaeon's approach to (at school) education, particularly in the Primary Years, is natural, home-like, playful and unplugged! At Glenaeon, although we have embraced tools such as iPads, laptops and digital submission of tasks in secondary school, we remain resolute in our view that in the physical Primary classroom, the benefits of using these items during childhood can never offset the costs.
So how did we come to the view that online learning is not only acceptable but in some ways necessary during remote learning? The answer comes down to one of the very reasons we decry technology in the classroom – connection.
When children are in a classroom with their friends and their teacher, they are engaged and learning in a space of warm, meaningful, social interaction. They are learning skills, to be sure, but the environment in which those skills are taught holds one of the keys to true, healthy development. During a period where we must work and learn from home to safeguard our physical health, the classroom's rich environment disappears and with it the chance to experience a myriad of learning opportunities each day. Some of these lost learning opportunities are skills-based. For example, direct and time-sensitive feedback, is much more quickly given during an in-person lesson. However, the other type of learning children miss at home is our connective tissue at Glenaeon - connection! It's the learning found in the 'in-between' moments; a smile, words of affirmation, praise or correction from your teacher; a game in the playground with friends that you haven't played before; a teacher or friend noticing that you look a little sad today and trying to cheer you up. These are the things that can be lost when we are not physically together.
If we stay with the traditional model and don't use the technology available to us when learning from home, connection can become the opportunity cost of staying safe and well. Our Primary Faculty decided early in the pandemic that this was a cost too great to bear. And so we wondered, what if there were a way to stay connected, engaged and educated during long periods at home? What if we could maintain healthy routines and have a healthy relationship with technology? And so the zoom room was born. It's not perfect, it's not what we would wish for or what we long to return to, but it is what we have. And for us, right now, the balance hangs in favour of connection.
Our Early Childhood and Primary staff are using GLO and Zoom in innovative and creative ways and for appropriate amounts of time for each age group. From Little Kindy to Class 6, children and their teachers are connecting and learning over the internet. Catherine Pilko, our Senior Teacher at Castlecrag Campus, told her Little Kindergarten class the story of "The Little Gnome Who Had to Stay Home" on a zoom session last week. Written by Susan Perrow in the early days of the pandemic, Catherine has now added her own special touch - a magical 'glowing window' where our friend the gnome, can find his friends even though he has to stay home. I commend the story to you as a soul-filling reminder of the warmth and connection that lives (with the elephant) in our zoom rooms.
Dani Finch
Deputy Head of School (K-6)
Read Little Gnome and the Magic Window by Catherine Pilko.
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COVID-19 Update
07 Jul 2021
During the COVID-19 crisis, Glenaeon has been keeping Parents and Carers regularly informed as things rapidly change and unfold.
LATEST: Letter to Parents and Carers - 7 July 2021
The Education You Need
20 May 2021
Inspiration and ideas for newsletter pieces sometimes come at the strangest times. Recently, a left-leaning, Snoopy-loving friend posted this cartoon on her social media page. In it, the mild-mannered and renowned philosopher Charlie Brown turns to his classmate and tells her straight, “No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them”. Responses to my friend’s post ranged from the love heart emoji to “Terrifyingly true!”
I wrote “Inspiring!”
We hear a great deal in the media and from politicians about preparing children for the future they will inherit. Much of the rhetoric centres around being ‘job ready’, and mastery of technology is paramount. At Glenaeon, we agree that these are essential elements of a rounded education. Still, when we make them our focus, the capacity of an education system to inspire and inform the next generation of change-makers is savagely diminished.
So, how are we preparing our students to resolve some of the messes we both inherited and created? How does Glenaeon give students the education they need to ‘overthrow’ and create a new, more equitable and sustainable future? It is interesting to answer this question through the lens of the 6c’s of Education in the 21st Century: Character Education, Citizenship, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Collaboration. Developed by Michael Fullan O.C, Global Leadership Director of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) and a worldwide authority on educational reform, the 6 ‘s are inherent in Glenaeon’ s 5A’s program:
Academic – The Main Lesson sequence places a child in time. While in Primary School, teachers immerse children in imaginative pictures that inspire Character and Citizenship; in High School, students are taught to Critically analyse information, sources and their place in the fabric of society.
Artisan & Aesthetic – From craft and beeswax models to 3D printing and performing in an orchestra, a Glenaeon education is inherently one of Creativity.
Altruistic - Belonging to a community where we abide by a respectful social contract in our interactions and give of ourselves inside and outside the school requires Communication, Collaboration and Citizenship. Be that through caring for Scotts Creek, serving on the Student Eco Group or performing service as part of the Duke of Edinburgh program or in the Northern Territory working with the Aboriginal students at Macfarlane Primary School.
Active Wilderness –To journey with a group in a remote location (or even on a bushwalk to Warner’s Park) requires Communication, Collaboration and Citizenship. To do it well builds Character.
Preparing for an uncertain future requires much more than being ‘job ready or ‘tech savvy’. Schools must create environments, and teach in ways, that impart capacities to young people that encourage them to develop and enact new ideas and creative responses to problems. Charlie Brown might be stunned to learn that at a small school in Middle Cove called Glenaeon, we are absolutely preparing to be overthrown by the students we teach, and the future looks very bright indeed.
With thanks to Charles M. Schulz.
Dani Finch
Deputy Head of School (K-6)
Year 5 Student Arlo Temple a National Winner in the National History Challenge 2020
04 Dec 2020
11 year-old Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School Student and Rozelle resident, Arlo Temple has been named as a National and NSW State winner in two categories in the National History Challenge 2020 awards. Arlo won the top award in the Year 5/6 and the Museum Exhibit categories.
Deputy Head of School (K-6), Dani Finch said, “We are thrilled that Glenaeon student Arlo Temple has been announced as both a National and NSW State winner in the National History Challenge for 2020. Arlo has a natural interest and curious mind when it comes to history, and it was a joy to learn of his success in this year’s National History Challenge entry. We feel very proud of his great personal achievement.”
Glenaeon Head of School Andrew Hill commended Arlo, “Everyone at Glenaeon is delighted for Arlo and we congratulate him on this mighty accomplishment. His hard work has been aptly rewarded.”
Arlo received his awards at a ceremony to honour the NSW state and national winners of the National History Challenge at the Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney, last night.
The National History Challenge is a research-based competition for students. It gives students a chance to be an historian, researching world history, examining Australia’s past, investigating their community or exploring their own roots. It emphasises and rewards quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation.
“My submission was in response to this year’s competition theme, ‘Contested Histories’ where I explored the devastation of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I built a scaled diorama of the Hiroshima site and wrote an essay and created a website for my entry”, said 11-year old Arlo.
Arlo’s Mum, Kate Burt said he worked extremely hard on his entry, and said it was exciting to see him standing among other excellent student entries from across the state and country.
“We visited Hiroshima last year and it was a very moving experience. We are proud of how Arlo has expressed his research in his diorama and his interest in Japanese culture and history. We are also glad to have the kitchen table back after two months of his wonderful model making,” Burt said.
Arlo’s website:https://goby-echidna-arfn.squarespace.com/
#nationalhistorychallenge #history #contestedhistories #hiroshima #Japan #diorama #Essay #glenaeon #steinereducation
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The Power of Play in Nature
14 Feb 2020
Glenaeon is proud to present The Power of Play in Nature, a free public seminar featuring two of Australia's leading education experts: Professor Pasi Sahlberg, Professor of Educational Policy, Deputy Director, Gonski Institute for Education, UNSW and Professor Tonia Gray, Senior Researcher, Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University. After the keynote, there will be a panel discussion, facilitated by MC Lucy Clark, Associate Editor of The Guardian and Author of Beautiful Failures. The forum is on Thursday 5 March 4pm-6:30pm at the Concourse Theatre, Chatswood.
This is a ticketed event. Please register via www.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/play
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Castlecrag students enjoy outdoor play time
14 Feb 2020
Children at Castlecrag are enjoying their outside play and are full of activity as they jump, slide and swing!
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Spring Festival - music, flowers and festive cheer
27 Sep 2019
There were plenty of blossoms, crowns and and music for the Spring Festival day. Parents, staff and students enjoyed the warm and relaxing day and the oval was filled with family and friends. Thank you all for coming and for those who helped to create and coordinate the festival.
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Class 5 learn the traditional Maypole dance
26 Jul 2019
Traditionally at Glenaeon, Class 5 dance the Maypole at the Spring Festival in a rhythmic and co-ordinated series of steps, whilst intricately weaving numerous ribbons into an impressive pattern.
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Class 6 light up their world
26 Jul 2019
As a part of their Main Lesson exploring the physics of sound, light and heat, Class 6 began the week by painting the colour wheel, exploring the qualities of colours with teacher Rodney Dean.
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Class 6: strong finish to a busy Term 4
03 Dec 2021
It's the end of the Primary School journey for our Class 6 co-hort and they have been extremely busy with Physics, Roman History and lots of crafts.
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Kindness at Christmas
03 Dec 2021
The final weeks of 2021, like much of the rest of the year, are proving to be very 'different'. We are all missing sharing our magnificent Carol Service, Advent Plays, The Shepherd's Play, the Big Handshake up the driveway at Middle Cove, and delicious celebratory feasts.
However, Class Teachers like to look for the silver lining, and in this instance, we have an opportunity to create a new tradition! Someone watching and listening very carefully in the Primary School this week, might notice something a little bit special; there are whispers of random acts of kindness, secret angels, cards for our local senior citizens, presents for the giving tree, and gratitude books! In keeping with the spirit of Christmas, we are drawing attention to the importance of kindness this week. Ask your children what they are doing in class and you might even like to have a family kindness week as well!
Class 5 and the 2021 Olympiad!
03 Dec 2021
The weather gods were smiling on us and set the tone for a wonderful day of healthy competition, great sportsmanship and great fun as Class 5 participated in the 2021 Olympiad! This wonderful occasion was a celebration including dance, music and verses, and of course the chance to compete in friendly competition events that date back to the ancient Greek Olympics. This event is a highlight in the Class 5 annual calendar and an integral part of Steiner physical education in the primary years, celebrating the beauty of physical movement in and through sport.
Students were dressed up in tunics and were part of the four city states of Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth. “Zeus” declared the games open. Events included a “marathon” 400m, 100m sprint, Long Jump, Discus, Javelin, Relay races and a new event this year – Chariot racing with wheelbarrows decorated for each City State: Thebes, Sparta, Corinth, and Athens.
The students cheered each other on, helped each other out, worked together in teams and cooperated with each other. There were big smiles all round, all day!
Class 5 Teacher Katherine Arconati and PDHPE Teacher Jonas Stoebe were fantastic hosts and organisers. Everything ran smoothly and on time. Katherine had taught the children a song and dance that they performed at the opening ceremony and Jonas was chief of scores and tallies as well as teaching sporting techniques, and looking fabulous in a toga.
Participants shared lunch with table absolutely groaning with food - thank you everyone who contributed, it was much appreciated by all. Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who manned the various events, took scores and times and generally helped out all day. Thank you Angela for the food and the olive wreaths. Thank you to everyone who made this day such a memorable one for our children.
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A touch of Advent at Castlecrag
03 Dec 2021
In the Little Kindergarten, as we look ahead to Christmas, we have been participating in a little Christmas circle and hearing some Christmas stories which the children have enjoyed. We have heard how Mother Mary travelled through the heavens receiving the golden threads from the stars, moon and sun that together with the children’s love, she wove into a heavenly garment for her child. We have also been hearing the story of Mary and Joseph’s earthly journey to Bethlehem and the gifts they receive along the way from the stones, plants, animals and human beings. This is such a beautiful archetypal and heartfelt story for children to hear. Little Kindergarten children made beautiful Advent calendars to take home from their own paintings.
Last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. Each week a different kingdom of nature is acknowledged and added to our school nature tables. This week celebrates the Mineral Kingdom, and our nature tables are filling with crystals and stones is below:
FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT – The Mineral Kingdom
VERSE:
The first light of Advent is the light of the stones
Light that shines through seashells, crystals and bones
SONG: Now the stones are on the earth, waiting for the Christmas birth.
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Work and play in the Kindergarten day
03 Dec 2021
The Kindergarten children are really enjoying their last weeks together. Their play has been full of great energy and inventiveness, coming together in wonderful ways. Inside, we have had an architect's office drawing plans for a city that was then built by the on-site construction team. Despite many bosses with lots of ideas as to how to go about the build, the end result was considered a great success. We have also been really busy skipping enthusiastically with our own hand-made skipping ropes, with queues forming at lunchtime to practice.
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Class 1 bushwalking
03 Dec 2021
Class 1 managed a bushwalking recently in between rainy Fridays with teacher Monique Anderson, Catherine Pilko and assistant Ming-yu. The jacarandas were in full bloom as they set off and enjoyed a journey through the forest paths of Castlecrag. They stopped for lunch together before going to Griffin Rocks for a run and play before returning back to school.
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Bookings now open: Glenaeon Holiday Care Summer 21-22
03 Dec 2021
We are looking forward to offering holiday care for all families from the Glenaeon and wider community in the upcoming summer break. (Subject to government restrictions).
Join us at our summer camp where the children will develop social and physical skills, learn and take on new challenges, develop confidence and a love of nature and have lots of FUN together!
Dates: Dec 9-22, Jan 11- Feb 1
Costs: From $100 / day ** All CCS & government rebates apply.
Times: 8:15am - 5:30pm
Where: Glenaeon School. 121 Edinburgh Rd, Castlecrag (or excursion site as advised)
Program Details & Bookings: http://www.glenaeonoosh.com.au/holiday-care-bookings.html
Email: glenaeonoosh@gmail.com
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Class 5 student artworks published in book
18 Nov 2021
Today at 1:30pm Class 5 students Maya, Scarlett, Rosie and Eleanor were recognised in a Zoom Wildlife Storybook launch.
These students had their work chosen for the annual publication by Willoughby City Council. This is the first year that our school has participated. Each school was assigned an animal. Glenaeon was allocated the Australian Wood Duck. Council came and gave a presentation about the animal, then the children worked on writing and drawing about it in the library lessons with Lynne Collett. Our students then worked on their illustrations and writing during the long lockdown period.
Well done students for your wonderful work and congratulations!
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Class 3 walk through time
18 Nov 2021
Class 3 has been exploring the evolution of time measurement though the ages.
A story introduced the children to the concept of tracking time based on the position of the sun in the sky. We journeyed back to Egypt where they used great stone obelisks as shadow clocks.
On Monday which was the first sunny day of the Main Lesson, we walked to the school flagpole, just before 9am, to observe the shadow it made. A student came out and walked heel to toe along the shadow’s line and we marked the spot with the number 9 to represent the hour. Next, we walked to the oval where a sundial had been set up by our class assistant Michelle. A stake had been secured in the ground and a string tied to the bottom of it. We brought with us stones and a marker.
Then, on every hour of the day from 9am to 3pm, the children enthusiastically observed the movement of both shadows, each time marking the new spot and predicting the next one. It was wonderful seeing the awe and wonder of their expressions each time they saw that the shadow had not only changed position but also length!
On Wednesday the class made a human clock as an introduction to reading an analogue clock. The children formed a circle of 12 to represent the numerals on the clock-face and in the centre of the circle was a stand which had a yellow and blue thread attached. One child was then chosen to be the ‘hungry minute dog’ who had to run around counting by 5’s. Another child was chosen to be the ‘lazy hour cat’ who was too lazy to run and instead walked slowly to each number once. The rest of the class watched and when dog and cat were told to stop, the watching children worked out the time on the human clock.
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Class 2 visits big campus at Middle Cove
18 Nov 2021
Yesterday Class 2 students together with Teacher Rodney Dean, visited the big school campus at Middle Cove. The students were also accompanied by Castlecrag Campus Administrator, Melony, Gardening Teacher Sandra Frain and Assistant Olivia. Students hiked the 2km to Middle Cove, and walked through the gates in a practice run for next year. They visited the Class 3 Classroom, explored the playground and went to say hello at Reception. They then walked past the Gentle Café to the garden and planted wheat with Sandra which will be growing when they arrive next year! This was followed by games on the spacious round oval, before walking up through the beautiful campus, past Class 3 and back to Castlecrag. The sun was shining and it was a great day to see for themselves and imagine themselves at Middle Cove and seeing where they will finish their Primary School years before progressing up to High School. The children loved their visit and the grounds and they are very much looking forward to their continuing school journey.
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A kaleidoscope of colour in Japanese
18 Nov 2021
Class 1 have been learning their colours and places in Japanese with teacher Julia Carrol. Classes often involve songs, words, games, origami and cards, but this week it was outside in the playground with colours and places. Experiencing the story “The Green Sheep” in Japanese helps to review colours and also the locations "Koko" (here) 'Soko' (there) and 'Asoko' (over there). The children lined up on the wall, each with a coloured scarf. Julia calls out the colour and direction, and the children run to that area together. From there they play and create shapes with the scarves before all coming back and starting again. It is a kaleidoscope of colour and movement when they run back together!
Class 5 study Ancient Greece from the great outdoors
04 Nov 2021
Class Five has been enjoying the new “new normal” as they take advantage of the beautiful space outside of the classroom. They have spent the past week finishing Main Lesson studies of Ancient Greece and working on individual research projects to deepen their knowledge. First week back has seen a renaissance of artistic work including watercolour paintings of Greek ships and pastel drawings of Alexander the Great taming the wild horse he named Bucephalus.
#glenaeon #middlecove #mainlesson #class5 #ancientgreece #arts #ancientgreece #watercolour #pastel #drawing #outdoorclassroom
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ICYMI: Welcome Back to Middle Cove
04 Nov 2021
Form Drawing and the outside classroom in Class 1
04 Nov 2021
Class 1 have been exploring form drawing in many formats and using as many outdoor classroom spaces as possible. They have drawn straight, circular and spiral forms, traced them in the sandpit, playground and asphalt, enjoying the open spaces with teacher Monique Anderson. They are working with more challenging forms and shapes that are reflected in the world - in objects, plants, letters, numbers and other living things. This also lays the foundation for understanding geometry in later years. Experiencing the form through many of their senses helps children to understand the shapes that they see in the world around them. They have been hearing stories inspired by the beautiful poppies blooming outside Class 1 - soft, shy and inward, like some of the forms, bright and outward poppies like other forms. Children learn through walking, skipping, jumping, drawing in the air and sandpit, the blackboard and their own workbooks - they are crossing midlines, and working with the understanding of contraction, expansion and reflection. It's harder than it looks!
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Silent Auction items on display - place your bids now
04 Nov 2021
There are the most beautiful items in the Silent Auction that have been hand-crafted by students, families and parents. They were all on display at the Castlecrag Campus this week - hanging from the fences, trees and gates - parents and children were able to admire the beautiful workmanship and designs of each piece. They will be on display again but please visit our website to take home one of these beautiful pieces.
Back to School at last for Little Kindy, Kindy and Class 1 and 2
21 Oct 2021
This week saw the return of Little Kindy, Kindy and Class 1 students to our Castlecrag campus. What a wonderful time we have had here at Castlecrag! There may have been some hesitation and a few nerves on Monday morning, but the children have settled beautifully and the mood is calm and joyous. It is so good to have our students back at school and enjoying being with their friends again.
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Silkworms - the daily wriggle in Reception
21 Oct 2021
The silkworms in Reception and the classrooms have attracted daily attention and care. The pets of the campus are tended to daily, fed and spoken to by the children with great delight. Soon they will be spinning cocoons and emerging as moths before laying their eggs for next year – a wonderful expression of Spring! If you listen VERY carefully - you can even hear the big ones munching on our delicious mulberry leaves!
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Class 2 - the Tunnel Challenge
21 Oct 2021
It wasn’t long before the Class 2 students were back to measure their growth in the ‘Jump the Tunnel’ challenge! Almost a right of passage in the playground, being able to run, jump and get over the tunnel…somehow...anyhow... is all that counts and they support and cheer each other on in their attempts. Prior to lockdown not all could make it, so there were some jubilant smiles as they realised how much they had grown since being away! It's harder than it looks!
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These are a few of my favourite things...
21 Oct 2021
Children explored some of their favourite places… and missed things… from Castlecrag! Hunting for raspberries, pepinos and mulberries, grinding sandstone and drawing with chalk were high on the playground to-do list. What joy to slide down the slippery dip, pour water in the sandpit, ring the bell and dig endless tunnels and castles together again!
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Class 1 - From the Zoom Room to the Classroom
21 Oct 2021
Class 1 are practicing the four processes, learning to add, subtract, multiply and divide to find a certain number. Whilst this Mathematics Main Lesson began on Zoom during remote learning using Zoom and break-out rooms, the joy of the children finally coming back together and solving maths questions has been wonderful! Using counters, hands, and dancing in rings of 2's, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s and 6’s, the children celebrated the joys of learning together with all of their senses and delight! Led by teacher Monique Anderson, they are finding the many paths home to Grandma's house in their stories by jumping and stepping the times tables all around the classroom! It is such fun to be back together again.
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Baby Butcher Birds at Castlecrag
21 Oct 2021
Two baby butcher birds were found on the 'far corner' wood pile by the children, with mum and dad high in the tree, their nest most likely having blown down in the recent winds. We brought them to the office and rang Stanley Tang, our High School science teacher and ornithologist. It's wonderful having Stanley to talk to and he asked us to feed them worms and place them in a basket hung as high in the tree as we could reach, as they can't fly yet. We went back late in the afternoon and the babies had been able to hop from the basket back up into the tree and out onto a safer branch where mum and dad were flying down to feed them! Hooray!
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Class 2 happy to be back crafting together
21 Oct 2021
Class 2 came together for craft for the first time in over four months to share their projects and progress. There was such a colourful and creative array of projects underway – knitting animals from squares, embroidery. ponchos, and one student repairing their own clothing! Some have also begun to sand and make their own knitting needles. Impressive and beautiful, Class 2! They are also working on a secret sewing project... I wonder what that could be?
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Class 1 Aboriginal Dreaming
07 Oct 2021
Class One has recently completed a Main Lesson centred on stories from the Aboriginal Dreaming. Stories of those animals unique to Australia were featured, giving a picture of these creatures in their natural habitat, and of course expressing their characteristics, in ways both humorous and profound. We heard about Tiddalik the Frog, who drank all the water in the billabong, and how the other animals tried to make him laugh so all the water would be restored to its rightful place. We heard about the special Platypus, who was invited by the birds to join their special group, by the water creatures to join theirs, and by the land animals, too. We heard, too, a legend about how the spirits in the sky asked Kookaburra to wake them each morning with his raucous laughter, so they would remember to light the fire of the sun each day. These stories were beautifully illustrated by the children, who also wrote sentences to encapsulate a significant theme or moment from each tale. In this way, the children developed both their literacy skills and an appreciation of our natural environment and the cultures of the indigenous communities who wove these tales for the benefit and enjoyment of all.
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Class 2 learn about Saints
07 Oct 2021
One of the key main lessons of Class 2 is the Saints main lesson. Children turning 8 begin to be more conscious of the differences between the people around them, and between themselves and others. The animal fable stories we looked at earlier in the year provide a picture of human limitations and how they can get in our way. The Saints main lesson takes it further. We provide stories of legendary figures that have developed human attributes such as courage, veneration and compassion, and have stepped beyond their personal limitations to serve humanity or a great cause beyond themselves.
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Grassroots Eco Store - Do you need new lunchboxes, hats and slippers?
07 Oct 2021
It's not long now until we will be packing lunchboxes again!
If you need to stock up on back to school essentials, you’ll find our slippers, sun hats, sustainable lunchboxes, insulated food containers and drink bottles all available online. Make use of our FREE LOCAL DELIVERY or click and collect.
We are excited to announce that Grassroots Eco Store is now an approved registered Creative Kids NSW Provider. You can redeem your voucher with us and get busy creating with our Seasonal Craft Pack!
Find out more at grassrootsecostore.com.au
Follow us on Instagram @grassroots_ecostore and be the first to find out when the Castlecrag Shop will reopen and opening hours.
Thank you for shopping locally. A portion of every sale goes to support Glenaeon.
Class 5 Journey to Ancient Greece
07 Oct 2021
Class Five finished the term with an introduction to Greek Mythology. Ancient Greece marks a period in human cultural development of great balance. It is a time where humanity developed an advanced sense of aesthetic form alongside an attention to the structure of society through government and democratic processes. The life of the mind evolved to become the essentials of philosophy and profound mathematical discoveries. Children in Class Five sit poised on the cusp of puberty, and they too experience a sense of inner balance at the completion of childhood and a profound inner awakening. Hence, the choice of these studies perfectly suits their stage of development.
The children loved hearing the stories of the imperfectly humanist gods and goddesses. They each completed a project in which they read, wrote, illustrated and retold the story of one of the 12 Olympian gods. They also heard tales of the first heroes before the fall of troy. Despite the challenges of distant learning, their work continues to demonstrate their devotion to beauty and their ever emerging capacities for writing and expression.
Spring Festival: A reminder to all our Little Kindy to Class 6 Families!
16 Sep 2021
Even though we can’t celebrate traditionally, Spring is here and with it, the joy of enjoying a little more time outside in the warmer weather! Our Spring Festival will be held this Friday, September 17th, at 12 pm and you are warmly invited to join us via the link on the Spring Festival GLO page https://glo.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/homepage/1431 Please wear your floral garland to join in the Spring spirit.
During our short assembly, a special Spring Film will be uploaded to the same GLO page to be enjoyed immediately or later at your convenience. I have had a sneak peek at a draft version of the film and can confidently say that it will bring a great deal of much-needed cheer!
We look forward to celebrating together even though we are apart.
Happy Spring!
Dani Finch
Deputy Head of School (K-6)
Much eggcitement for new chooks at Middle Cove
16 Sep 2021
Our chicken coop at Middle Cove has three new residents. They seem very happy with their new home and are settling in nicely.
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Spring buds, berries and babies at Castlecrag
16 Sep 2021
There are a lot of beautiful spring buds, berries and babies growing at Castlecrag, in readiness for children to come back during Term 4! The mulberries are growing... first the tiny leaves and now the berries have grown. We have a special white mulberry that looks like a long lamb's tail that is absoloutely delicious once it is ripe! There are little tadpoles and tiny, baby silkworms that are growing. The native bees are coming out more in the warmer weather and the buds on the lime and lemon trees tell us there will be lots of fruit next season! Happy Spring!
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A Rainbow in Spring
16 Sep 2021
There are lots of flowers in bloom and just because it's the week of our Spring Festival ... here's a rainbow of flowers from our campus for you!
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Handwork at home
16 Sep 2021
Here is Maaike from Class 4 finishing off a home mega craft project that she has been working on during lockdown. A woven rug made from oodles of finger knitted wool and woven onto a round board strung (warped) the same way as the woven recorder bags that are made by most children at Glenaeon.
It is wonderful to see the children at Glenaeon transferring the skills they learn at school to create beautiful handmade treasures at home!
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Spring Nature Tables at school and home
16 Sep 2021
Here are some lovely Spring Nature Tables from Castlecrag - enjoy as we wish you all a lovely spring holiday!
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Join the Clubs! Glenaeon “Clubs” program for Students from Class 1 through to Year 10
19 Aug 2021
A reminder to, if you haven't already, get on board with Glenaeon's lockdown initiative for students in Class 1 to Year 10. Glenaeon Clubs run from 2:30pm each weekday afternoon.
There are a wonderful variety of activities on offer for students of all ages – from sport to art, book clubs, dance and origami. Each club’s session length can vary. For example, Art Club runs from 2:30pm-4pm and Sport club runs for 1 hour. Attendance is voluntary and you can join multiple clubs if you wish (one per day), and all sessions are delivered live.
To find out more about each activity, view the Glenaeon Clubs timetable, and to access the zoom links, please follow the instructions in the guide or click here: https://glo.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/homepage/3656/
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Counting Castles in Class 2
19 Aug 2021
Class 2 are building the Coloured Castle in their Mathematics Main Lesson with teacher Rodney Dean. They each have cuisenaire rods at home and are learning more complex mathematics equations, learning to build the castles of numbers - literally, the building blocks of math! Rodney's colourful drawing and explanations both on Zoom and pre-recorded help the children as they deepen their understanding of multiplication with larger numbers.
The story follows a character who is building a hospital and he needs a LOT of bricks. He learns that instead of counting each brick individually, he can use strategies to calculate an area of bricks to make it easier and quicker. His problem is that there are more bricks in each row than he knows time tables for - rows of 30 for example - so he needs to use his prior knowledge of numbers to split 30 into 3 x 10 bricks and then work out the number of rows he has... and he DOES know his ten times table! It saves him so much time too!
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Creative crafters from Castlecrag!
19 Aug 2021
Handwork at home is currently supported with a lot of resources that have been sent home as well as videos, patterns and an online Craft Club to encourage children (and parents!) to join in. This is an opportunity for all to undertake many craft projects and even learn new skills, or make something new with the skills they have! The children in Class 1 have been finishing their beautiful recorder bags with plaited handle, and are moving on to make woven pouches, finger-knitting and even some beginning to knit with needles! Handwork teacher Elizabeth Ellean has prepared may instructional videos and resources so that the children can make any number of wonderful things from home. Class 1 & 2 are having a go at ponchos, beanies, weaving ideas and even the tricky Egyptian 8-string plait. Well done, clever crafters! We love to see your creations!
Craft Club with Merryn is on Friday afternoons at 2:30pm - come along to enjoy time together crafting, asking questions about your projects and seeing other faces too!
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Castlecrag Building and Blooming
19 Aug 2021
Maintenance and staff are making the most of this time on campus to build, repair and rejuvenate the campus, ready for when children return. Melony, Angela, Michael, Noel and Outdoor Education teacher Scott Williams have a fantastic list of projects they are working on so the campus will be shining, tidy and improved! Painting, oiling the outdoor structures, repairing and sorting the children's tool shed, a new Kindy sandpit wall and sorting the costume cupboard for school plays are just some of the projects taking place. Meanwhile, the daffodils are blooming outside Class 1, the jasmine has burst into blossom and this year's poppies are coming up by the hundreds!
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Nature tables at school and home
19 Aug 2021
Seasonal Nature tables are a tradition at Glenaeon - a small table the celebrates the seasonal changes and often is a little story scene itself. Before we say goodbye to our lovely Winter Nature tables here at Castlecrag, have a look at both the school's and some of the Little Kindy children's Nature tables at home.
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Class 5 continue Australian History
19 Aug 2021
In continuation of study of Australian History 'Into Tangled Ravines', Class 5 have been learning about the first few years of settlement. The aboriginal tribes suffered greatly during this time, and the history of Windradyne and the hundreds of indigenous tribal lands was explored. They followed explorers Matthew Flinders, Hovell and Hume, John Oxley, James Ruse, Lawson, Wentworth & Blaxland in their respective journeys inland and circumnavigations. Class teacher Katherine Arconati delivered a rich online curriculum, including an online live excursion to the State Library about the First Fleet, a film-making project from each student on one journey and artwork lessons with Glenaeon Art Teacher Julia Byrne. The children are also reading a text called Tom Appleby Convict Boy which brings their history studies into vivid imagination. The children first made their own antiqued diaries using coffee and tea leaves and have been writing beautifully sensitive responses to the novel, exploring highly relevant themes such as courage and resilience. Below is a response written by Eleanor Rush in response to the “courage cloak” described by Tom Appleby.
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Class 5 Movie Project - Australian History films
19 Aug 2021
Lockdown presents an opportunity for families to work together and to engage in other forms of learning tasks that would not be possible at school. Students were asked to make a film of one person from their Australian History Main Lesson, using any technique. The student films are wonderful and highly creative starring themselves, family members and even pets! Techniques used include video film stories, stop-motion, story-reading with hand-drawn illustrations, box puppets, shadow puppetry and old fashioned film styles. Here are some stills from just some of these wonderfully creative films! The Class has its own online Film Festival file and families have been able to sit down, relax and enjoy the class films!
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Class 5 takes square metre challenge to the next level
05 Aug 2021
Class 5 Teacher Katherine Arconati recently set a home learning challenge to her students to create a square metre geometric design as part of their study learning about area. Students responded very creatively indeed. Take a look at the results! Lucia decided to also try the Glenaeon emblem and figured it out! It was a family effort with Lucia's Year 4 sister Sigrid also lending a hand. Take a look at these other student creative responses. Well done to all, you've completely warmed our hearts!
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Sport Club kicks off for Classes 4-6 with Jonas
05 Aug 2021
Glenaeon students are reminded of the importance of keeping up physical activity during the lockdown period. Now, Students from Class 4-6 can participate in Sports Club with Glenaeon’s PDHPE Teacher and host Jonas Stoebe. Jonas will be running Sports Club each Monday from 2:30pm for an hour, via Zoom. This week students gathered together online and were coached through a number of sets of exercises including stretching, planking and other movements that got the heart pumping! The session provided a social moment to reconnect with other students and enjoy some fun and activity together. Jonas said, “Students can get some healthy time away from their study desk, take their device outside, enjoy a workout together and share interests and skills. I look forward to energising the young each week!”
For more information, go to the Sports Club page on GLO. BYO juggling balls next week.
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Wrap with Love
05 Aug 2021
Wrap with Love is a lockdown project that our students can take part in via our Remote Learning Clubs (Knit for Love) Thursdays at 2:30pm for Class 3 to Year 10 and Craft Club on Friday’s at 2:30pm with Merryn Hamilton. All students are invited to watch the pre-recorded videos by Elizabeth Ellean on Glenaeon Learning Online (GLO) to help your get started, and join the weekly Knit for Love or Craft Club to make the squares.
A Wrap With Love personal wrap comprises 28 squares, 25 cm x 25 cm (10 inches x 10 inches) sewn together in 4 rows by 7 rows to size 100cm x 175cm (40 inches x 70 inches) completed. A Wrap can be knitted, crocheted, machine knitted or woven , with wool, acrylic or lined patchwork.
Glenaeon will then coordinate delivery of the completed wraps to the ‘A Wrap With Love’ charity warehouse in Alexandria, NSW, then over forty non-denominational and non-political aid agencies distribute them to those in greatest need around the globe. To find out more about Wrap with Love go to https://www.wrapwithlove.org/ or if your child would like to participate in this wonderful school project, join the club on GLO!
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Sandra Frain brings Storytime Club home
05 Aug 2021
For students and families of Class 1-3 who might feel stuck at home with ‘NOTHING to DO’, Sandra invites you to join her on Zoom for STORYTIME each Tuesday between 2:30pm-3:30pm.
Sandra says, “Bring your favourite pillow and blanket to cozy-up with. Perhaps you have a cuddly doll or animal to bring to STORYTIME too. You can close your eyes and just listen to me, or you may look at the screen to see what you can see.
After the puppet story, we can make a story together with your cuddly friends too.”
No registration is required, please join the Zoom at the start of class each week via GLO.
Read moreGlenaeon launches “Clubs” program for Students from Class 1 through to Year 10
05 Aug 2021
We are very excited to announce the launch of a brand new initiative for students in Class 1 to Year 10 during the remote learning period in 2021. Glenaeon Clubs run from 2:30pm each weekday afternoon and the first sessions ran on Monday with good attendance across the board.
There are a wonderful variety of activities on offer for students of all ages – from sport to art, book clubs, dance and origami. Each club’s session length can vary. For example, Art Club runs from 2:30pm-4pm and Sport club runs for 1 hour. Attendance is voluntary and you can join multiple clubs if you wish (one per day), and all sessions are delivered live.
To find out more about each activity, view the Glenaeon Clubs timetable, and to access the zoom links, please follow the instructions in the guide or click here: https://glo.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/homepage/3656/
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Spring has sprung early at Castlecrag!
05 Aug 2021
Spring has sprung early at Castlecrag campus! The bulbs planted in Autumn have grown, garden beds that the children turned over with Sandra are growing, and we have beautiful flowers blooming across the campus. We wanted to show you how glorious they are! You can see jonquils, daffodils, the cherry blossom tree, wattles and even the humble dandelion flower! There are also wild raspberries and the tamarillos which grew fruit at the end of last term. Our friendly morning kookaburra still comes every day to say hello, sitting on the fence, a tree or the monkey bars. Sandra has been gardening and watering and we miss the children so much. Hello to all the children at home from Castlecrag!
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Class 1 Zooming with Jennifer and climbing trees
05 Aug 2021
Class 1 children have been Zooming with Class teacher Jennifer Stone each morning as they recall their story, work in their Main Lesson books and catch up together each day. Keeping the connection to the Class Teacher Jennifer Stone is important, and they have been learning English, grammar and sentence formation through the rich world of the Russian Fairytales. The children also have Jennifer's audio recordings of her stories, Morning Circle, verses and songs, and literacy/maths worksheets and games. They follow a very similar rhythm to what the children would learn if at school, including afternoon sessions of Japanese & Craft. They have also been having fun in their favourite trees, and noted National Tree Day for schools last Friday!
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Castlecrag Packs for Kindergartens - Class 2
05 Aug 2021
The Kindergartens, Class 1 & 2 have packed bags for the families to collect as resources for Remote Learning. Initially they all collected their Pencils, books, recorders and other stationery, and further bags of craft supplies. Activities for the Kindergarten children have been prepared for collection. It's a busy time at school supporting all the students working so well at home. We are so proud of the children and families learning and playing at home during this time. We miss them all SO much! We look forward to the day when we can have all children back on campus again and the laughter and chatter returns.
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Chickens enjoying the playground at Castlecrag
05 Aug 2021
Our chickens Princess, Ebony and Caramel have grown a lot and are enjoy getting out and about at school. They have even ventured into the Class 1 & 2 playground! They are laying eggs now and we look forward to when our Kindy children can cook these again for morning tea! Until then, the egg basket fills up, and some even found their way to the Rainbow Fairy in reception!
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The Kindy garden is waiting
05 Aug 2021
The Kindy Garden has been waiting very quietly and very patiently of late, for all the children to come back and fill the space with their laughter and warmth. Mother Nature has been very slowly doing what she always does towards the end of winter, awakening the plants and trees; even the little native bees in their nest on Grandfather Gum's trunk, have started to venture out in the warmer winter days. The bulbs that the children planted after Easter, are now sweet-smelling, yellow flowers dancing about in the breezes, while the blossom tree is a riot of magenta, as the chickens scratch about her roots. Little Kindy's potatoes have sprung into life and have grown green and tall. And the classrooms too, wait very quietly and very patiently, for the children to come back.
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When schooling at home, rhythm is your best friend by Mary Heard
22 Jul 2021
Rhythm is the key to discipline, the secret Steiner schools have always understood. It is also the secret to making children feel secure, it is a message to their nervous system that some things are still the same in the world and that the life they know really matters.
As parents many of us have a tenuous hold on the sort of rhythm and discipline children experience at school but this is a wonderful opportunity for us to reclaim our dominion as we bring school into our home. Home Schooling last time may have been a bit chaotic or formless but we can start this term mapping out with our child/ren what home schooling is going to look like from now on.
As our children have the school rhythm already built into their body clock it is best to stick with that as much as possible. Insist that our children are dressed and ready to start learning at the usual school time - making sure we are free ourselves at this time to get everyone set up. Younger children can also go to their play area at this time as though they are doing their ‘work’ too.
Keep to the morning tea and lunch times of school, we can try to get all the inside activities completed in the morning and then go outside in the afternoon. Outside of school times we need to engage our children in as much of the home life as possible to keep them occupied and to make our own lives easier. Children should be given as many tasks as they can manage like preparing food, cleaning up their rooms daily, packing away the dishes, looking after the garden etc. I would also suggest a long family walk every day for at least an hour. This way we can wear our children out a bit, get some good exercise ourselves and get some outside time.
In order to establish our authority we need to give directions to our children that they can understand and follow. We must be careful not to disguise our directions as questions or requests. I always think the teacher’s ‘now it’s time to…..’ works very well. Once we have established these actions over a few days they will become habits. Also we should try to talk to our children as little as possible, we will see as we try to do this how many unnecessary things we say during the day.
If we only speak when necessary, we will notice how much more our children will listen.
We can say to our children ‘you need to play by yourself now until I finish my work’ (this time will depend on the child’s age) making it clear that they cannot disturb us for that time as we need to get our work done. So long as children have good solid blocks of our undivided attention they should also be able to cope with blocks of time while we do our work. When we do spend time with them we can spend that time doing household chores like hanging out washing or putting it away so that we have the chance to get things done while also being with them. If we spend our time doing chores with our children they will be even happier to have some ‘downtime’ to just play while we leave them alone.
We should try to resist the temptation to put our children in front of screens as this will just make their behaviour worse the rest of the time, reduce their capacity for deep play and encourage them to whinge and whine hoping for more screen time. if we allow our screen time to increase during lockdown we are bound to regret it when lockdown is over. If we need our child to be occupied in the afternoon for a while without us, audiobooks are a good compromise – we can use the opportunity to expose our children to some of the classics we may not have had time to read like ‘Swallows and Amazons’ or the Narnia series.
This is not an easy time for parents who are going through their own anxieties, trying to work from home, managing different age children, sickness and trying to keep family life manageable. Of course it will be 3 steps forward and 2 steps back a lot of the time however if we put the effort in for the first few days and establish and an element of predictability there will be a lot more room for love, compassion, kindness and fun in the home.
Mary Heard is a Simplicity Parenting Coach. Visit https://www.maryheardsimplicityparenting.com/ for more information.
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Kindy Winter Festival (Throwback to Term 2, when everything was ‘normal’)
22 Jul 2021
The Kindy children had been preparing for their Festival for a while; they had made their lanterns, their parents had come to school and made theirs. They had enjoyed finding logs and sawing them for the fire and were always on the lookout for any kindling to add to the growing pile. They had been busy on the day making star biscuits to share with everyone and some wonderful parents had made delicious pumpkin soup.
And so the school day ended and the children were excited to find that they weren't going home, but staying on to have supper at school. The fire was lit and the Festival began. Sitting around the fire at dusk we enjoyed the soup, cheesy scones and mandarins. Then it was off into the growing darkness to watch a surprise puppet play that the teachers had prepared. And then began the lantern walk underneath a beautiful starry sky, with a nearly full moon shining down on the children and teachers, as we wove our way carrying our lanterns so carefully and singing our winter songs. We sang our way back to the fire and found all the parents waiting for us. And as we all sang together and enjoyed the warmth of the fire, the songs and the star biscuits (and a visit from a curious possum), we celebrated the longest night with our Winter Festival. (Sarah David, Kindergarten Teacher)
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Pizza Day rolls around
22 Jul 2021
Our students got to enjoy a wonderful Pizza Day last term. Many hands made light work: kneading the dough, spreading the sauce, and placing toppings including fresh herbs from the biodynamic garden. Then, into the wood-fired pizza oven they went. The pizzas were absolutely delicious and we can't wait until the next pizza day!
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Human-centred learning
22 Jul 2021
Our creative and dedicated teachers and support staff have worked tirelessly to bring our Glenaeon education into your homes! The challenge of transforming human-centred on-site learning experiences into online remote education is nothing short of monumental! Rising to the challenge on a particularly windy Sydney winter morning was Senior Castlecrag teacher Catherine Pilko who ably demonstrated one of the tasks she set for her Little Kindergarten children … kite flying! (see GLO)
Well done Catherine and All!
Stay safe and warm everyone, Dani
Parent Library open - borrow for the holidays
17 Jun 2021
Next Tuesday is the last Parent Library day before the holidays, so why not come and borrow some beautiful books for the break? Come and browse a wide selection of titles across areas of parenting, craft, gardening, food, anthroposophy, Steiner education, children's stories and festivals.
The Parent Library is now open on:
TUESDAYS 8:30am - 9:10am and
THURSDAYS 2:30 - 3:10pm
We have Grimms' Fairy Tales, Susan Perrow's "Therapeutic Storytelling", Michaela Glockler's "A Guide to Child Health", Jude Blereau's "Wholefood for Children" and many more wonderful books for infants, preschoolers, young children and parents. See photos below for just some of the lovely books we hold in the library.
If you haven't been to our Glenaeon Castlecrag Campus before, the Parent Library is located in the room to the left of Reception at 121 Edinburgh Rd, Castlecrag. We look forward to seeing you soon and chatting about our wonderful books!
Amity - Parent Library Coordinator (Volunteer)
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Class 5 excursion to Mt Annan Botanic Gardens
17 Jun 2021
Last week Class 5 went to Mt Annan Botanic Gardens in Western Sydney to explore this 100% Australian Native Garden as part of their Botany studies. At the gardens they had the chance to explore and understand plant adaptations for arid and rainforest environments. The children were given scientific equipment to collect measurements on soil moisture, humidity, temperature and air movement to gain a greater understanding of the natural world. With these environmental factors in mind they then identified what plant adaptations were suitable for different environments.
Also, the children were happy to identify and observe a couple of Wood Ducks (their animal of research for Willoughby Council communication project).
Photo credits: MAJA ROSE
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The Main Lesson Project - Class 5 explores Egypt
17 Jun 2021
Project Based Learning (PBL) is one of the education world’s latest acronyms, but it is nothing new to Steiner education. Beginning in Class Three, the children are asked to complete at least one major project out of the Main Lesson content each year (see separate article on Class Three housebuilding!). These are completed at home, independently, after the Main Lesson journey through a particular topic so that the children can go even more deeply and imaginatively into the work.
As part of the Class Five Ancient Egypt studies, the children had to choose a topic and conduct research, write a report, give a presentation to the class and submit an artistic work related to the topic. English lessons focussed on instruction in report writing, how to take notes from informational texts and the parts of a report such as introduction, conclusion and bibliography. Then the children had to work at home to weave their research notes into a well-presented report and develop a project using their own creative impulses. They love hearing each other’s presentations and are beaming with pride as they bring in the fruits of their labour.
Through these projects the children discover that learning is a long, continuous process, that there are so many ways to represent our ideas and connect with our learning and that it takes time and effort to make such projects but it is such a satisfying and rewarding experience. In other words, they develop the will and curiosity required to foster a lifetime love of learning.
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Class 6 design and construct winter garden structures
17 Jun 2021
This term Class 6 has worked in the biodynamic garden in small groups on a large project. It has taken them many weeks to complete. Their task was to design and construct vertical structures to support winter climbing crops such as snow, snap and shelling peas. The students made biodegradable pots for germinating their seeds, and refreshed their knowledge on key aspects of string climbing structures by deconstructing (mindfully and methodically) our summer climbing structures. Each group determined their design plan, chose their materials and set about construction. They inspected other groups structures as well as their own and made recommendations for improvement. They also made the necessary improvements to their structures and planted their young pea seedlings.
Well done Class 6 on your efforts and the high standard of your work. Now we watch and nurture and look forward to bountiful harvests in the months to come!
Read moreClass 2 journey with the King of Ireland's Son
17 Jun 2021
One of the essential Main Lessons in Class 2 is The King of Ireland's Son, which is a culmination of all the fairytales heard last year. The motifs have been blended into a wonderful novel that we spend two Main Lessons on. It is a magical story that the children love about courage, love, loss and redemption.
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Class 1 Nature stories
17 Jun 2021
Class 1 are immersed in the world of Nature Stories. Beautiful blackboards drawn by Class teacher Jennifer Stone, alongside their bookwork, tell the tales of animals, birds, plants and even underground gnomes and the stars in the great sky. The Class 1 children are now using capital and little letters and forming sentences alongside their beautiful drawings.
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Counting fun in Class 1
17 Jun 2021
Having just finished a Mathematics Main Lesson where they met Pierre Plus, Tibo Times, Marion Minus and Queen Divide, Class 1 are playing with numbers in more ways than one! Using games, dice, counters and their fingers, they are having fun forwards, backwards and have begun their times tables too!
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Chicken carers needed for Castlecrag chooks over the holidays
17 Jun 2021
If anyone has a few days over the break when they could pop in and feed the Kindy chooks that would be great. Please send your availability to Sarah via email: S.David@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au, or let Melony in the office know. Chook carers needed from Thursday 24 June to Tuesday 13 July inclusive. They only require feeding once a day at the minimum, and twice if you have more time. Thank you!
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Class 1 & 2 Winter Spiral
17 Jun 2021
Class 1 and 2 celebrated the upcoming winter solstice in their winter spiral, held today at our Castlecrag campus. The significance of the spiral is finding light in the darkness. For those who are new to the winter spiral, it is a tradition in Steiner schools. Greenery and foliage will be laid on the floor to create a spiral. In the centre of the spiral is a lit candle. The room is darkened (or it is night time if held outdoors) and each student takes a turn to walk the spiral holding an unlit candle resting in an apple. As they reach the centre, they light their candle from the centre candle and then retrace their steps out of the spiral. The child brings forth the light as they walk outward and chooses a place along the spiral to set down their lit candle. As they each have a turn, more and more lit candles grace the spiral, and the room becomes increasingly filled with light and a beautiful spiral of lit candles. It was a truly beautiful event and thank you to all who helped by bringing in foliage, helped prepare it and were able to take part.
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Class 3 Houses
17 Jun 2021
Class 3 have been learning about a variety of human dwellings from around the world. In this wonderfully practical main lesson, the children have built a life-size Aboriginal hut called a Gunya with sticks and palm fronds.
The main lesson then concluded with the children researching or using their imagination to make a mini model of a shelter using natural or recycled materials.
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Class 6 Camp
17 Jun 2021
Class 6 camp is always a wonderful trip and was this year, for extra special reasons.
The Class 6 camp covers a lot of ground and includes many special sites. What makes it so significant for Class 6 is how it ties in so many of our main lessons. This term we studied Geology and on camp we got to visit the Abercrombie Caves and The Warrumbungles, as well as the Somerville Collection at the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst. Just before going on the camp we had finished our Australian History main lesson and on camp we stayed in the goldfields and visited the Gulgong Pioneers Museum, both bringing to life many of the things we had studied.
As well as all this, we got to camp for three nights in the Warrumbungles with the Outdoor Environmental Education team taking us hiking up the top of the Warrumbungles and a special treat, rock climbing and abseiling. One night we spent watching the stars with a guide and a telescope. Students got to recall many things they had learnt during our astronomy main lesson early in the year.
What made our camp extra special was that we were able to visit Edgar, our Gardening Teacher on his property and help him in his garden!
The camp made many lifelong memories for the students bringing us all closer together, and all made even sweeter as we had been unable to camp last year. An amazing trip was had by all!
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Socks, dolls and clothing: Handwork makes it all!
03 Jun 2021
In Year 8 textile students learn to use the sewing machine and follow a pattern to make a pair of shorts or sew long trousers. During the semester they learn about fabric properties and how to manipulate fabric to create colourful patterns and sculptural effects. They are also making buttons and sewing craft bags on the machine and by hand.
Class 6 are keeping their feet warm by knitting socks, perfect for these cold winter nights; Class 5 are making dolls and dressing them with their own bespoke crocheted outfits!
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Class 6 gather by the light of the Moon
03 Jun 2021
This year our wonderful Class 6 Teachers Brendan and Michele have introduced a class gathering at Manly beach to celebrate each full moon rising. So far we have gathered three times, the last being the incredible blood moon.
At each gathering the children share a beach picnic before fun and games with siblings, parents and our super fun teachers on the sandy shores. However, as the moon shyly makes her first appearance upon the watery horizon, all stop as the group takes this moment to admire her magnificence and take in the gentle rhythm held in gentle firmness by her.
It is a sacred event and one which will hold our class throughout the year. Teachers will include the full moon rising in class discussions as well as class learning and activity.
Personally I couldn’t imagine a more magical gift for our children than to learn and gather in such an incredibly meaningful monthly celebration of our beloved Mother Earth.
Rachelle Rose (Class 6 Parent)
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Year 9s mentor Year 3 reading
03 Jun 2021
As service to the community, Year 9 students listen to Year 3 students practice their reading. Through gentle prompting, pausing and praising, the little ones enjoy reading stories before school on Thursdays and Fridays. Beside reading practice, both groups of students form relations that often carry right through their school journey. I know my own girls, both graduated some years ago, retain fond memories or their experience as both the reader, and later as they participate in the DofE Award, as mentors themselves. So much good comes from the program!
Donna Miller
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Parent Craft and Kindy Craft is warming up
03 Jun 2021
Parent Craft on Wednesday mornings and Kindergarten Craft on Tuesdays are warming up as the weather gets cooler. The mornings are full of creativity and enjoyment and everyone is welcome on Wednesday mornings.
Kindergarten Parents meet once a week also, and have recently made beautiful felt flowers, starting with coloured roving (soft, fleeced wool), massaging and felting the colours together. Both groups have been making crowns - birthday crowns, as well as a play set for the Kindergarten classrooms.
Come and join these groups when you can - no experience is necessary and you will learn with the helpful hands of others. Younger siblings and babies are welcome and there is an indoor play area and an enclosed garden. These lovely social mornings are growing and becoming part of the fabric of our community once again. No bookings are required and attendance can be for as long or as little as you like. Attendees must follow the school's COVID safety plan and sign in, use hand sanitiser on arrival and please refrain from coming along if you feel unwell.
In coming weeks we will be having little workshops on dyeing our own felt, wet felting and continuing a variety of sewing projects. Email castlecrag@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au or contact Melony at Reception, Castlecrag Campus on 9958 0774 for any further information.
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Primary Assembly
03 Jun 2021
Last week, our Middle Cove Primary students gathered for an Assembly and honoured the first day of National Reconciliation Week in the amphitheater.
Class 6 delivered the Welcome to Country, followed by a group song. The program unfolded as follows:
Jamie on Didgeridoo to introduce
Class 3: Morning Has Broken on recorder and voice
Class 4: Brave and True spoken verse with complex rod choreography
Class 5: Be Careful What You Think – verse by Ghandi + Prayer to Isis (sung in Egyptian)
Class 6: My Country – poem by Dorothea Mackellar
The event concluded, with a story from Head of School, Andrew Hill.
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Class 1 begin weaving recorder bags
03 Jun 2021
In Handwork class with Elizabeth Ellean, Class 1 children have begun weaving their recorder bags, which they will use throughout Primary School. Like the story of the eagle they hear, who must weave her nest round and around to withstand the strong winds on the cliffs, they weave the wool around the wooden weaving board. Starting with bold and bright colours, they move to pastels as they reach the top of their bag, which is then crocheted along the edge. Once complete, they learn to make Egyptian plaits (with 8 strings), making a long and strong handle. Whilst there is no official uniform at Castlecrag Campus... there is a lot of hardy, practical brown boots lined up outside the craft room - certainly good footwear for outdoor play!
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Class 2 show their Morning Circle
03 Jun 2021
Class 2 children shared their Morning Circle with parents recently - performing some of their songs, rhymes, mathematics, language and coordination skills in a performance that was both joyous and wondrous to watch. To see literacy, language, mathematics and general knowledge woven through rhyme, verse, music and movement was simply inspiring. As Class Teacher Rodney Dean introduced each item, the children were demonstrably excited to share each and every one - even the difficult ones! The children enjoy this morning circle so much and it was an impressive presentation of their skills and knowledge, not to mention LOTS of fun!
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Class 1 outdoor drawing
03 Jun 2021
Lunchtimes have been very colourful lately at Castlecrag, with Class 1 enjoying outdoor chalk drawing. Using up all the many smaller pieces of chalk left from the teacher's work, they create the most beautiful images on the walkways and grind the fine coloured powder with the remaining pieces. All items are reused as much as possible at our Campus and we have a deeply integrated recycling system that encompasses not only our rubbish, but all items such as chalk that can be used right up until the very end. Reuse, Recycle, Receive is an understanding that we have, and we put effort and time into the recycling processes that we have.
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First Nations performer Gwenda visits Castlecrag
03 Jun 2021
Gwenda Stanley is a dancer, educator, cultural ambassador and a proud First Nations Gomeroi woman. She came to Castlecrag to share her culture with Class 1 & 2 students on Tuesday 25th May, the day before Sorry Day, 2021. Through song, dance and stories, she shared her knowledge and demonstrated her tools and artefacts, with the children enthusiastically listening and dancing along with her to the animal songs and stories. She told the children about hunting, gatherings sticks and the three types of boomerangs, echidnas, seeds and making bread, dilly bags, grinding stones and much more. Gwenda taught the children many words in her traditional language, and expressed her own joy in sharing her culture with the children at Glenaeon. Thank you Gwenda. See: https://youngausperspectives.com.au/gwenda-stanley/
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Parent Library at Castlecrag bursting with books
03 Jun 2021
The Parent Library is now open on:
TUESDAYS 8:30am - 9:10am and
THURSDAYS 2:30 - 3:10pm
Come and browse a wide selection of titles across areas of parenting, craft, gardening, food, anthroposophy, Steiner education, children's stories and festivals.
We have Grimms' Fairy Tales, Susan Perrow's "Therapeutic Storytelling", Michaela Glockler's "A Guide to Child Health", Jude Blereau's "Wholefood for Children" and many more wonderful books for infants, preschoolers, young children and parents. See photos below for just some of the lovely books we hold in the library.
If you haven't been to our Glenaeon Castlecrag Campus before, the Parent Library is located in the room to the left of Reception at 121 Edinburgh Rd, Castlecrag.
We look forward to seeing you soon and chatting about our wonderful books!
Amity - Parent Library Coordinator (Volunteer)
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Glenaeon students participate in Kids Giving Back day
03 Jun 2021
Year 7 students Saorise, Finn P and Antonina along with Finn’s sister Maaike from Class 4 and Saorise’s brother Tighe participated in a recent Kids Giving Back day during Volunteers Week, making meals for homeless and disadvantaged people in Sydney. They were part of a group of about 40 kids and parents at the Paddo on Oxford Street who together made 117 cooked meals and 69 sandwiches.
The event, run by KGB program manager Bec and chef Paul, taught the kids about food preparation and hygiene, kitchen safety skills and helped them understand about homelessness - how people come to be homeless, what life can be like for them and importantly what we all could do to help.
The group got busy making sandwiches, while others made delicious vegetable ragout with meatballs and pasta. All of it was nourishing and tasty - made with care and love.
On our way home, we delivered some of the meals to Tierney House, close to St Vincents hospital, where 12 homeless people can stay to access healthcare and support services.
Kids Giving Back run their programs regularly, including over the school holidays. It could be a great class social activity or something to do on the school holidays. There are family sessions on weekends as well. If you’re interested to try it out, their website is: https://kidsgivingback.org
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Class 1 learning mathematical processing
20 May 2021
Class 1 has been continuing their working with Mathematics, meeting Pierre Plus, who adds things together, Tibo Times, who counts in equal groups, and Marion Minus, who knows very well how to spend some of her coins, and always knows exactly how many coins she has left. They are working with ‘Dragons Tears’, their very own fingers, rhythms and verses, and they have spent quite a bit of time outside stepping along number lines drawn in chalk, counting forwards, stepping multiples, and counting backwards with joyful enthusiasm.
Bouncer's Journey in Class 2
20 May 2021
Bouncer is a baby joey that falls out of his mother's pouch and ends up travelling on the back of a truck - all around Australia through our many different landscapes. From the Western Desert to the ocean, he meets a friendly dolphin, Twiggy and Cave-bird again, wombats and his friends the red and grey kangaroos. On his journey he discovers the different land formations and weather systems and learns about rain, oceans and sees snow for the first time. Class 2 children have written and drawn Bouncer's adventures, learning sentence structure, grammar and punctuation as the record moments of Bouncer's adventures in their main lesson books.
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New record at Castlecrag
20 May 2021
Children cheered loudly as they declared a new Castlecrag record had been set for the tallest sandcastle! Evolving over several days, it has been protected right up until the last bucket on the top!
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Little Kindy wet felts soap
20 May 2021
Little Kindy created felted soaps for Mother's Day with Kindergarten teacher Catherine Pilko. The children teased and softened the beautifully-coloured fleece which was then wrapped around a small piece of soap. After the fleece had been tied onto the soap, each child gently patted the soft fleece. Each soap was then dipped in warm water and the children turned and patted, turned and patted... and as it became soapy they squeezed and rolled it until the fleece had magically felted. It was then dried, ready to be wrapped, and sent home with a beautiful hand-made card for mum.
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Class 5 study the Ancient Civilisations
20 May 2021
Class 5 have been exploring the rich history of the ancient civilisations of Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Titled ‘To Roam No More’, this reflects the defining moment when civilisations are born and settle, cultivating crops through the seasons, no longer roaming the lands. The classroom is shining with the students’ work - paintings of ziggurats and the Persian god of the sun and all creation - Ahura Mazda, clay sculptures of Egyptian mummies and a variety of Egyptian gods and goddesses. The blackboard, drawn by Class 5 teacher Katherine Arconati, is simply beautiful, as is the main lesson book work of the students.
In addition to various artistic experiences, the class have heard many ancient stories, mythologies and now histories of these fascinating cultures. They then engage in the arduous task of remembering these stories and rewriting them in their own words before putting the pen to paper and beautifully writing and illustrating them in their main lesson books. The final step on this journey will be an Egyptian research project. Watch this space for a follow up article at the end of term!
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Treasure market in the Playground
06 May 2021
The playground is alive with pop-up treasure stalls created by Class 1 & 2 children. From delicate flowers and intricate nature craft to a collection of found treasures, children are busy collecting enough gumnuts (the local currency) to buy what they would like. Teachers and staff are also good customers, and the frenzy around the opening of a new shop even requires queueing and crowd control! Shopkeepers are busy with notes, signs and displays and it's just so much fun!
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Friendly Kookaburra visits Castlecrag
06 May 2021
The kookaburras are always here throughout the day, foraging and finding worms, but this one was particularly friendly and let us get right up close!
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Secret stitching at Castlecrag
06 May 2021
There's been a lot of stitching, stitching going on at Castlecrag this week... I wonder why? You can see them in the playground, sitting on the walls and even in the trees! What can it be?
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Mother Earth in Castlecrag Reception
06 May 2021
With a few extra special leaves and feathers bought from the children's playground stalls, Mother Earth is collecting her Autumn treasures at Castlecrag Reception.
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To Mum with Love - Mother's Day gifts
06 May 2021
Now that the special day has come and gone, we can share with you some of the beautiful things the children made especially for Mother's Day.
Little Kindy and Class 2 felted soaps, Class 1 stitched gum leaf bookmarks out of hand-dyed felt, Class 3 crocheted brooches and placed holders with their first crochet! Class 4 embroidered lavender pillows and made hand-sewn paper cards. Over at Middle Cove, Class 5 made clay vases with dried flowers, Class 6 made baskets out of Bangalow Palms, Year 7 baked delicious shortbread with fresh flower petals from the garden, and Year 8 made their own beeswax wraps button brooches. What a bounty of beautiful things for mums and carers. We trust our Mums enjoyed their beautiful hand-crafted gifts.
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Class 1 explore numbers to 12
23 Apr 2021
At the end of Term 1, Class 1 explored numbers from 1 - 12, including roman numerals. Writing, playing and using bean bags with numbers, they also made them in beeswax and used their new counters and counting bags to explore simple addition and subtraction.
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Class 2 long stitch pencil cases
23 Apr 2021
Class 2 have been stitching their own pencil cases, and the results are remarkable. One side has mountain and valley patterns in long stitch, whilst the other side contains their own design, carefully stitched. From the Opera House to rainbows, a cricket match, animals and even the sinking Titanic, their pencil cases will take them all the way to Class 6!
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Autumn Festival and celebrating Michaelmas
23 Apr 2021
All 6 primary school classes came together on the last Friday at the end of Term 2 for the festival of Michaelmas - midway between the summer and winter solstices. It is an experiential treat as the hall is filled with voices, rounds, drama and music. The story of St. Michael and the dragon centres around an evil dragon holding the East at bay, and St. George (an earthly representation of St. Michael) tames the dragon with the Sword of Justice and Courage. It is Harvest time, as we gather our stores for winter, and the story reflects the gathering of our internal strength and light for the coming darkness of winter. Each class rehearses their own part - songs, music, poetry and drama - and they come together to perform as one. Class 2 prepared the fresh bread rolls and steamed corn, Class 3 rehearsed being the dragon, Class 5 played recorder and all classes from 1 - 6 rehearsed the story and their own songs. Thank you to all teachers and Class 5 teacher Katherine Arconati for working together on this event, and to Head of Music Ian Munns for playing the opening piano.
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Class 2 explore the sounds of music
23 Apr 2021
Rodney Dean has been working with Class 2 to explore music and sound. Listening to their own rhythms on the xylophone, percussion instruments, kalimba, rain-shakers, bells, chimes and recorder, the children shared what stories and imagery might accompany the various sounds they could create. Each child worked with one rhythm as they explored beat, rhythm, melody and timing together, before playing their own instrument and music to their regular morning song as one group. The result was wonderful! These skills are developed over many years in the primary class teacher period, allowing the children not only to play all their own music for school plays and festivals, but deepen their musical knowledge, experience and appreciation.
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Preparing for Michaelmas
23 Apr 2021
Last term Class 2 prepared bread and corn cobs for the whole of primary school on the morning of the Michaelmas Festival. Class Assistant Monique carefully calculated enough flour to make 180 rolls! She and Melony kneaded the dough with some Class 1 children before Class 2 children came in groups. Each child took part to further knead and form the many rolls that were baked to perfection. Can you spot the dough ball in the air?! The corn was peeled and the husks will be made into corn dolls. Class 1 volunteers decorated the Harvest display in the hall and the office was also brimming with lovely donations from school families - thank you. The food was all donated to Oz Harvest, who distribute it to charities to help feed people in need in Sydney.
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Glenaeon School Office Hours during the Easter Holidays
31 Mar 2021
The Easter holidays are almost here! The last day of Term 1 is Wednesday 31 March and Term 2 commences on Wednesday 21 April.
Middle Cove Reception will remain open over the school holidays between the hours of 9am and 2pm. Please contact Sarah via email reception@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au or call 9417-3193
Castlecrag Reception will be closed from Thursday 1 April and will reopen on Monday 19 April. You can contact Melony via email castlecrag@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au or call 9958-0774.
Wishing everyone a safe and restful break.
Glenaeon Admin Team
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Autumn inspo
25 Mar 2021
You may be tempted to make some Autumn trimmings for your tables at home.
The mornings and evenings are a little crisper and soon ....
Leaves are drifting slowly down.
They make a carpet on the ground,
Then swish! The wind comes whistling by,
And sends them dancing in the sky!
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Glenaeon Charter Bus Bookings Term 2 – NOW OPEN
25 Mar 2021
It’s time to make your booking on the Glenaeon charter bus for Term 2, 2021. Please be aware that seats on these charter buses are limited. While casual tickets are available to purchase, a casual ticket does not guarantee your child access to the bus if there isn’t a seat available. In order to allow for adequate planning and capacity to be available for all students wishing to use the charter buses, please make your booking before the end of this term. Bookings for Term 2 are due by Wednesday 31 March.
Please use the following link to make your booking for Term 2 or for further information about the Glenaeon charter bus routes: https://glo.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/homepage/1425
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Class 5 makes 'dough' despite the rain
25 Mar 2021
Traditionally, Class 5 gardeners host Pizza Day each term with the help of Class 7 Food Technology students who make all the pizza dough. They utilise fresh ingredients grown in our Middle Cove Biodynamic Garden to create delicious hot pizzas to sell to their fellow students at lunchtime. This activity combines gardening, health and nutrition, culinary skills and service to their community!
This Tuesday however, plans for making pizza were washed away in the torrential rain that had fallen on Sydney. Fortunately, they are a resilient group. With the support of their Garden Teachers, Kathy and Edgar, they sheltered in the Gentle Cafe and baked herb and cheese bread rolls instead.
“That smells so good!” was a phrase heard across the campus. A total of $220 in donations was received from students and staff for their tasty snacks. Monies raised from these lunch events will be given to a worthy cause chosen by Class 5.
Hopefully, next term the weather will be friendlier and there will be pizzas for lunch. Well done Class 5 and thank you to all the helpers who provided support with this class activity.
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Class 3 explores Farming and Textiles
25 Mar 2021
Class 3’s final Main Lesson for Term 1 is Farming and Textiles. So far it has involved a series of highly practical lessons where the children are learning how natural raw materials are transformed into products. One of the activities has been the transformation of wheat into bread. Another, how we prepare and look after soil.
Below you will see photos of the children threshing a cloth bag of wheat, blowing the wheat as it falls into a bowl to separate the stalk pieces from the grains (winnowing), grinding the wheat with a mortar and pestle and making damper.
The other series of photos are of the children sowing ‘green manure’. This involved a little excursion to the garden where we were met by Kathy Thangathurai, one of our resident Glenaeon Gardening Teachers. Kathy had prepared a garden bed especially.
First, she spoke about the importance of building and nourishing our soil to keep it healthy. Then we were handed a small portion of carefully selected seeds and while we were sprinkling, she explained that when the seeds sprout and grow they draw nutrients from the soil depths and from the air to bring them to the top layer where our plant’s roots grow. The children then took turns ‘turning and tickling’ the earth with a hoe and to end off this wonderful experience, Class 3 blessed the soil with a song to help the seeds grow.
A few children exclaimed that this was their ‘most favourite main lesson ever!’
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The apple of Kindy's eye
25 Mar 2021
Big Kindergarten have been welcoming Autumn and have been busy making some leaf print paintings, as well as enjoying the rainy, windy weather. We have also made some pom pom apples (we even had a noisy minor come and visit our tree) and are looking forward to our Apple Picking excursion to Bilpin this coming weekend, where we will enjoy some delicious apples from the orchard.
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Inside and Outside Rainy Day Play
25 Mar 2021
Children have been enjoying their inside-outside play at lunch times as the rain has brought some indoor play time. Students have had a chance to get creative with blocks, games and cards, drawing and their own craft projects.
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Here comes the sun!
25 Mar 2021
What a welcome relief it was to finally see the sun! The level of excitement and sheer relief was palpable as children played in the warm air and bright sunshine again after relentless rain. As the children's rain pants dry in the sun, we look forward to some more lovely Autumn days approaching the Easter holidays.
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Grassroots Ecostore at the Castlecrag Campus
25 Mar 2021
The Grassroots Ecostore is on our Castlecrag Campus, and open every school day for families and the public to visit. Taryn Miller, who took over the store this year, has been a lovely presence and provider of beautiful, useful and wonderful supplies for our families, the community and the public. The shop is beautiful and is real treasure trove of art, craft, lunch box/school supplies, books, toys, felt craft, slippers, candles, drawing and health/beauty products. The shop has a great eco and ethical focus, so products are locally sourced, naturally made and low impact where possible. You will find some lovely Easter and school holiday craft supplies so do come in before the end of school and find some treasures for home, holidays, birthdays and more. We really love having the Ecostore on our campus and thank Taryn for what she has brought to the store. You can also order online any time at grassrootsecostore.com.au or call Taryn on 0409 022 327.
Opening hours during term time are:
Monday 8.30am – 11.30am & 2:00pm – 3:45pm
Tuesday 8.30am – 11.30am & 2:00pm – 3:45pm
Wednesday 8.30am – 12.30pm
Thursday 8.30am – 11.30am & 2:00pm – 3:45pm
Friday 8.30am – 11.30am & 2:00pm – 3:45pm
The shop is closed during school holidays but online orders continue.
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Class 1 dye their chair bags
25 Mar 2021
Engaged in a very creative outdoor activity, Class 1 students were able to dye their chair bags, even though it was pouring with rain! Under the building overhang, Handwork Teacher Elizabeth Ellean set up dyeing tables, where the children used vibrant colours to dye the bags that will hang on the backs of each of their desk chairs and hold their books, crayons and counters. It was a highly creative and colourful task, supported by our volunteers.
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Class 2 plant the Kefir lime tree and Kindy in the compost
25 Mar 2021
We have been slowly developing a Scent Garden outside Reception in beautiful blue pots, and this week gardening Teachers Kathy Thangathurai and Sandra Frain brought a beautiful Kefir lime tree to plant. The children trolleyed the freshly composted soil to the pot and planted it in the rain. Meanwhile, Kindergarten have also been digging out the compost and we welcomed volunteer Guchi to assist. Our beautiful sunflowers have been a welcoming joy in the early morning duty in the rain!
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Class 2 Animal Fables Main Lesson
25 Mar 2021
Class 2 students have been introduced to the underlying wisdom of the Animal Fables during their English Main Lesson. They have enjoyed and written texts from The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Lion and the Mouse and many more. The children have this week also painted some most beautiful paintings for the wall, truly a sight to behold.
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Meet Emily Fam – Glenaeon’s Student Wellbeing Coordinator
11 Mar 2021
What is your new role at Glenaeon?
I’m the new Student Wellbeing Coordinator and this role is new to Glenaeon this year. Its aim is to support the Deputy Heads of School in ensuring the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of the students from Kindergarten – Year 12. This includes providing one-on-one support for students, as well as implementing broader programs across the school.
What experience do you bring to Glenaeon?
I have 10+ years volunteer and professional experience in supporting young people and families in a variety of contexts including mental health, alcohol and drugs, OOHC/foster care and homelessness. I have worked with young people facing many challenges, some of which include anxiety, depression, trauma, peer and social relationship struggles, low self-esteem, eating disorders, bullying and family breakdown. As a social worker, I have a passion for working from a strengths based, holistic approach to support those I’m working alongside to feel seen, nurtured and empowered.
What are your interests? (hobbies etc)
Some of my favourite hobbies include bushwalking, the ocean, reading, dancing, travelling and sharing delicious meals with friends and family. I have probably set the world record for the amount of times watching the entirety of the series Gilmore Girls, and I also love nerding out on many podcasts that involve any of my interests including low tox and slow living, integrative health, birth and anything by Brené Brown.
What are you most excited about for the year ahead?
The students I have already been able to engage with have made me very excited to continue getting to know and work with more students through individual support and broader programs as the year progresses. In my short time here at Glenaeon, I have already known the students to be empathetic, mature, kind and welcoming, which has been beautiful to see. I also look forward to working in an environment where I get to see the bush every day.
When life gives you lemons, help the environment!
11 Mar 2021
The Student Eco Team recently ran a lemonade stall, raising money for The Wilderness Society. Well done to all for this highly refreshing initiative!
#lemons #lemonade #charity #fundraiser #NatureWeLove
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Autumn's arrival at Castlecrag
11 Mar 2021
As the glorious sunflowers begin to fade and the zinnias shine the last bursts of summer, Autumnal colours have arrived. We acknowledge the changing of our seasons and begin to prepare for the upcoming Harvest Festival. Our nature tables tell tales of Harvest, apple picking and the children have also been making Mother Earth a bounty of beautiful apples from beeswax and bringing them to the nature table in Reception.
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School Tours - a window into Class 1
11 Mar 2021
Our Castlecrag campus tours offer a beautiful window into the worlds within each classroom. The children's bookwork, craft, painting and tools provide a sense of some of what children see, use and create. Here is a little 'window' into Class 1.
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Class 2 - it's time for tables!
11 Mar 2021
Class 2 students have immersed themselves in the world of times tables with their 'Ida Spider' Math Main Lesson with Teacher Rodney Dean. Just like Ida with her stunning web formations, Class 2 have used the 10-point number wheels and wool to show that each times table has it's own geometric form and that numbers are inherently linked to patterns, geometry and repetition. This fundamental understanding offers another dimension to the times tables, which they have also been hopping, stepping and jumping all the way up to the twelve times table! Well done Class 2! The path leading from the classroom has a number game that children step times tables as they head out to play. They have also been writing numbers as far as they can and there are some VERY long number scrolls rolling about!
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Class 1 cubbies and mandalas
11 Mar 2021
Class 1 are enjoying their new playground, and have built their first bush-stick cubby. The enterprising builders negotiated with our Bush Regenerist Lindsay in the local currency - gum nuts - for a pile of palm branches to enhance their building equipment. Nearby, the children create beautiful and intricate mandalas with natural materials, leaving them in the playground for all to enjoy.
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Tadpoles and frogs in the pond
11 Mar 2021
When children bring the class rolls to Reception, they always stop to look at the tadpoles, which have been growing since last year. They have now grown arms and legs and once they are little frogs can be gently returned to the pond! The children take great care of the pond with Gardening Teacher Sandra Frain, and at dawn and dusk, the frogs can be heard croaking.
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Class 1 make their counting bags
11 Mar 2021
Class 1 students have been making their counting bags with Handwork Teacher Elizabeth Ellean. Adding backstitch to their growing repertoire of skills, they sewed the sides of their bags up and threaded the plait through the top hem. These are now ready to hold their counters as they begin their new Math Main Lesson with Class 1 Teacher Jennifer Stone.
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xin nian kuai le (Happy New Year in Mandarin)
25 Feb 2021
The excitement of the beginning of the new school year has now settled back into familiar patterns, rhythms and routines. Our first Main Lesson cycle for the year has just concluded, and for Class 5 in particular, it has been a new and interesting one!
While European, Middle Eastern and Australian history, both pre and post colonisation, have long been a feature of the Main Lesson sequence in Primary School at Glenaeon, for some time, we have been committed to the addition of an integrated Main Lesson experience that reflects our geographic position as part of Asia. The current Year 9 cohort experienced the first "Tales of Ancient China" Main Lesson when they were in Class 5. This year, Teacher Katherine Arconati has again delved into Chinese legends, myths, history and geography in the Main Lesson, now re-named "The Celestial Empire".
The children have been gleefully immersed in ancient Chinese culture and philosophy through mythology, geography, art, dance, music and verse. They were treated to calligraphic instruction via a visiting calligraphy artist and decorated the school with their work. The Main Lesson's timing perfectly coincided with the Lunar New Year celebrations and on the first day of the New Year, we were thoroughly enthralled by Class 5's remarkable traditional Chinese music performance at our Junior School Assembly.
As part of our rich academic offerings throughout Primary School, it is wonderful to acknowledge and celebrate the diverse cultural perspectives and history of so many members of our community and our neighbours.
Dani Finch
Deputy Head of School (K-Class 6) & Registrar
Class 5 and The Celestial Empire Main Lesson
25 Feb 2021
Katherine Arconati’s Class 5 students have been deeply immersed in a renewed Main Lesson, “The Celestial Empire”. Originally created by Susie Hughes in 2017 out of her personal connection to the rich culture and history of one of the most powerful and significant nations of our time, Katherine set out to find her own connection to this unit of work and has been simply delighted by the results.
The children have heard and discussed many myths and legends that describe everything from creation to the invention of silk. They imagined a migratory bird’s flight to the north-eastern shores of China, stopping at many familiar places along the way (Byron Bay, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Korea) and then drew a simple map of the area. Visiting Teacher Jing Li taught the children about the traditional art of calligraphic writing using materials that she brought to school in hand from China years ago. Art Therapist, Julia Byrne also made a guest appearance and led the children to draw the amazing water dragons using oil pastels and citrus turps.
Class 5’s studies culminated with a celebration of the Lunar New Year. Thanks to Parent Laura, the children made dumplings and experienced some other traditions of the festival. The class then shared their experience with Classes 3-6 with a performance of songs (in Chinese!) at a Junior School assembly.
#glenaeon #steiner #steinereducation #mainlesson #class5 #celestialempire #china #chinese #deeplearning #immersivelearning #experience #academic #history #art #music #geography #craft #politics #lunarnewyear #food #culture #drawing #painting #language #sydney #middlecove #primaryschool
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A big warm welcome to big school Class 3!
25 Feb 2021
Class 3 have been settling into their new campus here at Middle Cove. Class 3 Teacher Lucy Armstrong has kept a watchful eye over her students. It's been a big change from Castlecrag, but our 'little fish in a big pond' are becoming acquainted with the new play areas and classrooms as well as enjoying the bigger spaces and new faces.
They also enjoyed their first experience of a Junior School Assembly in the Sylvia Brose Hall together with students from Classes 4, 5 and 6.
A big warm welcome to big school Class 3!
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The cycle of life in the gardens at Castlecrag
25 Feb 2021
Last year, two large trees needed to be removed following the storms and health of their foliage. The trees were chipped and the sawdust partially decomposed at the tree site. This week Class 1 children and their gardening teacher Sandra Frain mulched the gardens and added the rich sawdust to the compost pit. The wheelbarrow was laden and they bucketed the sawdust and poured the remaining chips into the large deep-pit compost. Sitting in a closing circle with Sandra, they shared their learnings which lead to a discussion on the importance of the cycle of the plant life through rich soil making. To complete the cycle, two new trees have been planted near where the old ones used to be.
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Class 1 learn their letters
25 Feb 2021
The Class 1 Main Lesson on upper case letters is well and truly underway and the children are really enjoying the fairy tales, drawings and finding the letters around them in the classroom. They practise writing using correct formation, sounding out and building the phonemic awareness that underlies reading and writing as these capacities unfold. They also used wax to form letters, this week modelling 'T' for Tree and 'N' for Needle. A multi-sensory approach to learning allows the student to experience and learn through song, rhyme, movement, bookwork and art, stimulating the visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and tactile senses as they see, hear and touch to create the things they are learning.
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Class 2 group games
25 Feb 2021
Class 2 have a whole-of-class games session each week, which are a huge amount of fun and greatly enjoyed. This week, children played 'Streets and Lanes', which involves rapidly changing directions as an escapee is chased through the 'streets and lanes'. The group also played 'Sheep Sheep come home', involving a sheep trying to get back to their farmer and avoid the hungry wolf; and 'Twos and Threes', where a cat and mouse pair case each other out and seek refuge with their same animal. The children love these sessions, and there is much excitement as Class teacher Rodney and assistant Monique also join in the fun.
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Grinding stones at Castlecrag
25 Feb 2021
Grinding the abundant sandstone is a favourite lunch time activity of all classes here at Castlecrag. Children love making 'fairy dust', paint and colours as they pound the rocks to dust and then mix them with water. The ochres, reds and browns of our local sandstone are very beautiful. It is also a very rhythmical and satisfying experience, and one that can also be hard work!
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Jump, climb and balance - all in a day's play
25 Feb 2021
Our playground at Castlecrag encourages children to climb, balance and jump, thereby developing their balance and coordination whilst having a lot of fun. Rocks, low trees, balance beams, monkey bars and 'The Fort' are all places where the children develop and explore their own abilities, taking time over the years to improve and learn new skills. 'Monkey bar blisters' are a small rite of passage for the Class 1 children, who relish the opportunity to swing and climb in their new playground.
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Meet Angela Sutton, Head of Learning Support K-12
22 Feb 2021
Glenaeon is a highly nurturing and caring school where every child is given the opportunity to reach their full learning potential. Learning support is available to Glenaeon students that may be facing learning challenges in class or just need a bit of extra help with reading, or managing study. Meet Angela Sutton, our Head of Learning support for students in K-12. It is Angela who will make assessments, and if needed, develop a Learning Support Plan and work closely with the Student, Teachers and Parents to get the best outcomes for all.
What is your new role at Glenaeon?
I am the Head of Learning Support (K-12) and High School Learning Support Teacher based at Middle Cove Campus.
What experience do you bring to Glenaeon?
For the past 18 years, I’ve been working in Special Education as a Teacher, Assistant Principal, Advisor and Director in the USA, Australia, Bhutan and Indonesia. My experience is with students from preschool to university, therefore, working in the K-12 setting at Glenaeon is a perfect fit for me. I have previously enjoyed working with students with autism and a variety of learning difficulties and needs.
What are your interests?
My interests are in traveling, trekking, exercising and cooking. Pre-COVID, we enjoyed a several month holiday around Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before landing in Indonesia. I love experiencing different cultures, traditions and foods. I enjoy playing tennis and table tennis, as well as jogging. As a family, we enjoy cooking and baking together.
What are you most excited about for the year ahead?
I’m most excited about getting to know the students and working alongside the staff at Castlecrag and Middle Cove campus. I look forward to watching the students grow as the year progresses.
Class 3 discover Middle Cove campus windfall
11 Feb 2021
Handwork lessons in Class 3 skipped off to a great start this year, with the children taking a walking tour out into their new bush playground and beyond. Together we discovered new pathways leading to new big school areas. With their class teacher Lucy, we walked from their classroom down to the garden, past students working in their classrooms and we met café operators Marian and Peter. On the way we practiced walking quietly past classrooms, taking the steps down the hill carefully, safe road rules as well as observing play spaces and outside boundary areas.
Most importantly we collected interesting windfalls from the trees and bushes to wrap in our bundles to print onto cloth and parchment paper. Class 3 have commenced making their library bags and soon will be using them to take home their first books from the junior library. Firstly, they started embroidering their initials onto their straps and soon the children will sew their straps to their leaf print cloth.
Everyone is excited to see how their bundles turn out when they unwrap them.
Welcome to Middle Cove campus Class 3!
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Class 1 & 2 Handwork
11 Feb 2021
"In handwork our hands are nimble and quick!" This is the beginning of the song we sing together, as we make our way into the handwork space.
In the first week for Class 1, Elizabeth told a summer story of the baby dolphin learning to jump in and out of the water. The children were given ocean blue cloth to Dolphin Stitch into, creating the straight and the curved line. This cloth will later be turned into a counting bag for the children to use in their lessons with their Class Teacher Jennifer. Class 2, meanwhile, have begun work on their long stitch pencil cases, a project that will see them first stitch and then sew together their own pencil case to use for many years to come. They create a landscape of pointy mountains and deep valleys, flat-top mountains and castle castellations. From then on, every spare moment they can be found stitching away! In Kindergarten each child sews their own craft bag with their name and an image, and this bag will travel with them through all of the primary classes at Glenaeon.
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Little Kindy come out to play
11 Feb 2021
Little Kindy enjoyed outside time in the sandpit this week, digging, creating and working together as they explored and enjoyed their new playground. In their beautiful classroom is a Summer nature table, which celebrates the abundance of the season. What is also very sweet is that their older siblings in Class 1 and Class 2 are often visiting, waving and checking in on their little brothers and sisters; here pictured are some big brothers keeping watch over the 'Kindergarten Gate'.
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Class 2 - Twiggy the Cave bird Main Lesson
11 Feb 2021
Class 2 have been furthering their literacy and geography skills with a Main Lesson centered around Twiggy the Cave bird. As Twiggy's siblings go out into the world and meet other birds, they learn a lot about them and bring the stories back to Twiggy in the cave. Twiggy is still very small and too fragile to leave the nest, so the stories nourish her and create beautiful pictures in her mind. They are also learning the local geography of Sydney and our own surrounds as the birds travel across our landscapes from Botany Bay to Palm Beach and west towards Parramatta. The children have been writing longer sentences, drawing beautifully and practicing their word families alongside this main lesson.
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Class 2 create birds with beeswax
11 Feb 2021
Alongside their main lesson, Class 2 have been making colourful and creative wax birds, which have been popping up all over the place...even in the front office and reception nature table! Wax is a wonderful tool to develop dexterity, perseverance and will, as the cold, hard colours are first softened, then formed into a myriad of shapes and creations.
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Class 1 Gardening with Sandra
11 Feb 2021
Class 1 are enjoying their gardening time with Sandra. They were busy this week searching for insects and bugs and making little homes for them to live in, as well as enjoying tea before filling up the frog pond, planting lemongrass and visiting the wild strawberry patch! Yum! There are wild raspberries growing that look like they might be getting ready to bear fruit this year too. Wouldn't that be exciting?
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Rivers, dams and waterfalls - Class 1 & 2 at play
11 Feb 2021
You could mistake them initially as trying to move the huge stone in the Class 1 and 2 sandpit, but that was only the beginning of a complex and impressive network of rivulets, tunnels and water flows that have captivated the children every lunchtime. Carting water, designing flows and dams, whilst enjoying their outside play time has been the most enjoyable time for all : "Class 1 is fun!... Class 2 is too!".
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Class 5 explore Ancient China
11 Feb 2021
Class 5 have immersed themselves in the study of Ancient China with Class Teacher Katherine Arconati. Their room is a museum and gallery of their work was well as Chinese artefacts, instruments and calligraphy sets that the children are using. This blackboard beauty was drawn by teacher Katherine Arconati.
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Our Kindergarten Spaces
11 Feb 2021
Kindergarten is a special place and much care, thought and meaning is given to the surroundings, equipment and spaces in which the children play. The environment is beautiful, warm and welcoming, inviting open-ended creative play, whilst also nourishing aspects of play such as sorting, counting, building and much social engagement. The Kindy day starts with Outside Play, before moving inside into Morning Circle and then Inside Play. These beautiful play spaces come alive as toys, objects and furniture become trains, planes, houses, gardens and play spaces; endless sessions of creative and imaginative play. They also grind grains for cooking, bake and prepare food each day. A strong rhythm is held by the teachers, which also includes the children tidying up and putting everything away again, ready for tomorrow. This week the children made beautiful woollen pom-pom mice!
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Kindergarten go out to play
11 Feb 2021
Kindergarten children have had a lovely time this week exploring their special places in the playground, digging, playing in the water, building cubbies and finding many small insects to watch and talk about. The flow form fills with water on warm days, buckets and spades are carried from the 'Kindy Shed' and the children enjoy their outside time together enormously.
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Year 9's The Cove, builds character
10 Feb 2021
The Year 9 cohort's program The Cove started this week. All Year 9 students showed up at the early time of 7:30am to immerse themselves in the beautiful bush surrounding the school. A 1.5 km run saw them crossing Scotts Creek on the footbridge below the school and everyone gathered at the natural ledge overlooking the creek from high above on the other side. There we sat and exchanged ideas. They heard about the program's purpose and the activities they'll be involved in over the year ahead.
The program aims to instill a sense of belonging, and a better connection to place. It also fosters a sense for community and will involve activities that improve their fitness, yoga, mindfulness exercises, talking circles, cooperative games and activities in which the students reflect on their observations and ideas we discuss together.
The year-end brings the highlight of an amazing race through the city in late November, The Cove's Character Challenge in which all those skills both physical and social/emotional will be put to the test when they work together in groups.
This is the third year The Cove program has been implemented successfully. This year’s Year 9 students will benefit from the fact that the whole cohort works together, outdoors through the seasons, surrounded by nature and by gaining a deeper understanding of themselves as well as their classmates through a shared experience.
We wish them all a successful year and both Donna and I are looking forward to spending valuable and formative moments with them throughout the year.
Jonas Stoebe
PDHPE Teacher & Co-curricular Organiser
#glenaeon #thecove #sport #community #achievement #autonomy #development #resilience #service #belonging #strength #endurance #teamwork #outdooreducation #PE #selfdiscipline #selfcare
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Grassroots Eco Store is open with new products in-store and online!
10 Feb 2021
We are well stocked with the beautiful range of Anthroposophical creams and lotions from Southern Swan. If your children need a bit of extra care and comfort being back at school, applying the Sphagni Rose Lotion “can feel like being surrounded by a mother's cuddle, which they can take with them as they go about their day.” While the Lavender Bath Milk added to the bath can be just the thing to transition from a busy day into slumber.
New in the shop this week are these super versatile, breathable cotton Dish Covers in a range of sizes and native flower designs, not only do they look fantastic on your table, storing or transporting your dishes of food, they are also made by and support women working in home industries in South Africa.
We’ve also been lucky to receive a small delivery of the highly sought after Grimm’s Wooden puzzles and rainbow stacking toys. Grimm’s is well known for their natural, high quality wooden toys that are perfect for hours of open-ended play.
If you are in need of new books and stories to spark your child’s imagination and love of reading, come in and browse our bookshelves filled with a curated collection of books sure to delight both young and older readers.
If you can’t make it to the shop, visit us online: grassrootsecostore.com.au more products are added each week!
Opening Hours for Term 1
Monday: 8.30am–11.30am & 2pm–3.45pm
Tuesday: 8.30am–11.30am & 2pm–3.45pm
Wednesday: 8.30am–12.30pm
Thursday: 8.30am–11.30am & 2pm–3.45pm
Friday: 8.30am–11.30am & 2pm–3.45pm
Thank you for shopping locally. A portion of every sale goes to support Glenaeon.
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Getting into the Rhythm of School life by Mary Heard
28 Jan 2021
How do we keep the lovely feeling of relaxation and connection we have created over the holidays when we return to school?
The answer is rhythm.
It is one of the tools the teachers use in the classroom of Steiner Schools to maintain the feeling of calm and order.
We can take some of that medicine into our own homes. Of course it will never be perfect but it will at least anchor us and save us being tossed around on the stormy seas of school life.
In my opinion, the best way to set your child up for a successful school life is to get them to school calmly with 15 minutes to play before the bell goes.
So how does “Simplicity Parenting” help you to achieve that?
What we recommend is that you sit down quietly and look at your days........
Start with wake up time
What time do your children need to wake up in order to comfortably get to school 15 minutes early?
Work backwards from there
- Pre-schoolers to 7 year olds need 11-12 hours of sleep
- 8 to 12 year olds need 9-11 hours
- Adolescents need 8-9 hours
So from there you can work out the bed time
A good balance for a 7-year-old for example, would be sleep by 8 and up at 7
So once you have worked out your bedtime, work back 2 hours to dinner time – 6pm for an 8pm bedtime.
After dinner it is best to keep a regular routine – bath, music practice (for older children) and a book or story.
The younger the child the easier it is to establish a rhythm. No matter what the age the secret is “Start small, stay close, insist and follow through”
This means you cannot get distracted as a parent. I recommend you turn your phone of between dinner and bed.
Once this rhythm is established it will take you all the way through to high school because you will just be able to put the new activities in as the sleep time lessens.
One last benefit from this way of parenting is that rhythm builds discipline into family life. We have dinner because it is ‘dinner time’, we go to bed because it is ‘bedtime’ we get in the car because it is ‘time to leave for school’ – this saves so many arguments.
It may sound like a grind to have so much structure but ultimately this is the path to freedom because it actually creates space to put in things you want without feeling pressure, they just need to fit in around the structure you have created.
Mary Heard is a Simplicity Parenting Coach and runs courses in Simplicity Parenting in N.S.W throughout the Year.
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Baby News
28 Jan 2021
Castlecrag's Little Kindy Teacher Junko Nicholas gave birth to a baby boy, Daas Nicholas in the last week of Term 4 last year. Middle Cove based HSIE Teacher Ella Pooley gave birth to beautiful Millie on the 11th of January. Both are well and thriving. Congratulations to both Junko and Ella and their families on the new arrivals. And there is more baby news, with Executive Assistant to our Head of School, Anette Babula expecting a bub in mid-March this year. How wonderful to welcome these newest members to the Glenaeon family! Our congratulations and warmest wishes to all.
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Class 6 Astronomy Main Lesson
28 Jan 2021
This Blackboard Beauty was created by Class 6 Class Teacher Brendan Strobl for the Astronomy Main Lesson.
#science #astronomy #mainlesson #glenaeon #steiner #steinereducation #blackboard #blackboardart
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Class 1 cross under the Rainbow Bridge
28 Jan 2021
On the first day of school in 2021, Class 1 children met once again in the Kindergarten playground with their teachers from last year. They shared their morning song together before walking through the playground up to the Class 1 area. Class 2 children formed a beautiful 'Rainbow Bridge' with a long silk and flowers. The Kindergarten teachers said goodbye and gave each child a flower to take with them 'under the rainbow bridge' to the other side, where their new Class 1 teacher was waiting. The year's Class 1 teacher, Jennifer Stone, received them and they made their way as new Class 1 students. The special 'Class Teacher' period thus begins, and Jennifer Stone will now guide these children through their primary years with the help of other specialist teachers.
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A rainy day to come and play
28 Jan 2021
The rain was a welcome relief after the heat leading up to the first day of school. The Castlecrag playground has been a buzz of colourful raincoats as children discover and explore their grounds again, with the new Class 1 eagerly exploring the new play areas and friends. Class 2 children enjoyed inside lunch play out of the rain with blocks, dice and geometric shapes.
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Meet Jennifer Stone
28 Jan 2021
We have some wonderful new teachers on staff here at Glenaeon. Over the course of Term 1, we will introduce you to some of the new faces in upcoming editions of the Newsletter. First up - Class 1 Teacher, Jennifer Stone.
What is your new role at Glenaeon?
My new role at Glenaeon is that of Class Teacher, beginning with Class One.
What experience do you bring to Glenaeon?
Along with many experiences in the School of Life, l have led Steiner playgroups and assisted in Kindergarten at Glenaeon, taught at Lorien Novalis and completed a teaching cycle at Kamaroi Rudolf Steiner School.
What are your interests?
My interests are in anthroposophy, theatre, poetry, theatre, design, theatre, music, theatre, yoga, theatre. And theatre. I also love to travel and have spent time in Paris, New York and Japan. Mostly chasing theatre. Despite the cosmopolitan nature of the above list, Nature is my best friend and greatest teacher.
What are you most excited about for the year ahead?
I am looking forward to getting to know the beautiful children in my new class and establishing a healthy rhythm for our troupe.
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Cubby Life, and refrigerators
27 Nov 2020
"The rain was just stopping as I arrived for my Tuesday morning playground duty at Castlecrag. Our very busy Class 1 boys were abuzz with excitement and very keen to show me that their cubby was dry inside. A couple of them mentioned that they were planning to live there, but it was eventually decided that there wouldn't be room for a fridge, so it was probably best to stay living at home for the time being."
Dani Finch, Deputy Head of School, K-6.
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Class 3 Take Time for Main Lesson
27 Nov 2020
Class 3 has been exploring the development of Time Measurement over the past few weeks. We’ve observed and experimented with shadow-clocks, water-clocks, candle-clocks and, of course, tick tock clocks. We made our own card game using the months, seasons and days as well as a D’harawal seasonal calendar.
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The Science of Sunflowers - Class 1
27 Nov 2020
Class 1 has been exploring the life cycle of sunflowers, from seed to germination, growth, flowering and harvesting with teacher Prue Reid. Students have dried and now eaten the seeds, saving some for planting again next year. Exploring a story and poem about sunflowers, they created beautiful artwork after looking at the living and dried plants. We have all enjoyed the glorious sunflowers growing and blooming in the Castlecrag gardens.
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Kindergartens harvest their potatoes
27 Nov 2020
In Term 3 Kindergarten planted potatoes in their potato bags and patiently watered and waited whilst the plants grew big and strong. Now they have faded, they are able to take the heavy bags, tip them out and dig to harvest their very own potatoes for lunch! It's an exciting and special day in which they follow through the life cycle of the potatoes, even finding the 'mother potato' from which all the little babies grew. They sat down to enjoy these together, and Little Kindergarten children even found double one with a little baby - just like their teacher Junko Nichols is growing!
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Compost Building - all hands in the pit
27 Nov 2020
It's time to fill the Deep Pit Compost at Castlecrag and begin the cycle of creating our next load of compost, which will be ready for Term 1, 2021! After distributing all the existing rich compost over the last weeks, the compost is filled and layered with grass and leaf clippings, fruit and vegetables, pre-composted paper and hand-towels, lime, straw and biodynamic preparations. We even had assistance from Mary Heard, a keen biodynamic gardener and our previous administrator to help the compost building. The children also came to learn about and scatter the biodynamic preparations of nettle, oak bark, chamomile, yarrow, nettle and dandelion, adding rich compounds and nutrients to the soil. These, alongside the valerian biodynamic preparation that will be added last, will help to activate the process of breaking down the matter into rich, living soil.
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Class 2 reflect on 2020
27 Nov 2020
Class 2's final Main Lesson for the year is a beautiful 'Reflections' Journal, with a poem encapsulating their year in poetry, script, artwork and embroidery. They are carefully sewing their own covers and filling the book with a poem about their year's work and journey. It will be a special keepsake of 2020 and their last year at the Castlecrag campus, before moving next year with their teacher Lucy Armstrong to the Middle Cove campus to begin Class 3. Their poem reads:
"Our Class 2 journey began, in the morning sun.
With a Rainbow Bridge we welcomed children, starting in class one.
Our first Main Lesson was nature studies, we travelled far from home.
Following the journey of Nino, a brave and curious gnome.
Each day we practiced skip counting, so we would be on track.
To sing our times tables, both forwards and back.
Weaving her web, Ava spider did wake.
The wonderous beauty of patterns, our number families make.
The King of Ireland Son, was a highlight of the year.
An epic tale of courage and the will to persevere.
It took great effort to learn our play, we pulled together as one.
And on the day we performed with pride; the King of Ireland’s son.
We learned this year to write in cursive, joining our letters with pride.
Each week we’d try to solve a riddle, with Lucy as our guide.
Counting in the thousands, we can add and minus now.
Using knowledge of place value, the squirrels taught us how.
The Saintly lives of people, we explored in Term 4.
Their inner striving power, lives in us for evermore.
St Francis as a youth, pledged his life to the light.
And Offerus did show, his courage over might.
Painting, dance, creative play, stories that fill our hearts.
We explored, all year round, the magic of the arts.
Class two’s nearly over,
and Christmas is almost near.
We will cherish memories, of our great second year."
- Lucy Armstrong -
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Epic sandplay at Castlecrag
27 Nov 2020
In celebration of a term of great lunchtime sandpit play - have a look at some of the recent creations, now that the weather is warmer and water enters the sandpit - carefully carried in watering cans and buckets! Drip castles, bridges, moats and ponds form, as the children create fantastic structures in the sand.
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Memorable Moments for Class 4 Happy Campers
27 Nov 2020
Class 4 had a wonderful first camp experience on the oval recently and were lucky to squeeze it in amongst all of the other Term 4 camps happening at the moment. Despite summer heat and a sleepless night, the children had a wonderful time exploring our local area with smiles and laughter. This experience supplemented the local geography main lesson which had to be taught remotely in Term 2 and the first Australian history main lesson they just completed. We revisited some of our favourite spots from our Castlecrag bushwalks and discovered new beauty north of our campus, including a favoured bathing spot frequented by early residents of the Sydney Harbour area. Memorable moments abounded but none will surpass the shock of the sprinklers coming on just as they were drifting off to sleep on Thursday night! Our campus and its location are a gift to be cherished and appreciated every day. I felt so blessed to be where we are with such a fantastic group of children and staff. Thanks to KG, Scottie and Dani for taking time away from their busy schedules to make this moment happen for Class Four.
Katherine Arconati
Class 4 Teacher
Castlecrag crafters crochet completed
27 Nov 2020
Handwork Teacher Elizabeth Ellean has helped our young crafters through a big year. And how wonderfully productive they have been! From long-stitch pencil cases, to cushions and recorder bags, bunting and wearable clothing, our artisans are feeling the satisfaction of making something useful and beautiful. Well done to all students for completing their colourful creations.
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Artisan achievements
26 Nov 2020
Handwork Teacher Elizabeth Ellean is very proud of her students completed works. Here you will see some of the knitted, sewn, crocheted works by our students. Our wonderful artisan program gives our students a great gift - to be able to make beautiful things, by hand, from scratch, using beautiful colours and imagination with a great deal of personal satisfaction and fulfilment. Well done to all the students.
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This Place
12 Nov 2020
“The land is my mother. Like a human mother, the land gives us protection, enjoyment and provides our needs – economic, social and religious. We have a human relationship with the land: Mother, daughter, son. When the land is taken from us or destroyed, we feel hurt because we belong to the land and we are part of it.” – Djinyini Gondarra
I’m writing this newsletter piece as I cross the Great Dividing Range, in a coach with 25 Class 6 students, their teacher Cathy, Hadiah (one of our Outdoor Education sessional staff) and our bus driver Mal! Excitement and spirits are high as we follow the well-travelled road towards Bathurst, en route to Kamilaroi, Wiradjuri and the Weilwan Country – the Warrumbungles! But it is the stop at Wentworth Falls Lake that is sitting with me right now.
Wentworth Falls Lake was created in 1878 by damming Jamieson Creek to store water for the steam railway. In 2020, it is a picturesque picnic spot and has excellent facilities. Functional, clean, and natural but - tame. As I stood, watching the children stretch their legs, I experienced the familiar deep knowing that strikes me on every program; that we must continue to take the children in our charge into wild places. By the time Thursday comes, and the coach pulls into McClelland St, Willoughby, we will have spent some time in the ‘wilderness’, and the children will be quieter, calmer, and more settled into their natural rhythms. In the absence of the stimulation of Sydney’s business, they will have come back to themselves.
As with most elements of a Glenaeon education, Outdoor Education is much more than it says on the label! By the end of a 13-year journey, our students can complete a self-sustained 48-hour solo camp; they will have been on many incredible adventures - up mountains, down rivers, and into foreign lands; mostly compulsory and for the really keen ones, some extras. All of this will have happened in the wilderness of ‘nature’s classroom’. And yet, Outdoor Education is so much more than adventures. For me, it is about conveying, through lived experience in wild places, a deep knowing and belonging perfectly summed up by Craig Foster in the incredible documentary ‘My Octopus Teacher.” https://tinyurl.com/y5txyvf7
“What she taught me was to feel... that you’re part of this place, not a visitor.”
On this Class 6 program, we begin to build the habits, values and attitudes that will give every student the best chance of experiencing a ‘human relationship with the land’ for themselves. It is an experience impossible to have in the city, with the hum of traffic, and the schedule and stress of our modern lives.
This week, on country that has been inhabited for millennia by stargazers, we will look up at the stars in wonder, and we will feel ‘part of this place’.
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Class 2 visits big campus ahead of Class 3, 2021
12 Nov 2020
This week, Class 2 students went with their Class Teacher Lucy Armstrong and Deputy Head of School K-6, Dani Finch to visit the place where they will be going to school next year, our Middle Cove campus. Students got to see their future classroom, the playground, and meet some of the staff in our Middle Cove office including Sarah at Reception, and Chris Scrogie, our Operations & Facilities Manager. They watched the Class 3 Play and then shared a lunch together with Class 3. There was much excitement about the move to BIG campus and the fun and adventures that lie ahead!
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Class 4’s amazing animal projects
12 Nov 2020
Class 4 has been working on Animal Projects as part of their Main Lesson. Students each made a model of an animal and also wrote a poem as part of the written component of their work. The range of animals was broad with students choosing to make a model of a bear hunting for food with its cub, a crocodile, stingray, dingo, and even a hand-stitched felt koalas, and a Peacock with its tail feathers on glorious display. Class 4 Teacher Katherine Arconati said, “The effort our students put into these works is truly astounding and I am beyond proud of them. When you look at their work, you can see how beautifully we educate the will, a life skill that no standardised test can measure.” Well done to Class 4.
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Poppies at Castlecrag
12 Nov 2020
Class 1 and 2 planted poppies, snapdragons and natives in their new garden, and just in time for Remembrance Day, the most beautiful red poppies burst into bloom. There were many busy bees visiting and the garden also attracted the butterflies!
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Knitted Friends in Class 2
12 Nov 2020
Class 2 are taking their knitting to another level, designing and knitting their own personalised dolls! They follow their pattern, choosing their colours and clothes, and will finish by adding hair, features and accessories, with guidance from the Handwork teacher Elizabeth Ellean, who also drew a beautiful chalkboard to accompany the lessons.
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Sending Love to Sandra
12 Nov 2020
When Sandra slipped and broke her collarbone, the children gathered to water the gardens, dig out the compost and care for the gardens at Castlecrag. They also made a plethora of gifts and cards which were delivered by Melony to her door. It is the measure of a great teacher, that the children can continue in their absence, with the same rhythm and enthusiasm. We all wish Sandra a speedy recovery and return! Look at all the composts, watering, flowers, bees, the playground and cups of tea in these cards! Playgroup has continued beautifully thanks to lovely Carly from Preschool, who has enjoyed visiting Castlecrag and meeting all of Sandra's playgroup children. Said Sandra from home: “I am so pleased that they know what to do, even though I am not there! They have learned how to garden, compost and fertilise from Playgroup through Preschool, Kindergarten and it continues through the Primary school. When one person in the team steps out, everyone else knows how to keep all the cycles going. I am enormously grateful to the children and their teachers for coming forward to continue caring for the plants and the animals in all the school gardens until I return.”
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Class 6 perform Aladdin
29 Oct 2020
Last Friday Class 6 performed the play ‘Aladdin’ in front of fellow students, teachers and school administration staff. They had rehearsed for many weeks, and finally all those rehearsals and preparations culminated in a wonderful show, that told the tale of Aladdin, a poor street boy, who meets a young girl in the market place who happens to be Princess Jasmine, the daughter of the Sultan of Hasbah. She is sad because she is being forced to marry her father's choice of suitor. Aladdin's luck suddenly changes when he retrieves a magical lamp from the Cave of Wonders. What he unwittingly gets is a fun-loving genie who only wishes to have his freedom. Little do they know that the sinister magician Omar has his own plans for both Aladdin and the lamp.
Brightly coloured costumes, hand-crafted and impressive props and enlivening singing, dance and music, came together, with wonderful performances by the talented cast. The students learned a great deal about performance, drama and theatre, and had a great deal of fun along the way.
We missed the fact our parents could not be in the audience due to COVID-19 restrictions and hope these images go some way to illustrating the wonderful event. Well done to all and thank you to the volunteers, parents and others who contributed to the play’s great success.
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Class 2 play - the King of Ireland's Son
29 Oct 2020
Class 2 rose to the occasion and performed their play 'The King of Ireland's Son' - the story of a young man on an adventurous quest with the help of animals and friends in the deep woods. After losing a bet with the Enchanter of the Back-Lands, he has a year and a day to find the Enchanter's castle and pluck three hairs from his beard, otherwise he will lose his life. Facing many tricks and challenges, he finally succeeds, travelling on a journey of swans, wild birds, steeds to meet the three daughters of the King. The King of Ireland's Son succeeds, winning not only the hand of his beloved Fedelma, but the hearts of the small audience watching too! The children played percussion and lyre, and dressed in colourful costumes on decorative sets.
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Home made herbal teas from the garden
29 Oct 2020
Herbs that had been gathered, harvested and dried were carefully put together to make jars of homemade herbal tea to take home. Lavender for relaxation, sage for sore throats, native mint for the nose, lemon balm and lemongrass were combined. The herbs grow in abundance and as the children learn the many uses and ways to upcycle everything! Not much is wasted here at Castlecrag as we recycle all of our plants, organic matter and waste through the compost and recycling systems. The deep pit compost provides an enormous amount of living soil for our garden beds, and children make weed fertiliser and natural tonics for the soil which is transported and shared between all three Glenaeon campuses. No wonder our gardens grow so well! Thanks to Gardening teachers Sandra and Kathy, as well as garden assistants Edgar and Michelle, and all the children for their daily work and enjoyment in our gardens!
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Proud recyclers at Castlecrag ahead of National Recycling Week
29 Oct 2020
We are proud recyclers here at Castlecrag. Every day, the children help to sort and deliver the clean, sorted rubbish to the many different bins. We produce a surprisingly low amount of waste for a campus of over 100 people, thanks to our strong recycling and reusing programs. Nothing is wasted, and everything that can be upcycled, recycled or repurposed does not even make it into the bins! We have chickens, composts and gardens that use much of our waste. Children bring no wrappers or packaged foods to school, paper is recycled or composted, and the excess goes to our recycling bins. We sort paper (blue bin), glass/metal (yellow bin), soft plastics (taken back to the supermarket), and pride ourselves a very low landfill output (the red bins). We have solar panels for power, and operate mostly off-grid, repair and resell our toys at our fair (not this year due to COVID-19), and turn our plant waste into fertilisers and plant food. It's worth the effort, with the children learning how important it is to take care of our own planet and place. Every week is National Recycling Week at Glenaeon, with the national environmental campaign kicking off on November 9.
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Kindy wet felt 'Floating Blossoms'
29 Oct 2020
Guided by wonderful felter Christine Wiltshire, Kindergarten children have made the most beautiful wet felted piece called "Floating Blossoms" with an exquisite turquoise background. Using soft fleece roving, they carefully formed the blossoms and placed them on the pond, before felting them together. The colours and final piece is stunning. This piece is Kindergarten's contribution to the Silent Auction items, available for sale through the Glenaeon Art Show. https://www.glenaeonfair.com/silent-auction
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Class 2 Play Practice - The King of Ireland's Son
15 Oct 2020
Class 2 has been busy rehearsing for their class play "The King of Irelend's Son". Costumes and props are emerging and the children are rising both to the story and occasion!
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Class 1 learning to knit
15 Oct 2020
Class 1 are learning to knit, and their vibrant coloured wool and hand-made knitting needles are a joy to watch.
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Now on sale: KFC6 magazine, $2 per copy
17 Sep 2020
A reminder for Parents that the Class 6 magazine KFC6 (KIDS FROM CLASS 6) is available for sale. Each copy is $2 and all funds raised will be donated to charity called Take 3 for the Sea a movement to reduce plastic from our oceans. Class 6 Parents can buy copies (photocopy or digital version) by sending a gold coin to school with their child. We also invite all other parents to send a $2 coin to school reception and Sarah will send a PDF copy of the magazine by email.
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Something fishy going on in Class 6
17 Sep 2020
Whilst Class 6's single-performance of “Aladdin” has been postponed until Friday 16th October, the play preparations are well and truly reaching new heights with the creation of some extraordinary fish puppets. Under the mentorship of parent, Jade Oakley, three Class 6 students Finley, Lucas and Finn, created these eye-catching, parade-sized puppets. Rehearsals are going swimmingly!
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Class 6 dance through an Astronomy Main Lesson
17 Sep 2020
In preparation for the late July night star watch, Class 6 became acquainted with some of the ‘signatures’ of the ‘visible to the naked eye’ planets that we associate with Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. How do we experience their movements through the sky each night and day as they progress above the eastern horizon and down to the western horizon? The students adorned themselves in representative colours and created a lively ‘planet dance’ moving at differing speeds and proximity to our home ‘planet earth’.
This main lesson session was book ended with the class singing and playing drums to Kuake, a native American chant and then singing the planet honouring harmonious Oh Sun and Moon.
At dusk the class noted the sun setting in the west and witnessed the moon rising in the east followed in procession by Jupiter and then Saturn. Using the width of their hand from thumb to ‘pinkie’, they learned how to measure the five degree per hour movement of the moon across the sky.
The 13 stars of the Scorpio constellation with the bright red central star Antares were scrutinised. One must ‘connect the dots’ using imagination to see the larger picture of what humans for centuries have collectively but without collaboration noted as particular forms in the night sky. The overhead Southern Cross constellation graced the night before the class closed the evening singing “Oh Sun and Moon” again.
Oh Sun and Moon, oh wind that breathes.
Oh starlight shine, oh rustling leaves.
Moving, weaving, in and out.
Turning changing all about.
All in one together free,
Bind us all together.
Read moreKuake
Kuake, leno, leno mahote
Hiya no, hiya no, hiya no
We are one with the infinite Sun.
Together forever and ever.
Spring has sprung at Castlecrag
17 Sep 2020
Spring has well and truly sprung at Castlecrag! The warmth is inviting, the sunlight is shining and the blossoms are blooming! The jasmine is in full flower and it's scent penetrates the campus. Spring nature tables are full of life and the children have been enjoying the Spring verses in preparation for their Spring Celebrations next week. Kindy children have been grinding the stones to make ochre paint in the playground.
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Ring-a-ding-a-ling - our school bell
17 Sep 2020
The sound of the old brass bell at Castlecrag is a happy sound, prompting children to run from the playground to their class balconies. Children enjoy taking turns to ring the bell, and occasionally even Kindy children find their way to ring its happy tune. It is such a lovely, friendly sound, and there is always a keen collection of children to run to get and ring the bell!
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Class 1 Indigenous Stories - big and little letters
17 Sep 2020
To end the term, Class 1 have been experiencing some wonderful aboriginal stories of the Dreamtime. They have heard stories of the Sun Woman, the Moon Man, the Rainbow Serpent, the giant frog that drank up all of the water in the world and many other wonderful stories. They are filling their workbooks with both pictures and text, as they learn the capitals and lower case of each letter alongside the stories. Chalkboard drawings by Rodney Dean.
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Class 1 garden comes to life
17 Sep 2020
Class 1 & 2 have been patiently toiling the soil outside Class 1, in preparation for this day. They have dug out roots and rocks, and planted both enduring natives close to the building, and flowers in the front section. This will be another 'working garden' for the children at Castlecrag, who all work in the garden every week with teacher Sandra Frain. It is lovely to see such care and enjoyment as they carefully tend their baby plants.
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Kindy Games day
17 Sep 2020
Once a week, Kindergarten children enjoy structured games and participate in small groups through the activities. They look forward to 'Games Day' and relish the challenges of balance, coordination and fun.
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Year 11 Parzival Main lesson
17 Sep 2020
Year 11 are commencing their Parzival Main lesson, and this Blackboard Beauty is by the talented Julia Byrne.
Class 6 launches KFC6 magazine, $2 per copy
03 Sep 2020
If you are concerned about diversity in media ownership, then you will be pleased to learn that Class 6 is publishing a brand new magazine called KFC6 (KIDS FROM CLASS 6) which will feature original stories, puzzles, illustrations, biographies, book reviews and recipes all created by the Class 6 students. The niche publication will be published twice in Term 3 and twice during Term 4.
Each copy is $2 and all funds raised will be donated to charity called Take 3 for the Sea a movement to reduce plastic from our oceans. Class 6 Parents can buy copies (photocopy or digital version) by sending a gold coin to school with their child. We also invite all other parents to send a $2 coin to school and you will be sent a PDF copy of the magazine by email.
Printed copies are also now available in the staffroom for teaching staff and school administrators to buy. Sources close to Class 6 say Rupert Murdoch is keenly watching and may place a take-over bid should sales go well, although we think Class 6 will want to keep the new title independent.
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New public bus service on Glenaeon’s doorstep
03 Sep 2020
Good news for students on public transport. There is a new bus route, the 194, stopping at Eastern Valley Way / Victoria Avenue, traveling between the City and St Ives. Download the timetable or click here to see the full route: https://transportnsw.info/routes/details/forest-coach-lines/194/39194
Students who usually travel on the 207 up to the Castlecrag shops can catch this bus. The bus then turns left at Cammeray to go over on to the bridge and into the city.
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The August winds are blowing... Kindy kites
03 Sep 2020
It's gusty in August and Kindy made beautiful hand-painted kites. They take them out for a run when it's windy, and the colours and their delight is just as beautiful.
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Class 2 sewing pencil cases
03 Sep 2020
Class 2 have been diligently working on their long stitch pencil cases, which they will use all the way through primary school. They sew a geometric pattern on one side and create their own design for the other side - there are such beautiful and varied designs! They are also collectively sewing some tissue box covers for their classroom.
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Class 1 Counting
03 Sep 2020
There has been a LOT of counting going on in Class 1 with their return to the Land of Numeria in their current Mathematics Main Lesson. They have been adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, using counters, fingers and bookwork.
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Castlecrag at play
03 Sep 2020
Play is a vital part of each and every day at Castlecrag - time where children create, socialise and enjoy their own games, stories and adventures. Across the campus and with all year levels, play is at the 'heart and soul' of our campus.
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Class 4 'Animals and Us' Main Lesson
20 Aug 2020
Class 4 have been immersing themselves in the animal world as part of the Animals and Us Main Lesson. Take a look at some of the wonderful animal artworks created, from tigers to giraffes and octopuses. Wait, octopuses? What about octopi? Here's a good explanation: https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/media/2307433/plural-for-octopus.
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Dr Stanley Tang conducts bird research with Class 4 during National Science Week
20 Aug 2020
It's National Science Week, and coincidently Class 4 took part in a research project with our very own Dr Stanley Tang, which dovetailed nicely with the Class 4 Animals Main Lesson. For this part of the project, Stanley took Class 4 students down to the Oval, where nets had been set up to capture some of the natural bird life on Glenaeon's beautiful Middle Cove campus. Stanley recently acquired various permits from the state and the federal governments to conduct a long-term research project on the bird populations at Glenaeon and the surrounding North Arm Reserve. One of the key aspects of the project is to collect biometric data to examine the movement patterns and seasonal changes in body conditions of resident and migratory birds.
So Class 4 was able to assist Stanley to capture and band,that is,place a metal band, on a leg of the birds. A number of bird species were captured for a short time, just long enough to ID them with tags, inspects the birds, record the specifics and then, the students set them free back into their natural habitat. A total of six birds were captured including a Laughing Kookaburra, a Grey Fantail, a White-browed Scrubwren and three Brown Thornbills.
#scienceweek #science #stem #birdsofaustralia #abcmyphotos
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Class 6 launches magazine
20 Aug 2020
Hold the front page! Print is not dead. In fact, the media sector is making a resurgence as Class 6 is creating a new magazine called KFC6 (KIDS FROM CLASS 6) which will feature original stories, puzzles, illustrations, biographies, book reviews and recipes all created by the Class 6 students. The niche publication will be published twice in Term 3 and twice during Term 4.
Each copy is $2 and all funds raised will be donated to charity. Class 6 Parents can buy copies by sending their gold coin to school with their child.
Copies will also be made available in the staffroom for teaching staff and school administrators to buy. Sources close to Class 6 say Rupert Murdoch is keenly watching and may place a take-over bid should sales go well.
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Class 2 and the King of Ireland's son
20 Aug 2020
The King of Ireland’s Son is an extended fairy tale and is one of the many Celtic stories told in Class 2. The story is one of the King of Ireland’s Son who is striving to develop. In meeting the experiences laid along the pathway of his journey through life, he is tested as to his strength of purpose, his inner ‘substance’ and his inner ‘qualities’.
Such a story is a real support and guide to the Class 2 child as it helps them to develop an inner trust in the world around them. The story provides a picture for the idea that development is worth striving for, even whilst it involves struggle.
The children have been enjoying acting out the King of Ireland’s Son, trotting and galloping their way through lunch play using these handmade horse reins.
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Kindergarten - A rainy day bushwalking
20 Aug 2020
"It's raining, its pouring in the Kindergarten Garden
It's raining, it's pouring, we all go out to play"
On a very wet Friday, Kindergarten explored the campus' beauty as the rain came down. The children were all looking for a message of what Old Scribble Gum is saying to them... and if you listen really closely, you can hear the stories that Mother Angophopra whipsers to us… but you need to listen well. They then sang "Rinka rink rosy ray... what shall I make with you today?" before Outdoor Education teacher Scott Williams helped them whittle beautiful silky oak pieces - what a lovely rainy day!
Class 2 - Maths in Motion
20 Aug 2020
Class 2 spend part of each day learning maths, some of which is outside hop-scotching times tables and balancing their way through multiplication and mental arithmetic with poetry, rhyme and fun. Maths is fun!
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Class 1 - The Story of Wool
20 Aug 2020
Class 1 experienced 'The Story of Wool' during Handwork class. In groups, they were able to feel and wash shawn sheep's wool and set it to dry. They then carded (combed) the wool, learned to hand-roll wool and then spin it on hand-spindles to make strong yarn. They began to sand wooden knitting needles with gumnut ends, which will be rubbed with the wool's lanolin, once completed. This makes the hand-made knitting needles smooth and easy to knit with.
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Hotel Little Kindy
20 Aug 2020
One day this week, Little Kindy children all felt sleepy. They decided to make beds for themselves, "Let's make hospital!" Realising they had already played hospitals last week, they made a Hotel instead, which of course, is full of beds! They were delighted they had single beds, bunk beds and even a bed for their teacher Junko Nicholls. Realising they were all getting hungry, the 'chef' of their hotel took special orders: mashed potato, roast chicken and veggies served straight from the Little Kindy kitchen!
Crafty parents knit winter warmers for students
06 Aug 2020
These colourful woollen fingerless gloves were knitted by Parent Crafters to help keep our students hands warm this winter. We have a limited number available for sale. Please contact Melony via email to organise purchase for your child, or as a gift. We are able to send them home with your child.
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On Friendship
06 Aug 2020
Schools are positioned, fundamentally, as places of academic instruction. The 3 Rs are our raison d'être, and we are charged with developing young minds to tackle the challenges of the future they will inherit. From phonics and number bonds to NAPLAN, STEAM and ATARs, schools, their curricula and pedagogies are studied, analysed, politicised, programmed and re-programmed; not to mention endlessly commented upon! And yet, academic attainment is only one pillar of schools. I often wonder where, in this cacophony, can we find a moment to celebrate another of the real, elemental gifts of school - friendship?
In a happy coincidence, when I spoke to my son about pondering this theme for my newsletter piece, he pointed out that Thursday, July 30 was the United Nations International Day of Friendship!
From the UN website https://www.un.org/en/observances/friendship-day:
Our world faces many challenges, crises and forces of division — such as poverty, violence, and human rights abuses — among many others — that undermine peace, security, development and social harmony among the world's peoples.
To confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which is friendship.
Through friendship — by accumulating bonds of camaraderie and developing strong ties of trust — we can contribute to the fundamental shifts that are urgently needed to achieve lasting stability, weave a safety net that will protect us all, and generate passion for a better world where all are united for the greater good.
True friendship is undoubtedly one of the worthiest and most rewarding of human endeavours. It is also an area where, to use the words of Rudolf Steiner (out of context), "even the wisest can learn incalculably much from children".
In my role, I am fortunate to possess a position of great privilege, not least of which is having a 'bird's eye view' of the relationships between the young people in our care. Having worked in other schools, I reflect that the loving bonds of friendship created through the shared experience of a Glenaeon education are rare and beautiful. Friendships here are often forged over many years and with the necessity of working through challenges as they arise, due to the fact we are a small school. Glenaeon is an environment where there is intention and vision supporting strong friendships. We model and encourage respectful interactions between all community members and team this with continuity of relationships and a cooperative rather than competitive learning environment. Consequently, the young men and women who become Glen X, have often formed lifelong, sustaining bonds which reflect the aspiration of “promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity”.
In these uncertain and anxious times, particularly since returning from our remote learning period, being able to witness these relationships, as they evolve, has become even more poignant. When I look through a lens that sees friendship as a vital element that will ready our children to be part of creating a “better world”, I see them preparing like this:
- A 9-year-old accepting that she's 'in', without arguing,
- Two 10-year-old boys lying curled up like puppies, enjoying a book together, one gently stroking the other's hair,
- A 13-year-old coming to check on her classmate in sickbay during lunchtime,
- A 15-year-old going out of his way to ask me how my day is going,
- A group of 18 year-olds working together on a research task; playfully but intently working through ideas and solutions.
So, belatedly, I wish you all a ‘Happy Friendship Day’! I encourage you to both nourish this aspect of your own lives and to cherish it in the unique and the excellent educational environment you have chosen for your children; a school where friendship is noticed, valued and nurtured. Maybe one day, we can include the importance of friendship in the often noisy discourse on education.
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Art Space open for Class 5 to Year 12
06 Aug 2020
Year 11 student Kauri Palmer is passionate about art. So passionate in fact, she is studying accelerated HSC Visual Arts. On top of this, she is undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and is connecting her passion for art, to the idea of service to the community. Through her initiative (and fine artwork), she is supporting other students to find passion in art, by offering her tuition to other Glenaeon students as a mentor to help interested students develop an art project of their choice. She is prepared to help come up with ideas, select a form the student might be interested in working in and assisting with the 'how to' of the activity. The art department will provide materials within its capacity. Art Teacher, Donna Miller will oversee this great initiative. If you would like to get involved, please contact Donna Miller by email and join Art Space for the remainder of Term 3, Tuesdays from 3:30pm.
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Big Kindergarten begin bushwalking
06 Aug 2020
Big Kindy began their bushwalking recently, and with great excitement they lined up with teachers, assistants and Outdoor Education teacher Scott Williams! The children carry their own lunches, backpacks & water bottles as they set off for one of the many well-known walking tracks around our school area. Many of these are designed to walk in and around houses before opening out into a reserve or travelling deeper down into the bush. The children watch, listen and look carefully. Perhaps they'll find a little treasure to put in their double-finger-knitting treasure bags back in Kindy.
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Classes 1 & 2 Science - Anthill exploration
06 Aug 2020
Classes 1 & 2 have been exploring the fascinating worlds of anthills with Prue Reid, who takes them on Wednesday afternoons for some of the science aspects of the curriculum. After hearing a story about the ants over two weeks, they have built very elaborate ant hills in the sandpit, complete with connecting underground tunnels. They have worked in their Gardening books displaying the cycles and different roles of ants and this week are building real ant nest jars to watch in the classrooms.
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Rainbow Magic in Reception
06 Aug 2020
A trip to Melony in Reception at Castlecrag its often coupled with an important message or job for the children. Each day though, as the children come in, there are colourful rainbows that visit and shine all over the room - floor, ceilings, walls and most importantly - the children! They catch them on each other and wonder WHO could be sending SO MANY rainbows to Castlecrag? Is it the Winter Angel, who hangs above the desk? Is it Mother Earth or King Winter and their gnomes... or is it a Rainbow Fairy that comes and sprinkles the children with her light and delight?! Either way, we love the rainbows and so do the children!
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Spring is Coming to Castlecrag
06 Aug 2020
After the very cold mornings we are having at Castlecrag, comes a period of warmth and sunshine in the middle of the day - a time to treasure and bask in it, just a little, to warm up. In this time between MidWinter and Early Spring, both bulbs and spring blossoms flower. Amongst the daffodils and jonquils, there may not be much jasmine blossoming yet, but the sweet scent is already in the air! As we cannot have parents on campus so much at the moment - we thought it would be nice to bring a little of the campus to you! It is beautiful and blooming!
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Class 1 Introduction to Science Main Lesson
23 Jul 2020
At the end of Term 2, Class 1 were taken on a journey introducing them to the science curriculum. They heard imaginative and beautiful stories of how Nature takes care of plants and animals. During the lessons, the children were introduced to the seasons, the water cycle, the parts and lifecycle of plants and other basic concepts from the science curriculum. Each Main Lesson book becomes a beautiful book in itself, with daily writing & drawing developing literacy and creativity concurrently.
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New Castlecrag Garden takes shape
23 Jul 2020
During the holidays, our gardener Lindsay (with the assistance of the Maintenance team) worked hard to clear a garden bed and pull out a giant lomandra grass plant outside Class 1. In time, this will become a flourishing garden bed. The children dug earnestly to clear the roots out and condition the soil with minerals and nutrients, water and lots of love! Soon this garden space will be another thriving bed full of natives, delicious herbs, salads, flowers and grains under the guidance of Gardening teachers Sandra Frain and Kathy Thangathurai.
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Our Kindergarten Spaces
23 Jul 2020
Kindergarten is a special place and much care, thought and meaning is given to the surroundings, equipment and spaces in which the children play. The environment is beautiful, warm and welcoming, inviting open-ended creative play, whilst also nourishing aspects of play such as sorting, counting, building and much social engagement. The Kindy day starts with Outside Play, before moving inside into Morning Circle and then Inside Play. These beautiful play spaces come alive as toys, objects and furniture become trains, planes, houses, gardens and play spaces; endless sessions of creative and imaginative play. They also grind grains for cooking, bake and prepare food each day. A strong rhythm is held by the teachers, which also includes the children tidying up and putting everything away again, ready for tomorrow.
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Winter Festival Spiral - Classes 1 & 2
26 Jun 2020
Classes 1 & 2 held their Winter Festival spiral in the darkened hall at Castlecrag last Friday. Greenery formed the spiral into the centre, at which a single lit candle rests in the dark. The children walk with unlit candles resting in apples to the centre and light their candle. As they make the journey slowly out, they place it on their chosen point on the spiral. The candles transform the darkness of MidWinter into a glowing spiral of lit candles. Three Class 4 children played lyre, the children sang their winter songs and gentle piano and recorder formed the music that accompanied this most reverent and special event. This would normally be held at Middle Cove, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, was held at Castlecrag.
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Glenaeon Introductory Webinars - 1st & 30th of July
25 Jun 2020
Following on from three recent very successful and well-attended online introductory webinars, we are now pleased to let you know of two additional webinar event dates.
The first of these will run on Wednesday 1 July at 8pm and will provide a focus on our Kindergarten-Class 2 Castlecrag campus offering and Kindy entry. Register online here. The second, scheduled for Thursday 30 July will run at 9:30am and will focus on the Class 3-6 Primary and Year 7-12 High School experience at our Middle Cove campus. Register online here. Participants will meet our Head of School, Andrew Hill, view a presentation, and ask questions in a Q&A session with our Deputy Heads via Zoom.
If you have friends who are looking for a great school for their children, please suggest that they book in. Guests can alternatively register their interest by contacting our Enrolments Registrar, Chandra Kennedy.
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Kindy Work and Warm Soup
25 Jun 2020
Kindergarten children engage in meaningful work alongside their play, and in Winter this involves collecting and cutting the wood for the fire. Children collect wood and with help, cut it to size. Kindergarten teacher Catherine Pilko also demonstrates the art of chopping wood, splitting great logs into fire-sized pieces. Following this, the children enjoy herb tea made from the garden herbs, before sitting together for a warming winter soup. The children know a story called 'Stone Soup', and in each pot is a magic stone that finds its way into one of the children's bowls.
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Kindy Winter Fire
25 Jun 2020
Kindergarten collects wood, builds and enjoys a fire each Thursday together. The methodical and careful collection of kindling, sticks and wood, and the building of the fire takes time, patience and perseverance. Once the coals are ready, children make 'doughies' on sticks and toast them over the warm fire. Pulling them off leaves a steaming hole, which is filled with honey and butter and enjoyed on the logs by the fire. It is a deliciously warming 'Bread Day' enjoyed in our Winter Kindy!
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King Winter comes to Castlecrag
25 Jun 2020
The chill of Winter is well and truly here. Children have been making beautiful winter lanterns, snowflakes and paintings. King Winter has graced the nature tables as the Winter Solstice was celebrated this week at Castlecrag.
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Class 4 explores the history of writing
25 Jun 2020
Class 4 has been fully immersed in learning the history of writing going back to its origins as far back as 3500 BC! Teacher, Katherine Arconati, even built a cave so her students could experience cave drawing. The class also studied pictography, a form of writing which uses representational, pictorial drawings. They used a stylus to write in cuneiform on clay and even made their own paper. Having explored these historical writing methods, the children then received their fountain pens yesterday with much excitement. We can’t wait to see what they write next!
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Kindergarten's new shed extension
25 Jun 2020
Thanks to a kind donation, Castlecrag is enjoying a beautiful new shed extension, built by our Carpenter/Maintenance man Sonny. He extended the shed to include a new balcony and steps, which greatly improves the space and use of the shed in all weather. Kindergarten children really enjoyed his industrious presence as the shed was built, and in the nature of imitative play, became builders themselves along the way.
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Teas from the garden at Castlecrag
25 Jun 2020
At the beginning of each gardening class for Classes 1 & 2, Sandra Frain offers the children a cup of warming tea that is made from various herbs freshly picked from the gardens at Castlecrag campus. Leaves of thyme, sage, oregano, four types of mint, lavender and lemongrass make a delicious brew with hot water added to a large teapot. Herbs can help refresh, stimulate, soothe, protect and cleanse the human body. The children have planted, watered and harvested these herbs. They can all show you where these herbs grow and how you too can 'brew your own tea'. Sandra also helps the Kindy children choose their herbs for fresh herbal tea. Ahh... now we are ready to garden!
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Sandpit castles and cascades
25 Jun 2020
Classes 1 & 2 have been very creative at lunchtimes in the sandpit lately. Castles, cascades, drop towers, waterfalls, tracks and ponds have been built and played with by many children. Here are some of their recent beauties in action.
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Class 3 Construction
25 Jun 2020
Class 3 students enjoyed some construction work with Industrial Design & Technology Teacher Anthony Fiore this week. The children used wood, nails, a screw driver, shovels, a spirit level and other tools to create a barn frame in the Primary School playground. Students learned about measurement, creative thinking, and also improved their hand-eye coordination and problem solving skills. The students were very proud of their work.
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Class 4 Paper making with Elizabeth Ellean
25 Jun 2020
Handwork Teacher Elizabeth Ellean took Class 4 through a paper making session as a part of the History of Writing Main Lesson. Students used recycled paper pulp from plant fibres strelitzia (bird of paradise leaf stems) to make the paper. Students used moulds and deckles to make the shape of the paper by hand, pressing and drying it, by pressing it to the window. They also pressed the paper onto patterned brickwork and the bark of a tree to dry. With the plant fibres students tried to simulate what the Egyptians would have done with the papyrus, which is layering the fibres one on top of the other and pressing them together. Class 4 had lots of fun with this activity. The History of Writing is one of the most activity based Main Lessons in the syllabus. The children also made ink and a quill and soon in Handwork the children will be making a cross-stitch fountain pen holder for their new pens.
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Dragon Boat Festival celebration
25 Jun 2020
Kindergarten children celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival today. The origins come from China thousands of years ago and many countries today have taken up dragon boat racing, as did Big Kindy this afternoon with our own Dragon Boat race with our drums beating the time. Kindy Assistant Sara Tan created some beautiful origami Rainbow Dragon Boats for all the children to take home and wish their parents a Happy Dragon Boat Festival Day. She also told us the story of this special festival.
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Class 3 homes of the world
25 Jun 2020
Class 3 have enjoyed a Homes of the World Main Lesson this term and currently have a building project happening in the yard. There was also a separate large scale, unauthorised excavation/mining project that was thoroughly enjoyed and required ‘rediversion’. It was a great, impromptu engineering feat!
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Class 2 Squirrels counting for Winter
24 Jun 2020
Class 2 have begun learning about place value in their current Mathematics Main Lesson. A family of squirrels live in a forest, rich with acorns, ready for collecting and storing for Winter. How will they know they have enough? How many can they eat each day? The family learns to collect single acorns, then groups of ten, followed by ten groups of ten acorns etc. They realise they can group their acorns so they don't lose count along the way! They store them in the hidey-holes in the trees, neatly packed into groups of ten, one hundred and beyond. The classroom reflects this counting journey - a beautiful chalkboard, drawn by Class teacher Lucy Armstrong, daily counting, reflecting the day's story, and hidey-holes at the back of the classroom to store the sorted bags.
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String is in
23 Jun 2020
Castlecrag grounds have been a web of string games lately. From Kindy all the way to Class 2, they have been learning and stringing their way to make Witches' Broom, Harbour Bridge, Parachute, Cup-and-Saucer, Hammock, Cats' Whiskers, Eiffel Tower and more! They have even mastered doing some together in pairs, as well as transferring them to tiny stakes in the ground.
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Castlecrag Markets - Classes 1 and 2
21 Jun 2020
Class 1 & 2 have had a week of busy playground trade. Perhaps co-inciding with their maths Main Lessons, they have been setting up shops and market stalls all over the playground - buying, selling and trading natural treasures, found wool, seed pods, flowers and leaves. The all-important currency - tiny gumnuts - can be collected near the monkey bars and used to negotiate a good outcome!
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Kindy Bunnies back together
19 Jun 2020
Big Kindergarten children kept themselves busy making pom-pom bunnies and chicks whilst they were home over the Easter break and during the COVID-19 lockdown at home. They all brought them in to visit Kindy.... and what a lovely bunch of bunnies and chicks they were together!
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Indigenous Games with Class 6 during National Reconciliation Week
17 Jun 2020
Class 6 PDHPE students marked National Reconciliation Week with a look at some Indigenous Games. We spoke about what we, as a class know about indigenous culture here in Australia and what contributions indigenous people have made to Australia and how that needs to be recognised more.
Indigenous societies played sports although they were often derived from hunting or prepared for hunting and fitness and were at times only played by the men. Some of their games have the potential to become more popular through their introduction and use among current day students to recognise the contribution First Nations people have made in the field of sport. In this spirit, Class 6 students were eager to explore two indigenous games through their unit on tagging, weaving and dodging games. The two games are Buroinjin and Edor and are both a lot of fun to be played with big groups.
Buroinjin was a game of the Kabi Kabi tribe in southern Queensland who used a ball made of kangaroo skin called Buroinjin. Edor is a chasing-tagging game which comes from the Aurukun indigenous community of northern Queensland. Edor is the name given to a runner who gets secretly picked by one team and has to reach the other side of the field without being tagged by the opponents. If tagged, the game instantly changes direction and Edor is now known and easier to tag but can be helped by his ‘people’, his team. The class thoroughly enjoyed both games and were better able to recognise indigenous contribution to sport in society.
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Little Kindy harvest lavender
16 Jun 2020
Kindergarten children have been enjoying their return to the garden at Castlecrag, and with Gardening Teacher Sandra Frain's help, have been busy harvesting our fragrant lavender blooms.
Read moreGlenaeon Introductory Webinars - 1st & 30th of July
11 Jun 2020
Following on from three recent very successful and well-attended online introductory webinars, we are now pleased to let you know of two additional webinar event dates.
The first of these will run on Wednesday 1 July at 8pm and will provide a focus on our Kindergarten-Class 2 Castlecrag campus offering and Kindy entry. Register online here. The second, scheduled for Thursday 30 July will run at 9:30am and will focus on the Class 3-6 Primary and Year 7-12 High School experience at our Middle Cove campus. Register online here. Participants will meet our Head of School, Andrew Hill, view a presentation, and ask questions in a Q&A session with our Deputy Heads via Zoom.
If you have friends who are looking for a great school for their children, please suggest that they book in. Guests can alternatively register their interest by contacting our Enrolments Registrar, Chandra Kennedy.
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Class 5 and the Anti Racism Team
11 Jun 2020
'May you live in interesting times' is purported to be an ancient Chinese curse, and although there is some argument about its actual providence, the saying rings true at this moment in history.
The events of the world unsettling, alarming even for adults, but when viewed through the eyes of a primary school child, the world right now can seem strange, frightening and incomprehensible. As much as parents try to shield their children from media and adult discussion on these topics, a certain amount, inevitably filters through. One of our jobs, as educators, is to assist children to not only live in, but also to flourish in these 'interesting times' by giving them a healthy framework in which to place their concerns.
Last week, one of our students in Class 5, came to school very upset about the treatment of George Floyd and the ensuing riots in the USA. She explained to her friends and teacher that she felt sad, afraid and helpless. Brendan Strobl (her Class Teacher), talked with her and assisted in transforming her distress into positive local action. You can see the resulting petition/statement and smiles in the photo below. Allowing children to voice their concerns while not adding further distressing detail or research can be a transformative and age-appropriate response; one which encourages the feeling that positive and creative local action in the here and now are possible and meaningful.
At a time like this, educators the world over are putting the ancient curse aside, and for me, there's another great saying that comes to my mind: "Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay." Gandalf
Dani Finch
Deputy Head of School (Kindergarten-Class 6)
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Brendan Strobl's Class 5 Main Lesson Blackboard Beauties captivate
11 Jun 2020
Queen Nefertiti from the Ancient Egypt Main Lesson by Class 5 Glenaeon Teacher, Brendan Strobl
Botany Main Lesson Class 5 Glenaeon Teacher, Brendan Strobl
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Concentrated Meaning: Poetry as a Script for Living in this Coronavirus Time
29 May 2020
Welcome Back
How wonderful to have everyone back at school! The campuses feel alive again as our buildings and grounds resonate with youthful voices and laughter. We have a lot to catch up on, and much to be aware of as we both enjoy the company of all our students while keeping our strict hygiene controls in place. Thank you to all parents for your patience and perseverance though this very challenging time. We have much to look forward to as we return to normal schooling, and normal life. This week is also Reconciliation Week and we posted our own Glenaeon Acknowledgement of Country to mark this significant moment in the year. See School news below.
Poetry as a Script for Living in this Coronavirus Time
Sometime last year I was commiserating with a colleague in the staffroom about a pile of work that we both had still to do when it was already dark and late. Without thinking I just said:
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
They are the final lines of Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, a poem taught to me and my class in Year 8 at Normanhurst Boys High by an American exchange teacher. They express exactly the frustration and exhaustion of knowing there is a pile of work still to do before rest.
Earlier in the day I was returning from driving a friend to the airport when I watched an enormous and perfect rainbow gradually stretch across Mascot and all points east. It was a magnificent sight which made me feel happy, and into my mind came the opening line of Wordsworth’s sonnet:
My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky…,
The two moments on the same day reminded me of the very special power of poetry. Some things just need special words, and I needed them then. And how we need them now!! I was reminded today of how much we need the boost that poetic words can bring as I read Vicki Laveau-Harvie in The Guardian (UK) describing her own feelings during COVID-19 time:
Walking home recently under grey skies, I stopped to watch the afternoon light fail. I could have looked at my phone for comfort, but I found myself instead listening to Shakespeare spooling through my mind, words not remembered since school but intact, beautiful, despairing:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time.
This was a gift. I breathed easier, bathed in the vitality of poetry, the saturation of meaning that gives it weight. The aptness. I needed this…
We all need it Vicki, and the power of a short and simple poem to uplift, to inspire, to heal a tired heart, is one of life’s mysteries. She calls poetry “concentrated meaning”, a good phrase to capture its intensity, and its power to transform difficulties like the coronavirus world which is having such an impact on our mental health and wellbeing:
Poetry may be the antidote to what many of us feel: we are glued to screens, numb with fear, lost in elastic expanses of time. Poetry’s density can steady us. It contains worlds.
Yes, worlds, and a script for living. At last, a mention of the power of poetry to help us through the coronavirus time.
Poetry is alive and well at Glenaeon. A Glenaeon education is also an education in the spoken word, in living poetry. From nursery rhymes in Kindergarten, through action verses and poems, ballads and narrative poetry, right up to Shakespeare and beyond in High school, poetry is learned by heart and spoken aloud, to experience its power and cadence.
We don’t just do poetry as an outcome in the subject of English, to tick off the Poetry Outcome in each stage of the English syllabus. Poetry for us is “concentrated meaning”, and learned by heart so that it becomes a gift for each student to carry through life.
Sadly, often today poetry is something to analyse for meaning, something to deconstruct and just to read, not speak out loud. Who then remembers those precious words and carries their power through life?
A few years ago the writer and columnist Nikki Gemmel wrote a piece in The Australian bemoaning the loss of learning poetry by heart:
My kids don't learn poetry by heart in their Aussie schools. In London they were forced to, for an annual, compulsory, school-wide competition. Five-year-olds were reciting mostly nursery rhymes but the older kids were diving into Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Lear. It was wonderful to witness. The sheer skill of it; the way their little minds would absorb the poem's rhythm, beauty, narrative muscularity. I wish they'd do something similar here…
Well Nikki, they do at Glenaeon. Here poetry is alive and well, and learnt by heart. The cadences can soothe our fears, give a voice to our deepest feelings, and a warmth to our hearts. In this coronavirus time, poetry with its concentrated meaning can give us nothing less than a script for living.
Hangout for the Homeless
Thank you to everyone who supported this project of a sleep out in support of homeless people last Saturday evening, and there are very many of you. It was intended as a small, humble project to remind us to think about others who are doing it tough in the pandemic, rather than a fund raising project as such. The main aim was to encourage some participation, and sleeping slightly rough was a simple gesture of solidarity with the homeless. With a signup fee of $5, I thought if we raised even $150 that would also be a great contribution to the cause.
The total raised so far this morning is $2,319. What an astonishing result! Special thanks to teachers who really challenged students our high school students to get behind the appeal, and did they ever do that!
My warmest thanks to all the many parents who donated, and/or slept rough on Saturday night, as a contribution to this very vulnerable community in our midst. We hope to stay in touch with Kids Under Cover and hear more of their good work.
Kids Under Cover is an organisation that helps prevent young people ending up on the streets in the first place. They work to support young people at risk of becoming homeless by providing simple accommodation close to the family home where the young person can be separate but secure. Space makes all the difference. They build and provide simple, small structures that are flat packed and can be erected in a day to provide studio accommodation in a back yard. They provide scholarships to get the young person back into education and the workforce. Over the past 25 years they have built hundreds of studios across Australia and assisted nearly 2,000 young people.
https://www.mycause.com.au/page/228465/glenaeon-rudolf-steiner-school
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K-2 Glenaeon Introductory Webinar Wednesday 3 June 8pm
29 May 2020
COVID-19 saw the cancellation of our 2020 Open Day and school tours at all three campuses. In their place, we have been running introductory webinars for parents where participants get to meet our Head of School, Andrew Hill, view a presentation, and ask questions in a Q&A session with our Deputy Heads via Zoom. The next Introductory Webinar is scheduled for Wednesday 3 June at 8pm and will provide a focus on our K-Year 2 Castlecrag campus offering and Kindy entry. If you have friends who are looking for a great school for their children, please suggest that they come along. Guests can register their interest by clicking on this link or by contacting our Enrolments Registrar, Chandra Kennedy.
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Class 3's Evie lets her hair hang down, then chops it off
29 May 2020
After growing her hair for over a year in preparation, Evie from Class 3 cut her 50cm locks last week and donated it to Variety's Hair with Heart charity to be made into a wig for children in need. Evie's Mum explains, "Evie was very excited leading up to the big chop and to put her plan in place to wear a disguise for her first day back at school with short hair. Class teacher Roger welcomed 'Frank' to Class 3 and 'Frank' had a lot of fun with the new hair style." The wigs are given to children in need, but Variety also provides assistance to other children in many ways eg wheelchairs, camps, therapy. See website for more details https://hairwithheart.variety.org.au/ Good on you Evie for giving up your hair and doing something amazing to help others. Glenaeon is proud of you!
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First Day back Excitement
29 May 2020
Last Monday - the first full day back for the whole K - 2 campus - was a kaleidoscope of activity and excitement. Children were thrilled to see each other again, and the playground at lunchtime was a moving picture of climbing, swinging, digging, laughing, running, jumping and cubby building. It really was the 'Giant's Garden' that Andrew Hill wrote about last week!
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A Tale of Two Rivers in the Kindergartens
29 May 2020
Big and Little Kindy create worlds of sand and water in the sandpit together. On this occasion starting rivers from either end - aiming to dig and pour enough water to join them together and let it flow as one long river! Many buckets and spades later, they had success! Teamwork, planning and perseverance results in an immense amount of fun being had as they come back together again. The rain is no deterrent!
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Class 2 Stories of Light
29 May 2020
Class Two have begun their 'Stories of Light' Main Lesson with teacher Lucy Armstrong. They practise their literacy skills - writing, spelling and grammar - through the beautiful tales of animals and their adventures. Artist Julia Byrne created this beautiful drawing as an inspiration for today's Main Lesson work, which is drawn on the board in chalk by Lucy, and then created by the children in their own books. This is followed by one sentence written from the story.
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Gardening with Class 2
29 May 2020
Class 2 enthusiastically helped to collect wheelbarrow-loads of natural matter from around the campus to the compost, taking turns to move the big loads in teams. Once there, it is unloaded and tipped onto the compost and celebrated with a good jump by the children on it's springy top! The children have learned so much about the importance of recycling as much natural material as we can on campus, including plants, food scraps and paper. At Castlecrag we have a very small carbon footprint, as all of our recycling and reusing that the children are involved in make a huge difference. Gardening Teacher Sandra Frain was glad to have her larger troupe of helpers back on campus!
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Little Kindy enjoys the rain
28 May 2020
The water pond fills during rain, something to which Little Kindy always looks forward to. They don their gumboots, rain pants and coats to head out and cart some water, creating water flows and pools of their own.
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Class 2 – Creating Words with Wool
26 May 2020
Class 2 children have been busy creating words with wool as a new way to practice their sight words. Class teacher Lucy Armstrong gave each child a set of sight words unique to them, and the students then manipulated the wool to spell out the words. Words are the building blocks for language development and when combined with wool, gives students some gross motor fun to experience real hands-on learning!
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Noble horses for Class 1 courses
16 May 2020
Class 1 have been making great use of their new stick crayon sets, which teacher Rodney Dean recently gifted to all his students. Rodney has been busy uploading audio stories and video files for home learning. Class 1 have been practising reciting their alphabet, writing their capital letters with a focus on writing their first sentences. This week’s work comes out of the stories of Rapunzel, The 12 Brothers and other fairy-tales. The children have also drawn some marvellous pictures of a horse in their guided drawing lessons. Great work Class 1!
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Term 2 Handwork projects underway
16 May 2020
Term 2 has brought with it some wonderful handwork projects. Class 1 will start work on their recorder bags, a weaving project which, once completed, holds each child's recorder right throughout the primary years. Class 2 will begin their long-stitch pencil case, which they will also use for years to come. The children will be collecting these as they return to school next week. The rich colours of the wool are always inspiring and beautiful. Thanks to Elizabeth for preparing so many take-home kits and for the work done behind the scenes.
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Kindergarten and Little Kindy students return to campus
15 May 2020
With COVID restrictions now being gradually eased, the Kindergarten teachers and children were delighted to be back in Kindergarten for two days this week. Despite our rather different start to the day, which involved a very quick goodbye to Mums and Dads at the gate or at the bottom of the Kindy stairs, we all quickly found our way back into the healing rhythmic flow of daily life in the Kindergarten. We were full of joy and enthusiasm as we heartily ate our Kindy morning tea, shared our stories and songs and happily worked and played in the golden light of the Kindy garden. By the end of two days we were once again full with all the magic and wholesome engagement that ‘real-life’ Kindy brings each day. Our time away from Kindergarten has affirmed above all, that the Kindergarten lives in the healing environment and rhythms that we create here each day in our beautiful campus at Castlecrag.
Catherine Pilko
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Mother's Day gifts made with love
14 May 2020
Some of the Kindy, Class 1 and Class 2 children made some beautiful Mother's Day gifts. They produced many lovehearts made with lots of love! Little Kindy made wet-felted necklaces from their take-home packs prepared by Junko, Big Kindy sewed heart necklaces taken home with help from many Dads. Class 1 & 2 made two types of loveheart decorated bags. Thank you to Handwork teacher Elizabeth Ellean for the take-home kits and parent helpers! Love was definitely in the air.
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Class 6 Home Garden Project
08 May 2020
Class 2 make happy hoppy frogs
08 May 2020
Class 2 Teacher Lucy makes videos to help her students create beautiful Main Lesson drawings. She also recently used her videos on GLO to help the children make their own moving frogs at home. Look at some of their happy hoppy frogs that were made just before the holidays.
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Class 1 begin their first words Main Lesson
06 May 2020
It's always an exciting moment in Class 1 when the children receive their first stick crayons, which correlates with their First Words Main Lesson. This year, each child receives a small gift - a rainbow of stick crayon colours. Class 1 teacher Rodney Dean tells the story of two children Ken and Jane, who meet Tilda the kangaroo. Tilda gives them a parchment, but it is blank! They call on Alphabetica, who tells them "Learning letters is important, but you need to learn WORDS. When you have learned enough words, they will magically appear on the parchment". It sounds like it is going to be a great adventure! Rodney has also produced a video on correct crayon grip to help students as they begin their new Main Lesson Book this week.
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Kindergarten planting bulbs for springtime
05 May 2020
At the end of Term 1, Kindergarten children took home a little brown bulb to plant in their own gardens, which will wait and grow slowly, in anticipation of the warmth and flowers in Spring. Kindergarten teacher Catherine Pilko also recorded a story 'Little Brown Bulb' for them to listen to. Here at Castlecrag, our little bulbs are getting excited and starting to peep their green shoots out already! I wonder what sort of flowers we will see when we all come back to play?
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A celebration of colour at Castlecrag
05 May 2020
Castlecrag has exploded with colour. The flowers are glorious. It is a rainbow of colours as you look around the grounds from deep red flowers, huge orange wild cosmos plants (taller than your teachers!), yellow lantern bush, lush greens and deep purple. I wonder if we can plant some blue flowers for Spring?
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Class 6 look out the window, reflect and write
15 Apr 2020
One of the tasks recently assigned to Class 6 was a writing challenge. Students were invited to write a descriptive passage of what they see outside their window. They were asked to use lots of describing words to help the reader form pictures in their own mind, of what students see, hear and feel. We've had some beautifully written responses. See below for some examples of student work. What's outside your window right now?
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Class 4 map and divide by 2
14 Apr 2020
Class 4 Teacher Katherine Arconati recently taught her Class 4 students how to divide by 2 in a brand new way. It involves a house, and knocking on a door. Check out the method in Katherine's new video on the Class 4 GLO page. Katherine may or may not have worn the same outfit two days in a row. The tricks of online learning videos!
Also, the class toured the campus early in Term 2 and then from home, drew maps of our Middle Cove campus. Images of these wonderful maps can be found below.
Class 4 have also been creating some form drawings in chalk on the footpath outside home. This activity is about spreading joy not germs. Great work Class 4!
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Staying warm and close in our families during the holidays
13 Apr 2020
Social distancing laws will encourage us to examine what creates warmth and connection in our lives. There is no question regarding the link between warmth and immunity but emotional warmth may now also be a factor to be considered. As we approach the Easter holidays our attention will no doubt turn to how we can create warmth and connection in our homes.
Strong family rhythms are the ‘glue’ that holds our families together. Bed time is a good place to start so that everyone stays in synchronicity with each other. I recommend for now that your children keep their regular bedtimes throughout the holidays, parents also need to model strong bedtime rhythms. I recommend having at least a ten-hour period where the phone is on ‘do not disturb’ so that you have an hour away from screens before bed to keep your natural body rhythms intact (of course this also applies to children and teenagers). Also it is good to have an hour of ‘quiet time’ in the morning before the phones start to ring (or beep).
Keep mealtimes regular and connected with everyone sitting down together (no phones). Make them as ritualistic as possible so that they have an obvious beginning and end, this will help to keep everyone present physically and emotionally. Try to engage in conversation about how everyone is going and what things you are all finding different/difficult and what you are enjoying about this strange time.
Bringing love and goodness into the home life and a sense that ‘we are all in this together’, trying to help each other, will also warm the atmosphere of the home. Encourage children to help with family chores, creating beauty, order and cleanliness in the house - keep this high on the list of priorities by modelling it yourself. Creating the home as a pleasing space says that you all matter as a family and that you are all caring for yourselves and each other.
Children can be instructed (not asked but told) to make a daily call to the grandparents or someone who lives on their own to see how they are. This will help children with gratitude and expansion rather than shrinking into self-obsession and entitlement.
Be aware of not letting screen time get out of control. The usual restrictions (from the ‘old’ life) should still apply as we need plenty of time without screens to create the emotional warmth of just being together connected as physical beings in our home environment.
Finally, try not to worry about your children getting ‘down’ or bored. That is a natural reaction to the times we are in and it is always tempting as parents to try to ‘fix’ it with a ‘good idea’, a chocolate or some extra television time. Just being there as a warm and loving presence is the best remedy. Good luck and Happy Easter!
Mary Heard
Simplicity Parenting
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Who is looking after the chickens?
13 Apr 2020
With almost all students learning at home, you might be wondering, who is looking after our chickens? You will be pleased to hear that our happy hens have taken a holiday. Thanks to Class 5 students Kai and Ryder for helping catch the chickens to pop them in the Ute. Our Middle Cove silky 'Q' and Ruby are currently holidaying at Lucas, Skye & Finn's house. Ruby has become 'broody' and is sitting on her egg most of the day, except when she gets out for a little scratch and 'Q' is loving her chance to roam a wide grassy patch. Watch this video postcard from the hens.
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Class 2 Animal Fables and kind deeds at home
13 Apr 2020
Class 2 have been very busy in their learning at home activities. From a focus on the Animal Fables Main Lesson writing to celebrating Rufus’s birthday by having a dress up party on Zoom together with his class mates, Class 2 have been keeping the connections with school and friends. Children have completed book work and have also expressed creativity with beeswax sculptures inspired by the fable stories Lucy has been sending them via audio file each night. Class 2 were also invited to undertake ‘kind deeds’ in the home. Some of the kind deeds performed include: Andre making his Mum a sandwich and a drink, Eloise helping her sister dress up, James patting his cat and Harley making a delicious snack for a family member. What a great thing to do at this time – showing kindness and compassion to others. Well done Class 2 students for your wonderful gestures of good will to spread a little bit of cheer.
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Gardeners from all classes unite
13 Apr 2020
At Middle Cove the garden is missing its young gardeners immensely.
The “school class” that is, students still attending the campus each day, come down to the garden every morning and keep a watchful eye on the vegetables and flowers that are growing, measuring our pumpkins, watching our bees visit their favourite flowers and plant seeds for our winter harvest. The older students have been coming down to the garden again later in the day and getting to work. They have been helping to tend the garden beds, harvesting late summer crops, erecting protective barriers to deter our wildlife visitors and enjoying the beauty of autumn in the garden. We are also doing some preparation in the garden to make way for the new outdoor garden classroom. The banana trees have had to be relocated for the short term. The children have been a great help in keeping our garden well loved and cared for. For those missing the garden, here is a video of Sandra Frain taking care of the flowers and vegetables.
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Kindergarten at home and lost teeth
13 Apr 2020
Kindergarten children have been enjoying their home activities - baking, story play, songs and craft, with the help of beautiful resources and stories prepared by their Kindy teachers on GLO. Several have also experienced their first tooth falling out - a familiar Kindy 'right of passage'.
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Caring for our Castlecrag campus
13 Apr 2020
Whilst it's quieter at Castlecrag, we have been busy cleaning, washing and gardening, preparing all of our beautiful classrooms and grounds for the time when we can all return. The colours of our washing, some pretty plants and the blooms are a reminder of how special this place is to us all. Whilst the children are at home, we will care for Castlecrag until you all return. Notice how the 'Lantern Bush' is beginning to grow its proud lanterns for the coming of Winter, and how the Cosmos flowers are simply bursting with colour! We also have five of the Middle Cove hens here on holiday and thanks to our local families for looking after them so lovingly for us!
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Happy Easter
12 Apr 2020
Easter time is here and we wish you a restful and enjoyable time together. Perhaps you could camp in your backyard and wake up to see if the Easter Bunny has visited you in the night? Perhaps you could dye some beautiful eggs, make an Easter Table, or make a small rabbit and place it in your Easter Grass?
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Primary School takes its Steiner Education online during COVID-19
10 Apr 2020
GLO (Glenaeon Learning Online) was introduced to Glenaeon's Primary School as a parent portal at the beginning of this school year. When the COVID-19 global pandemic threw parents and educators a curveball, the platform's value as an educational tool was brought to the fore. The school does not typically introduce technology to students until they reach the High School Year 7. This point of difference has been an attraction for parents wanting their children to have limited /no screen time in those crucial early developmental years. Deputy Head of School K-Class 6, Ms Dani Finch spearheaded GLO's initial rollout to the Primary School as a parent portal. She is now reflecting on the fortunate timing, which is enabling our Parents, Students and Teachers to stay connected, during the virus' disruption to school life.
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Lucy Armstrong's Animal Fables blackboard
29 Mar 2020
This week's Blackboard Beauty is drawn by Class 2 Teacher Lucy Armstrong. The class has been enjoying Animal Fables as their English Main Lesson, listening and learning spelling, grammar and literacy, as well as understanding the values and lessons learned in the animal fables themselves.
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Harvest Festival Time
27 Mar 2020
This year Kindergarten celebrated a socially-modified Harvest Festival thanks to COVID-19. The children brought their offerings of fruit and vegetables and surrounded the scarecrow to sing their Harvest Songs together. Parents formed a 'no-hand-holding' wide circle around the children and we all enjoyed one of the last gatherings until we are able to be back together again.
The food from the Harvest Festival was collected by food charity OzHarvest as our donation. OzHarvest is an Australian food rescue charity. They collect quality surplus food, distribute it to people in need and divert food waste from landfill. Thank you to all the generous families who donated.
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Kindergarten take-home packs
27 Mar 2020
Kindergarten teachers prepared beautiful take-home packs for the children to start some of their activities and craft at home. They were opened with great excitement and children have been busy creating little wax scenes, stories at home and pom-poms to make rabbits and chickens for Easter!
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Class 3 learning online with Roger Richards
27 Mar 2020
Class 3 Teacher Roger Richards has been creating short videos to help his students as they start their learning at home. He is uploading resources to GLO for the children. Parents are then uploading completed work to share with the teacher. See images for some of the completed work done at home by our Class 3 students. Well done to students and well done parents! We are all in this together.
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Letter Party for Class 1
27 Mar 2020
Rodney Dean's Class 1 has been on a journey with Alphabetica through all of the consonants and the vowels and arrived at the end at a letter party! The children shared the invitation of magic letters which appeared every day over three weeks inviting them to their party in the playground. The path led them to a table filled with delicious edible letter treats! Thank you to the parents who helped make this possible.
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Kindergarten sparks creativity in the home-learning space
27 Mar 2020
Whilst Kindergarten teachers are creating things for their Kindy children at home, the children are already coming alive, creating and telling stories to their families, just as their teachers do! What a wonderful reflection of their experience and education to be able to so naturally share this with others! At this young age, imitation is a natural way of learning, and this is deeply fostered in the Kindergarten day.
One of our Kindy Parents shared this, "Entirely unaided he searched around the house for different things to use - sheets, tshirts and socks for backdrops etc. It was accompanied by a very lovely story about the animals' adventures across the sea, discovering the crystal cave, the gnomes sailing in the boat and the life raft and climbing the mountain."
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Frida adapting but she misses her Kindergarten friends!
27 Mar 2020
We have been receiving some lovely feedback from our parent community. Here is an email from Kindy Parent, Ben.
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for all the resources. As soon as I begin to sing a song or say a verse Frida immediately takes over. She knows them all by heart.
She misses you a lot and says outright that she would prefer to be at school! But she also loves being around Monty. Here is a couple of shots. One, of a story Frida set up, and told to Monty, and one of the two of them cooking banana bread.
Keep well,
Ben
Class 1 Letters with Alphabetica
14 Mar 2020
Class 1 are learning their letters, the written foundation of which is the combination of straight and curved lines. Learning at a deeper level includes visual, verbal, kinesthetic and practical approaches, increasing the way in which students connect with and relate to the content. The children have listened to the story of Alphabetica, who leads them through the world of letters, correlating each letter to a picture, a sound and its shapes. In addition to their written and artistic work, they have modelled the letters out of out of beeswax, used song, rhyme and alliteration and baked the letters in hand-made salt dough.
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Playing in the rain
14 Mar 2020
Rainy days are welcomed at Castlecrag – from skipping in the rain before school starts, to digging trenches and rivers in the Kindergarten sandpit. The children also pump water which courses towards the sandpit in their hand-built channels, making rivers flow under bridges and over rocks.
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Class 2 Maths: Ava's Mathemagical Web
28 Feb 2020
Class 2 is exploring the connection between times tables and geometry in their current Main Lesson. The focus is to discover the geometric patterns that arise out of a circle of 10 points and to develop a multi-layered approach to the times tables. In the stories, Ava the spider spins her web, and a boy works with the times tables to discover the underlying geometry. Each day the children make the web in morning circle, then make a web on the dowel boards and draw it in their Main Lesson books, all the time learning the tables.
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Glenaeon's crafty bushfire volunteer thank you effort
24 Feb 2020
The recent bushfires sparked an unprecedented outpouring of donations and charitable acts to aid in disaster recovery effort which has been wonderful to see. Glenaeon has been busy helping with students, teachers and parents making pouches for injured wildlife. But thanks to the generosity of many Australians and many communities abroad, pouches are aplenty and our attention has now turned to thanking those volunteers who have worked so tirelessly. Handwork teacher, Elizabeth Ellean said, “Glenaeon students from Year 8 and 6, as well as Year 8 Guardian Alice and Olivia from Learning Support have selflessly given up their lunchtimes in recent weeks to create beautiful handmade pouches and thank you cards, which the Animal Rescue Craft Guild will send to the rescue carers. Class 3 have also been making some wonderful thankyou cards for the animal rescue carers. It is our way of contributing and giving thanks to all those who are aiding recovery from the devastating fires. Elizabeth Ellean will be sending completed cards to various coordination pods such as Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Kingston in Tasmania and Nymboida in NSW and Cairns in Far North Queensland. Thank you to all the students and staff who have been involved.
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Class 2 Transforms the Garden
12 Feb 2020
Returning from summer holidays means the garden needs some attention, and Gardening teacher Sandra Frain works with the children each week, digging, turning, composting and planting. Here are Class 2 at work in their patch, creating a pond for our resident frog and space for the new plants to grow.
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Teacher Rodney Dean meets Class 1 somewhere under the rainbow bridge
31 Jan 2020
The first day in Class 1 is always a special time. Students began with their walk under the ‘Rainbow Bridge’. After spending their morning in the Kindergarten playground with teachers Catherine and Sarah, they then walked under a tunnel of hands and rainbow silk formed by Class 2 students. Emerging from the rainbow, they greeted their Class Teacher Rodney Dean with a flower and the first of many handshakes. This ceremony marks the beginning of the Class Teacher cycle which continues throughout primary school.
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The Journey continues at Middle Cove
31 Jan 2020
Welcome to 2020! It's been a rather smooth transition so far for our Class 3 students who have moved across from Castlecrag campus with their teacher, Roger Richards. A very warm welcome to all of Class 3 2020 and we hope you enjoy big campus. We extend the warm welcome to our new Year 7 students and their families who now embark on the High School years.
It's an exciting time, and we look forward to providing all students with a supportive and creative learning environment at Glenaeon.
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Help bushfire affected animals
31 Jan 2020
Handwork Teacher Elizabeth Ellean is offering a weekly workshop for any student or teacher wishing to make animal rescue wraps to support animals traumatised by the recent bushfires. These wraps could be knitted, crocheted, woven or sewn, depending on personal choice, and Elizabeth will facilitate. A very worthy cause! The weekly workshop will take place every Tuesday lunchtime (12:55pm-1:35pm) starting Tuesday 4 February. For more details email Elizabeth Ellean elizabethe@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au
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2020 Welcome Celebration
31 Jan 2020
Welcome to 2020 is an invitation to all Parents & Carers to come together at Glenaeon, but a special chance for our Kindergarten and Year 7 parents to meet and mingle with our community. It's a wonderul moment to meet other Parents in the school, teachers and some members of the GPA. A selection of beer and wine is on offer and canapes will be served. Please note this is an adults only function. We kindly ask you to RSVP for catering purposes.
- Friday 7 February 6.30pm-8.30pm
- Castlecrag campus, 121 Edinburgh Road Castlecrag
- RSVP link https://www.trybooking.com/BHUVB
Spring Festival 2019
27 Sep 2019
The weather was perfect for our Spring Festival at Middle Cove this week. After the acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land, our Master of Ceremonies the kookaburra arrived and the festival could begin!
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Kindergarten Spring Festival
27 Sep 2019
Big and Little Kindergarten celebrated their Spring Festival under sunny skies this week. It was a beautiful celebration - the children prepared fruit sticks and lemonade, and parents brought a delicious selection of dishes for a shared lunch afterwards. Spring is such a lovely time of year and the Castlecrag campus is decorated with children's art and craft.
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Class One prepare for their first Middle Cove Spring Festival
27 Sep 2019
Class 1 were excitedly preparing for their first Spring Festival at Middle Cove, called the 'Big Campus' by the children. Parents brought in greenery and they made wreaths the day before. On the morning of the last day of school, parents helped put fresh flowers in the wreaths and they caught the bus to Middle Cove. Walking down to the oval, they were the first group to perform to the rest of the school and parents. Thanks to the parents who joined in to help prepare the wreaths and travel with the children to and from Castlecrag. The walk back to Castlecrag was a great thing to do together.
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Year 12 journey back through the classes K - 11
27 Sep 2019
On their second last day, Year 12 journeyed through each class, starting at Castlecrag in the Kindergarten morning circle. They were sung to and gifted beautiful finger knitted bracelets. They continued to visit Class 1, walking their morning form drawing with them and continuing on to Class 2 and then to Middle Cove. This is a Glenaeon tradition in which Year 12 students spend a morning revisiting the younger classes, remembering times and joining them in part of their morning class. They ended the day signing off on each others' school shirts and would return the following day for their final assembly.
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Twilight Market
27 Sep 2019
The weather cleared for last Friday's Twilight market, and the community came together for a relaxing afternoon of food, craft, shopping and friends. Class One ran a tie dyeing activity, Class Three sold beautiful T-shirts and a healthy smorgasbord of cakes. Class Five served home made felafel kebabs, fresh lemonade and sausages. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
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Class Five knitting socks
20 Sep 2019
Class 5 have been following the complex pattern of knitting socks on 4 needles, and the results are impressive! Choosing their own colours and length, their socks are coming along well - here is an end-of-term photo showing skill, vibrancy and colour of their work. Knitting and craft is known to assist brain development, and the process of following patterns in more complex knitting develops the skills of planning, visualisation and fine motor skills.
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Class One monkey bar fun
20 Sep 2019
The monkey bars are a feature in the Castlecrag Class One and Two playground, and are enjoyed by many students during morning recess and lunchtime. In addition,each morning, Class One undertakes an obstacle course, including any combination of climbing along the monkey bars, balancing activities, rope wall climbing, slippery dip, skipping, handstands, crawling, hopping, partner activities and tracing patterns and shapes with their steps.
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Kindergarten Morning Circle
20 Sep 2019
Morning Circle takes place in the Kindergarten playgrounds after the bell rings, and is a gathering of all children and parents from the 3 Kindergarten classes.
The morning song is sung together, itself an acknowledgement to the indigenous people of our local area, the Cammeraygal tribe.
The words are:
"We greet the Earth, on which we stand,
Hand-in-hand on Cammeraygal Land
We thank the ancestors present and past
Who cared for the earth so it will last
We greet the sun that shines so bright
And shares with us its lovely light
Good morning everyone
Good morning, everyone".
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Class Five Pizza Day!
12 Sep 2019
Class Five held their termly pizza day this week - it's always a popular event, preparing lunch for the Middle Cove school community by hand and cooking it in the Middle Cove Pizza oven near the garden. Harvesting biodynamic greens and herbs from the garden, students made herb-infused seasoning, rolled pizza bases (the dough kindly made by Year 8 students in the Food Technology class), and cooked them in the pizza oven with Class 5 parent helpers Nick Meredith-Jones and Patrick Franklin. Pizza is delivered to the primary classes and the High School and teachers buy directly from the garden stall. Making approximately 110 pizzas is no mean feat. Thanks to Gardening teachers Kathy Thangathurai and Michelle Chambers as well as Class 5 Co-teacher Michele Bosman who all help to facilitate this part of the Class Five curriculum
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Class Two 'Long Stitch' pencil cases
12 Sep 2019
Class Two have been sewing these striking pencil cases, each with their own individual design. One side is a geometric pattern and the other is an image designed themselves. They are then sewn into a pencil case by teachers as the children complete the side seams. They will use and treasure these unique pencil cases for many years to come.
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Class Five Blue Mountains outdoor education camping trip
10 Sep 2019
Class Five had a wonderful time in the Blue Mountains for their three-day Outdoor Education camping trip. Leaving on Wednesday morning by two buses, they arrived at Mt York, embarking on a two-hour walk on Cox's Road, built in 1814 by convicts to cross the Blue Mountains. Students then travelled to Blackheath and set up camp for the night. After preparing breakfast and lunches, they travelled to the National Pass in Wentworth Falls, and with the company of National Park rangers walked the 'Grand Canyon' walk, did some plant study and returned to camp. On the final day they packed up camp and travelled to the Three Sisters and Scenic Railway. Students walked down to the base of the railway and caught the train back up - the steepest railway in the world! Sharing tents and working together for all meals, the group developed closer connections and thoroughly enjoyed the experience under the guidance of Outdoor Education teachers Scott Williams and Kristen Gardner as well as teachers Michele Bosman and Kathy Thangathurai. Thanks to parent Paul Lakkis for attending and sharing these photographs.
"One of my favourite days was the Grand Canyon walk. We walked into the bottom of the canyon where there were rivers, fallen trees, ferns, yabbies and caves dripping with water which were cold and damp. Then we walked up thousands of stairs, and at top, there was a fantastic look out! Camp was AWESOME!" - Lucas, Class Five student
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'D is for Daddy'... Class 4 Fathers' Day gifts
07 Sep 2019
Class 4 made beautiful infused oil bottles and jars with gorgeous hand-made 'D' cards for Fathers' Day. Lucky dads!
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Kindy Rainy Day Play
06 Sep 2019
In kindy the weather is always fine....
Everyday we go out to play.
Class 3 Craft - crocheting pillow cases
06 Sep 2019
Class 3 students have learned how to crochet 'Triple Stitch', and are creating their own pillow cases for their chairs and activities at school. The quality and colours of the wool, combined with their own creative ability, means that each child creates a unique cover for themselves, a lasting and practical item they will use throughout Primary School.
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Class 6 Geometry
06 Sep 2019
Class 6 are exploring the beauty and wonder of Circular Geometry in Main Lesson with Class Teacher Rodney Dean. Using a compass and pencil, they have discovered the myriad of shapes that are formed by the intrersections of numerous circles.
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Class Four Cross Stitch fountain pen covers
06 Sep 2019
Continuing on from their Writing, Paper and Pen Main Lesson, Class Four are cross stitching their own fountain pen covers with individual designs. They design their pattern on paper first and then work to recreate it on the cross stitch fabric.
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Class 2 have fun with Maths in the playground
30 Aug 2019
Class teacher Roger Richards and assistant Prue help the children learn mathematics with fun games in the playground in the mornings. The children eagerly line up, each assigned a number. Roger calls out a result, for example : "All those who can be divided by 2!"... and those who can run to the other side of the playground and back. It gets trickier and even more fun when he calls "Hold hands with the right people to add up to 10!" or "Find who makes you times by 2!". Morning maths is a great way to wake up the body and the brain!
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Glenaeon Music Concert at The Concourse
16 Aug 2019
The Music Department was very proud of all the students on Friday night at our Class 5 -11 concert! They all performed as well as we had hoped they would and gave us a wonderful evening of varied music, from Back Street Boys to Russian Romanticism - quite a journey!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the other staff members and some parents of the school who so generously gave their time and attention to this once a year project. It is amazing to have such great colleagues and helpers!
Thanks also to all the parents who support our students in their musical endeavours. It is a hard job to keep children practising through all the distractions of childhood and adolescence but as the results of scientific research keep reinforcing, the rewards are great!
With gratitude,
Christian Lillicrap on behalf of the Music Department
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Grade 6 Gazette - Special Edition on 'Turning Twelve'
16 Aug 2019
Class 6 produces a weekly Gazette, and last week's edition featured a special report based on the children’s responses to what it is like turning 12 this year. Class teacher Rodney Dean asked them to write answers to 16 questions on 'Turning Twelve'. Each week, 2 children are the editors, carefully compiling the pages and preparing for printing of all their creative writing and news. They sell for $1 internally at school, and have raised money for climate change research. Well done Class 6!
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Glenaeon Student Art Show Opening
16 Aug 2019
Glenaeon's Art Show opening was a successful event, well-attended and officially opened with a welcoming speech by the Mayor of Willoughby, Gail Giles-Gidney. Curated by Head of Art Alisan Smotlak, the show highlighted Glenaeon's talent and artistic skill throughout the years from Kindergarten to Year 12. Also present was a selection of hand crafts from Kindergarten to Class 6 and some beautiful Main Lesson book examples. Andrew Hill welcomed the Mayor, who spoke of her support for the arts and the importance of creativity and artistic expression in education. Thank you to Willoughby Council for their ongoing support of this exhibition.
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Little Kindy enjoy fresh honeycomb with their baked bread
09 Aug 2019
Little Kindy bake every Wednesday - it's known excitedly as 'Bread Day' by the children and is one of their favourite activities.
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Meaningful Lives through Play
09 Aug 2019
You might have noticed a stream of articles and news stories recently as schools and educators discover that play in nature really matters. Below is an example.
D’oh! Isn’t it obvious?!
It’s the latest in a long line of “new discoveries” that are well established practices at Glenaeon. Play in Nature is so fundamental you wonder how it is that “research” is needed to demonstrate this alarmingly obvious point. At Glenaeon we regard play in Nature as a fundamental right of childhood. The physical, emotional, social and mental benefits are so obvious:
• Natural environments are open and undefined, fostering imaginative and creative play
• They foster social play that builds social skills and community rather than competing for the next turn on the swing
• They are filled with trees that exude nutrients and uplifting micro-organisms
• They look better than garish plastic play structures.
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Meaningful Music, Meaningful Lives
09 Aug 2019
Our School Concert last Friday was a standout. Head of Music Christian Lillicrap deserves our warmest thanks and appreciation for leading such a committed and talented team of performers (students) and backstage organizers (teachers) to produce such a gift to our community.
Highlights? There were many, but in fact every item was a highlight in its own way. From the class choirs to the Chamber Strings, the Big Band, and the Year 10 band, they were all musically impressive and entertainingly fabulous. But the Beginners ensemble was an absolute gem. The sheer joy and pride of these students who have only been playing for six months, but could get up on stage and communicate their enthusiasm so unselfconsciously, was a joy to behold.
The finales to the two halves of the concert were the heart stoppers for me personally. Hearing our unofficial “School Anthem”, John Rutter’s For the Beauty of the Earth, is an ever enriching and moving experience, and it was again on Friday night. At the very end, the finale to Scriabin’s Symphony #1 for orchestra and choir was simply a tour de force. The grandeur and magnificence of the music, bringing together every student from Class 5 to Year 12, left the audience powerfully affected.
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Mermaids in the sandpit
02 Aug 2019
Class 2 children have been extremely creative in the sandpit, turning it into an ocean of mermaids, turtles and craeatures!
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"Oh, Mummy!" What's happening in Class 5?!
02 Aug 2019
Class 5 have just finished their Egypt Main Lesson with a class project - building a model from Egyptian History.
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Meaningful Lives through Music
26 Jul 2019
Our School Concert reminds us why we do music. Music brings beauty to our lives, it moves us, it gives expression to our feelings, and as such, it is meaningful. Everyone needs beauty, and meaning, and that’s why we do music, and why everyone does music at Glenaeon. All our students from Class 5 to Year 11, plus our Year 12 Music students, will be on stage on Friday August 9 and we invite you to be part of this entertaining and uplifting evening.
Without music, life is a journey through a desert.
– Pat Conroy (American writer)
Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.
- Pablo Casals
The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was on to something. Our lives need beauty, and poetry, to fulfil and enrich us, and to make meaning out of the myriad of what life brings us.
How do we build meaningful lives, how do we make meaning from all that comes to us in life? How do prepare our students to live and to love, in the deepest and broadest sense?
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Little Kindy work and play
05 Jul 2019
This week Little Kindy have been busy making hand squeezed orange juice to help keep winter colds at bay. Every Wednesday is bread baking day in Little Kindy! The children also enjoyed a plant study in the garden, finding that gold and yellow flower petals and bright green leaves are still found in our garden this winter.
The Power of Play: A World of Infinite Possibility
27 Jun 2019
Roman Soldiers - Class 6 Rome project
17 Jun 2019
Luka Stefanovic, Class 6, became a powerful Roman Soldier
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Class 6 rock-ing it, MUFTI day and 'The Grade 6 Gazette'!
17 Apr 2019
Class 6 raised money this term for 'climate cooling'
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Class 3 Farmstay, fresh bread and feast
17 Apr 2019
Class 3 completed their Farming Main Lesson this week
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Juniors news - Class 4 excursion, Class 3 skipping and woodwork
09 Apr 2019
Class 4 takes 'a bird's eye view'
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Class 3 farming main lesson - wool, wheat and Warrah Farm!
09 Apr 2019
Class 3 are nearing the end of their Farming main lesson
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All in a day's play... gardening, bush walking and marble runs!
09 Apr 2019
It was a busy week at Castlecrag
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Jazz Cafe - a wonderful night
01 Apr 2019
The first Jazz Cafe was a wonderful night of jazz and good company
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Baking, making, pulling weeds, delightful play and felting!
01 Apr 2019
Class 2 were busy this week
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Michaelmas Festival
01 Apr 2019
All 6 primary school classes came together last Friday for the festival of Michaelmas
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