The Class 1 to Class 6 Autumn Festival was held on Friday of last week and what a beautiful celebration it was!

A story of St Michael and the Dragon was confidently narrated by Class 6 students, and both year-level and community songs wove the dramatic tableaux seamlessly together. Class 5 students presented the fearful dragon in great style, with writhing, percussion and thunder adding to the dragon’s might, and they depicted the creature’s transformation beautifully as it adhered to Michael’s command and demurely followed the princess to lie at the villagers' feet.

The festival was celebrated just before the autumn equinox, and the St Michael story provided a wonderful image from which the children can draw inner strength during the months to come. As they enter that time of year when nights are longer than days, which can be seen as a metaphor and inwardly lived experience for the threat of the dominance of ‘evil' over ‘good', an image of strength and courage is set before them. Importantly, the dragon is not slain but is instead mastered, indicating our human need not to banish those parts of us that arise from time to time to hinder us (desire for power, shame, fear and the like), but rather to understand their origins with compassion and render their impact ineffectual through inner mastery.

Much gratitude must go to parents of children in Classes 1 and 2 who decorated the hall and prepared the delicious feast of bread and corn. Many thanks are also to be extended to our Class Teachers who readied the children so well, calling forth heartfelt singing and strong voices.