High School Small Group Tour with Director of Studies
Date: Thursday 10 September 2026
Time: 10am - 10:45am
Location: 5A Glenroy Ave, Middle Cove NSW 2068

We invite families to join a small group tour of our High School, led by our Registrar and Director of Studies and High School Mathematics and Science Teacher, Dr Stanley Tang. Enjoy a guided walk through the campus and time for conversation to learn more about subject offerings, academic pathways and Steiner philosophy. We look forward to welcoming you.

Registration: Book Now

Preschool Willoughby Campus Tour
Date: Tuesday 15 September 2026
Time: 11:15am - 12:15pm
Location: 118 Sydney St, Willoughby NSW 2068

Prospective families are warmly invited to tour our Preschool Willoughby campus and explore Steiner education in the early years. Meet our Preschool Director, and learn how our curriculum and learning activities nurture healthy development, curiosity and joy. We look forward to welcoming you.

Registration: Book Now

High School Small Group Tour with Head of School
Date: Thursday 17 September
Time: 9:30am - 10:15am
Location: 5A Glenroy Ave, Middle Cove NSW 2068

We invite families to join a small group tour of our High School, led by our Registrar and Head of School, Diana Drummond. Enjoy a guided walk through the campus and time for conversation to learn more about our High School curriculum, Steiner philosophy as well as our values and mission. We look forward to welcoming you.

Registration: Book Now

What a joy it was to witness the culmination of so many weeks and months of dedication at this year's Glenaeon School Concert at The Concourse, Chatswood. The school shone brightly, with every performance offering its own special moments and many memorable highlights.

The achievement of the students was a wonderful reflection of the care, patience and skill of their music tutors, ensemble leaders, and of course, Music Administrator Julie Monteban, Music Teacher Alleyne Moss and Head of Music Ian Munns. To see students develop from beginners into confident and capable young musicians is a remarkable testament to the power of teaching over time.

Behind the scenes, staff provided the quiet support needed to help students stay focused and ready to perform. The backstage team, led by Evan and Charlotte, worked seamlessly with the student runners to ensure every child was in the right place, at the right time.

The evening was also made especially meaningful by the presence of former staff, graduates, Board members and many members of the school community, whose generous feedback and delight in the students’ achievements were wonderful to hear. A heartfelt thank you goes to everyone who contributed to making the evening such a success.

In 2010, Year 10 students Yuka Otsuki and Claire Brown swapped schools and families as part of a cultural exchange between Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School and Kyotanabe Steiner School in Japan. Sixteen years later, their paths crossed again when Yuka returned to Glenaeon for a long-awaited visit. For Yuka, coming to Australia was a big change. She remembers being struck by the size of Glenaeon, the “big sky” and beautiful natural surroundings. She fondly recalls the warmth of her Australian host family and adventures to the Blue Mountains, Sydney Harbour, the South Coast and Taronga Zoo. Her exchange experience gave her the confidence to travel overseas again, eventually leading her to university in the UK to study Music. Today, Yuka lives in Osaka and works as a primary school teacher.

For Claire, her time at Kyotanabe offered an equally rich cultural experience. She was warmly welcomed by Yuka’s family and immersed in Japanese traditions, visiting temples and festivals, taking part in tea ceremonies and learning the art of kimono dressing. One particularly memorable experience was arriving at school to find the whole community learning a traditional fishermen’s dance. Older students taught younger students, and the completed dance was later performed at a whole-school gathering. It was a wonderful expression of community and intergenerational learning. Although communicating in Japanese was challenging, the experience grew Claire’s independence and sparked a lasting passion for travel. She especially remembers the onsen visits, followed by warm robes, bowls of udon and a good night’s sleep.

Looking back, both women recognise how much their exchange shaped them. Their story is a beautiful reminder that a Steiner education extends beyond the classroom. It fosters curiosity, connection and a sense of belonging that can last a lifetime. Yuka always wanted to come back to visit Glenaeon and just recently, she did! A full circle moment. Glenaeon families of Year 9 elective language students who are interested in exploring the possibility of a Year 10 Exchange for their child should get in touch with Amelia Gonzalez, Glenaeon’s Spanish Teacher and Exchange Coordinator. Click here to learn more.

On Wednesday, the Musical team were thrilled to announce to our Year 9 cohort that the 2027 Glenaeon musical will be ‘Midnight’. The room was filled with excitement, curiosity, and enthusiasm, and the introduction to the story and the vision for the production captured the imagination of the year group.

Midnight is a fresh and imaginative retelling of the Cinderella story. Rather than focusing on the familiar fairy-tale princess narrative, this version explores the relationships, choices, and personal journeys of a wide range of characters. There are a LOT of roles that both sing and have their own moments of dialogue. At its heart, Midnight is a story about identity, courage, and the challenge of finding one's place in the world.

Auditions will be held in Week 9 and every Year 9 student is strongly encouraged to audition to show their willingness, commitment and the courage to have a go. Musical theatre is a journey, and it is the job of the production team to help equip students with the required skills along the way. A successful musical is built upon students who are prepared to learn, collaborate, and support one another. Whether you are an experienced performer or stepping onto the stage for the very first time, there is a place for you within this production. 

This is the beginning this exciting creative journey. It is a key moment in the Glenaeon culture and history for all students to learn from. We are confident that Midnight will become a memorable and rewarding experience for our entire school community.

Information on dates and ticketing to come.

After nearly six wonderful years on the Castlecrag campus, Grassroots Eco Store is moving into its next phase. The online store will be continuing at grassrootsecostore.com.au, with the same carefully chosen range you know and love.

What is changing is that the shop on the Castlecrag campus will be closing its doors at the end of this term, on Wednesday 23rd September. It has been such a privilege to be part of this community and to share this magical little space with so many of you over the years. As a commitment to continuing to support the Glenaeon community, I will be offering a free weekly delivery service to the Castlecrag campus reception, Middle Cove campus reception and Willoughby Preschool reception, so your orders can still reach you conveniently.

In the meantime, the shop is open as usual and there are some lovely in-store specials to take advantage of before the shop closes. Come in and say hello before the term ends.

Term 3, 2026 – Opening Hours:

Tuesday: 8:30am—12pm & 2pm—3:45pm
Thursday: 8:30am—12pm & 2pm—3:45pm
Friday: 8:30am—12pm & 2pm—3:45pm

Visit the Castlecrag shop before 23rd September or continue shopping anytime at grassrootsecostore.com.au

Thank you for supporting local and choosing products that nurture creativity, sustainability, and imagination. A portion of every sale goes to support Glenaeon.

Grassroots Eco Store is located on the Glenaeon Castlecrag Campus, next to the Marion Mahony Griffin Hall. 121 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag.

A reminder for parents and carers: Students should arrive and depart within the School's supervised hours to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

Castlecrag Campus: 8am to 3pm

Middle Cove Campus: 8am to 3:40pm

Please note that students attending outside these times may not be under staff supervision. Co-curricular activities and lessons organised by the School outside the regular timetable are supervised by the relevant teacher or coach.

Playgroup families are experiencing the shifting seasons through a magical shadow puppets presentation on the Three Billy Goats Gruff story. Playgroup Educator, Natalie was delighted to speak with some Kindy children outside their classroom, as she was preparing for Playgroup. She was nostalgic remembering when they were in Playgroup and told them she was preparing a story that they once loved. They guessed immediately that it was the one with "the Billy Goats"! How wonderful that those days still live in their memories after their years of Preschool and now well into Kindy, they still remember their mornings spent at Playgroup.

In the heart of a seed buried deep, so deep

A dear little plant lay fast asleep....

The Kindergarten children have been busy in the garden planting snow pea seeds and carefully watering and tending to the daffodil bulbs we planted during winter. It has been such a joy to see Spring arrive, bringing colourful flowers to our garden. Lorikeets and Mynas have also been visiting, sipping nectar from the blossoms and chatting alongside us during our morning circle time.

Classes 1 to 3 celebrated Book Week by coming dressed as a book character they loved. You could have bumped into Saucepan Man, Anne of Green Gables, Mary Poppins, The Oxford Dictionary and so many more wonderful characters. At the school assembly, teachers performed a favourite story "Caps for Sale", to the delight of the children. Even teachers came dressed up...Look out for Dame Washalot and Nils the Gnome.

Class 3 performed their play 'Moses' this year for parents, our Class 2 and Kamaroi School's Class 3 students with Class Teacher Emily Watts. This year is a year of transformation and growth, so the story of Moses really reflects the Class 3 pedagogy of 'overcoming to the other side' and feeling free. The play was cast with the purposeful intent of putting children who are a little more shy or introverted as the main parts to help them grow and come out of their shell. Class 3 did such a wonderful job and it was an incredible series of performances. Well done, Class 3!

The Rainbow Fairy comes to visit the front desk for a few weeks in the mornings. She's absolutely delightful and she dances around the reception area touching everything with her rainbow light, including the students bringing in the rolls in the morning. The rainbow fairy is a happy little soul who loves to share her light with everyone.

The primary school had a wonderful time celebrating Book Week! Students enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book characters and sharing their love of stories at our book week assembly. Thank you to Class 6 for their very engaging play about 'the Book Character's Complaint Department', as well as our delightful year 7 MC's.The gold coins collected for Dress Up Day were donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Thank you for your generous donations to this important cause. 

The students have had many fruitful discussions around books they've enjoyed reading recently, whether stories need to have happy endings, and which book they would choose to live in, if they could spend a week inside that world. 

Book Week is a valuable opportunity to celebrate the joy of reading and to recognise the important role that books play in developing imagination, creativity, empathy, and a lifelong love of learning. It has been wonderful to see students so enthusiastically sharing stories, discussing their favourite books, and engaging with literature in meaningful ways. We hope the excitement of Book Week continues to inspire our students to read widely and discover new stories throughout the year.

Ellen Brown
Junior Library

Class 5 recently embarked on a journey back in time. Their day started at the picturesque Maritime Museum on a specular winters day. They boarded a replica of the Original Endeavour. They learnt how to scrub the deck and all about how to set the sails correctly for a journey across the seas. It was soon time to venture below deck where they saw the tough living conditions experienced by the ship’s crew and met a cat who was there to keep the rats at bay. After their short stay as a crew member, they moved to the more luxurious living conditions of the specialist team who were chosen to travel abroad. There was the botanist and the artist quarters along with the surveyor who was chosen to map the other side of the world. They finally moved through to Captain Cook’s Quarters and were amazed at how lucky he was to travel in such a beautiful way. They also had a chance to explore the HMAS Vampire and the rest of the museum. They were able to see the incredible hand carved Polynesian boats that they are currently learning about in their Main Lesson, Early Explorers.

The second part of the adventure took Class 5 across the city to the historical Rocks area, for a walking tour with their guide, Harry. Harry told them stories about many of the buildings and areas that we often see but don’t know all the history behind them. They had a fascinating tour and learnt so much about the history of the beautiful Sydney Harbour. With very tired feet, they headed back to school where they were able to discuss about all the fascinating facts they had learned that day. Thank you to Class Teach Jamie Loftus and Class Assistant Maya Ryan-Sudell for guiding the students on this adventure.

Class 6 created these beautiful individual mosaic designs in their art class with Julia Byrne as part of their Ancient Rome Main lesson. They spent a number of sessions carefully cutting and arranging the colourful glass tiles before delicately gluing in place. To complete the process they applied a mix of grey grout to set and seal the tiles ahead of polishing to reveal a shiny finish. What a striking variety of mosaics from an impressive group of students.

Year 10 PE Extension students have made the most of the warmer weather with a series of classes in the art of Pickleball. A new phenomenon, Pickleball is easy to learn and play and is super social and incredibly fun. Year 10 have embraced Pickleball as a new and exciting challenge and a great way to play with and against their friends.

Year 12 Society and Culture students went on an excursion to Auburn, visiting both the Gallipoli Mosque and the Islamic Sciences and Research Academy of Australia. This allowed them to review the philosophy, customs and practices of Islam, their depth study for Belief Systems. They were also able to practice cultural literacy by interacting in an informed and respectful way with people and environments outside their own social group. The students enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the mosque, the highly informative and engaging talks offered by ISRA, and particularly enjoyed the Turkish buffet lunch.

Our Netball teams were in action this week at the ISD Carnival and as always performed to a great standard. Our reputation within ISD schools as a tough competitor were upheld with strong performances from all of our three teams. Under 15 Girls won through to the semifinal where they were narrowly beaten by a very strong Amity team. 

Open Girls team were dominant in pool play but ran into the eventual champions in the semifinals, again, narrowly down in a match that could have gone either way.

Open Boys team was made up of Year 10 boys and despite giving away size and netball match experience our boys played some fantastic and highly physical netball to win through to the grand final. The GF was a seesawing match and both teams had chances to run away. Our boys ending up down by just 2 goals.

Our netballers have once again represented us beautifully and shown how wonderfully our students can quickly form team bonds and adapt to working together in a sporting setting.

Important Reminders

• Auditions are open until Week 9 - Thursday 17 September
• Auditions are held in the physics room on Thursday lunch
• Your act must be 5 minutes or shorter.
• Open to Year 7 - 12 students
• Gift card rewards for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and peoples choice.
• Have fun!

We are delighted to share that our very own Jasmine L-M. (Year 12, 2026) will be starring in episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year (Season 2) on ABC TV this Sunday 6 September. The show brings together talented artists from across Australia to compete in a challenge to capture iconic celebrities in a race against the clock. The ultimate winner is commissioned to paint a portrait that will hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. Tune in to support Jazz.

Portrait Artist of the Year airs Sunday’s at 7.30pm on ABC and ABC iview. https://iview.abc.net.au/show/portrait-artist-of-the-year

The GPA Steering Committee meets monthly during school terms. Here’s a recap of our August meeting (highlights of July meeting shared here in case you missed it):

• Governance and housekeeping updates for the Association and Committee
• Financial and treasury updates for the GPA and improvements to Class Benefit Fund
• Discussed the Class Parents Forum updates for Term 3 – please see summary here
• Discussed the Family Fair preparations and fundraising goals for this year – see below
• Discussed the GPA’s volunteer and financial support for the School’s upcoming community events
• Supported “GPA Cuppa & Connect in the garden” continuing in Term 3 – held at Castlecrag campus on 26th August, and Middle Cove campus on 2nd September
• Approved “GPA Sunset Social” as new event for parents, to be held on 10th September – please see poster and RSVP below
• Discussed more ways the GPA could offer social engagement for our parent community 

The Committee also acknowledges Diana’s warm words on “The Spirit of Community” in the last newsletter – you can read here. 

Please do get in touch with any questions or suggestions! 

Huw Morris (GPA Chair) & Alex Pampel (GPA Secretary) 
Glenaeon Parents Association (GPA) 
GPA in GLO  |  Contact the GPA  |  GPA on website

The Glenaeon Family Fair is on 14th November, proudly hosted by the GPA in conjunction with the School.

Please see the Fair updates in this newsletter.

Last Sunday, the Fair team was busy at Castlecrag campus with over 40 people showing up. The Fair Coordinators, Mentor, Manager, Stall and Activity Coordinators, GPA representatives and Glenaeon staff gathered in sunny weather to get some much-needed jobs done. We also had an important planning meeting in the hall. Everyone was in good spirits, working hard, and the Fair preparations are tracking well. Thank you to all those volunteers who took this time to help bring the 2026 Fair to life!

To read more about the 2026 Fair team, please see herein last newsletter.
Check out the Fair micrositeand the School’s social media channels for more news. Please contact the Fair Coordinators via fair@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au with any questions.

All Glenaeon parents are warmly invited to join our new Sunset Social on 10 September, hosted by the Glenaeon Parents Association (GPA). Please see poster for details and RSVP here (free tickets) by 9th September. 

Beyond the sessions offered at Glenaeon, parents and carers are warmly invited to take part in the inspiring workshops and talks hosted by the Steiner Parent Education Initiative. Upcoming sessions are shared regularly in our Newsletter. As part of our ongoing commitment to meaningful parent engagement, Glenaeon parents and carers are able to attend these events free of charge .

All 2026 + 2027 Term dates for K-12, Preschool and Playgroups can be found on our website, click here .

Our Newsletter is published Week 1,3,5,7 and 9 in term time.
Please see our publishing schedule for exact dates.

Join Parsifal College for an early childhood enrichment experience in The Art of Caring — an in-person creative seminar for anyone caring for children in the earliest years.

Across three days, participants will move through the practical, creative activities at the heart of Steiner early childhood work: painting, singing, puppetry, felting, wax modelling, nutrition and baking, gardening, and well-being and self-care practices. Each day builds skills you can bring directly into your teaching, your childcare setting, or your own home.

This is an adults-only education experience, open to educators, parents, carers and playgroup leaders — no prior experience necessary.

When: 29 September – 1 October 2026
Where: Lorien Novalis Steiner School, Dural NSW
Format: In-person | Join for 1, 2, or all 3 days
Fee: $110 – $550 (incl. GST, includes delicious catering)

Places are limited, so we encourage you to register early to secure your preferred day or days.

BOOK HERE

An online masterclass with Maggie Dent & The Man Cave CEO Ben Vasiliou
Join us live Wednesday, 23rd September from 1pm (Sydney time) or watch the replay in your own time.

The digital world did not invent the idea that boys and men must be strong, successful, dominant, in control and emotionally tough. However, it has certainly amplified it, especially for young men. 

We only need look at the statistics around boys’ literacy, school readiness, behaviour, loneliness, men’s mental health, suicide and male violence to see the cost of these rigid, persistent stereotypes.

So, what do today’s boys really need from us, to move beyond these narrow ideas of boyhood so they can one day grow into healthy, happy, respectful, accountable, whole-hearted and connected men? 

In this masterclass, Maggie Dent is joined by another ‘boy champion’, CEO of The Man Cave Ben Vasiliou, who has his ear to the ground when it comes to our boys and young men, having worked with more than 110,000 Aussie lads. 

In his new book, Better Man: Reclaiming masculinity for good, Ben carves a new path for guiding our boys and men to make meaningful changes so they can become the best versions of themselves. 

In this lunchtime session, Maggie and Ben will explore:

• Why the OECD has said there is a ‘boy crisis’ and what it means.
• The real voices of our tween and teen boys — what Ben’s hearing from boys about their main concerns, and how adults can help build optimism and positivity.
• The 'man box' — are these traditional social norms persisting or shifting for the today’s adolescents?
• Why so many boys are struggling with gambling challenges.
• What messages boys are hearing about being a man and how this might be contributing to the increased teen boy loneliness and social isolation.
• Why boys create masks on the bridge to adulthood and what role they play.
• The root causes of disruptive behaviour, especially in terms of boys’ sense of self or self-worth, and around fear of failure.
• Why boys tend to struggle in silence (especially when they’re really struggling) and how we can change their perspective on help-seeking behaviours.
• Preparing and guiding boys for their emerging sexual awakening in healthy ways.
• Ben’s three foundations for a healthy identity that give a boy permission to “feel deeply, think critically and act responsibly”.

Register here