Middle School had a very wet start to Term 3 and although our new premises stood up well, earth's "reticulation system" got left on (it rained for days!) and the deluge ultimately turned our Kiss and Drop drive-through into a quagmire! Thank you to all the students, parents and teachers working together to keep the traffic moving, and the students' safely dropped off and picked up while repairs are organised.

As a WasteZero school and aligning with the School's Ecology and Sustainability focus, the Middle School students went to the Red Hill Waste Management facility on 28 July (no photos unfortunately as the focus was on the experience rather than recording it!). You can imagine not everyone was keen to go, but all students and three teachers boarded the bus at 9:00am! The students learned a lot about their own waste creation practices, the volumes of waste created in this one local area, how their waste is recycled, reused or disposed of to landfill, and the importance of sorting their waste correctly into the school's four colour-coded waste bins. 

The excursion also tied in nicely with Class 8's Physics of Air and Water Main Lesson, part of which is the recognition of the close connection between physics and technology with the students seeing alternative waste management technologies they would not encounter outside such a facility.

The Class 7s have been very industrious in their Creative Writing Main Lesson. The students have been composing some beautiful poetry and stories reflecting their wonder of the world around them using lots of adjectives, adverbs and metaphors. We look forward to reading some of their creative work after their Main Lesson books have been marked.

Class 9 started their Australian History of the Modern Era, which aims for the students to think more deeply about their own engagement in the world. Teacher Matt brought in two resource boxes filled to the brim with 20th century military artefacts for the students to have a visceral experience of references made in the lesson content. They examined features of Australian democracy from Federation and the ways in which the individual can freely participate in government and express and protect their rights and interests, while recognising how these have not been or are not available to all Australians. We look forward to reading some of their reflections at the end of the Main Lesson.

Coming up is the High School Information Evening on Wed 10 August at 6:30pm for all community members to hear what is happening in the High School and our vision for the future. The following week, 18 August, is the all-school Parent Evening; parents and teachers collectively 'hold' the adolescent students' schooling journey and we look forward to our first face-to-face collaboration of the year with our students, parents and carers.

We are hoping for fine weather before the end of this week when our new and fantastic full-size basketball tower will get its first outing after the inclement weather delayed its installation. The students were able to help put together the first section as part of their Sports and Games lesson one day and we look forward to the sound of thumping basketballs, bouncing rebounds and whooping as the scores grow higher!

Catherine Vann
High-School Education Coordinator 

• Parenting Programs
• Introduction to Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
• Rudolf Steiner College Perth
• Job Vacancies
• Think Green - City of Swan Aug/Sep program (view here)

• School Market - Wednesday afternoons 
• Weekly Craft Group - 9am on Mondays 
• Anthroposophical Study Group - Thursday evenings, staring Term 4 

Seeking Volunteers!

As you will be aware, the costs of building our new school are greater than the amount of funds the school receives from our traditional funding sources, which comprise Federal and State Government grants, loans and school fees.

As your Grants Writer, I have been busy working every Wednesday to secure additional funds to directly help build our new school and to “free-up” funds we currently use for the activities we are already doing, so these “everyday” funds can be used to continue building the new school campus, on our own land at Hazelmere.

Having two children attend Silver Tree (who are now at Perth Waldorf School), some experience working at Silver Tree as a volunteer gardening teacher, in the office, being their volunteer Gardening and Environmental Committee Coordinator and part of the P&F has meant I have been able to quickly get my head around what I need to know to help Helena River Steiner School work towards its vision. 

My work so far has included searching for grants, developing grant and sponsorship proposals, seeking sponsorship and donations and applying for 12 major grants.  To date, the school has received a WasteSorted Schools grant, a Variety Grant, a Partnership Acceptance Learning Sharing (PALS) grant and a landcare grant. A number of our grant applications are also still being assessed. 

My focus now is seeking full or partial sponsorship for our very successful Indigenous Student Scholarship Program from a partner, or a small number of partners. 
Be reassured this does not mean our Indigenous Student Scholarship Program will change in any way. If we are successful at attracting a sponsor, the school will simply re-direct the equivalent amount of funds into our building fund.

As you can imagine, researching the myriad of potential sponsors who we feel the school would like to approach is a very time-consuming job. If you would like to volunteer to help me complete this on-line research as part of your PPS hours, please contact me on 0424570314. All support will be gratefully accepted!

Thank you very much,

Bronwyn Scallan
Grants Writer

Edstart is an organisation which provides families with flexible payment plans to help them manage their education costs. They have payment plans designed to fit around family budgets.

The Edstart brochure and payments plans can be found on our website.