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Issue Nineteen - 18th November 2020
Welcome to the nineteenth issue of our e-newsletter Talking Trees, which reviews some of the activities taking place in the school during recent weeks. This bumper edition comprises photos taken mainly on the morning of Thursday 5 November, and a few from the following day.
This photo-rich e-news aims to bring you into the heart of the school so you can have an idea of the daily sights and happenings in school.
We always appreciate any feedback and we’re very happy for you to pass the newsletter on and share it with friends, family and contacts.
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Each day, before classes even start, the school starts to buzz as children get busy, talking to their friends, reading a book, playing an instrument or just looking out of the windows to see who’s arriving. Below are 30 photos taken on a tour of the school in the half-hour leading up to 9 am!
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Typically main lesson time starts with some outdoor activity to get our lungs working and blood flowing, although not everyone comes out at the same time….here are some pictures from that first part of the day….
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Once classes have gone back inside after rhythmic time and main lessons are properly underway, the first of the ‘frequently touched surfaces cleans gets underway. This takes one person about an hour and includes doors that aren’t propped open, bannisters, toilet doors, handles, seats….anything that is going to get frequently touched…
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Part way through the main lesson, some photos were taken in most classes…apologies to Sequoia class, we’ll catch you next time.
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Linden class pupils (age 6/7) have had their first form drawing block. They have been exploring the qualities of straight and curved lines in many different ways; through movement, modelling and drawing with both hands and feet.
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Ash class have been working hard on their writing. The children are learning the cursive script and also practising their own emergent writing by producing a ‘have a go’ script, making their own book about the story of St Martin.
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En route from Ash class to Rowan, a quick peek into the new middle upstairs staffroom, finds Madame Lizier and our new German language teacher, Therese Theurillat, deep in conversation.
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In a normal year, the school celebrates Martinmas by making lanterns, singing songs together around a fire, and proceeding on a lamplit walk in the gathering gloom of a November evening. The theme of St Martins is around sharing and bringing light to dark....but this year has been different because of Covid. So instead, Rowan class, with pupils age 9-11 years, have with their class teacher Mrs Mason, taken the initiative to do different, and have been doing sponsored activities to raise funds for charities that support the homeless.
The class started Wednesday with a sponsored silence, managing an amazing 2 hours & 30 minutes, and went on to run laps around the playground....the playground laps were cumulative, so the pupils continued to run laps all week. In the next issues, we’ll tell you how far they ran.
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Maple class had returned to geology with a focus on minerals, working in pairs to study their different qualities. Having reviewed the structure of the earth and the process of rock formation, we are now re-creating the evolution of the earth, starting from Pangaea, 300 million years ago, with clay and home-made cardboard jigsaws. Tectonic plate movements and their effects are being “put into action…” This will set us up for exploring the world as it is now in our Journeys of Discovery block next year.
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For the last two weeks Sequoia class has been exploring the theme of Protest. We looked at the different ways in which individuals have inspired others to take action. From Suffragettes to the Arab Spring, from Gandhi to Swampy, from Rosa Parks to Greta Thumberg: it often takes the courage of one individual to ignite the passions of the many.
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Willow class has been exploring how human beings made the transition from hunter-gatherers to settled farmers and how this in time gave rise to cities and civilisations. Through cultivating grain and domesticating animals, humans began the transformation of the natural environment, harnessing it to their advantage - a process that today we are having to question urgently.
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Oak pupils (age 17-19) are reaching the end of an English main lesson that considers George Orwell’s prescient novel 1984. This exploration into the control and manipulation of both individuals and society delves into the dark world of Oceania to see if the ideas within hold any relevance to our current way of life. The class considers the question: Who is ‘Big Brother’ now in 2020?
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Morning break for lower school
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See photos of pupils enjoying play equipment constructed by Sequoia class in a project at the beginning of this term… and younger pupils enjoying throwing hoops… and others just walking and chatting…
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The kindergarten children have been celebrating Martinmas this week. They went on a gnome’s lantern walk around the garden, which included the Martinmas ring-time songs and verses. As well as enjoying lots of free-play together, they have been making small felt gnomes for the nature table.
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UPPER SCHOOL FACT - Pupils age 16/17 can still join the School and take part in studying for the New Zealand Certificate of Steiner Education (NZCSE). It’s not too late. The pupils in Willow class (age 15-17) are part way through their first year of this three-year qualification. However, it is still possible for new pupils to join this class and enrol to do the NZCSE, provided they have some evidence of equivalent academic standard, such as any other qualification (e.g. GCSEs) or work which allows us to assess standards of numeracy and literacy.
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If you have a son or daughter who is unhappy at school or struggling with the mainstream academic environment, have a look at some of our videos of upper school pupils speaking about this school, show them to your son/daughter and come and have a look at the school.
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To visit our website click here.
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