High School Beach Day

The scene was set for an amazing afternoon for our High School Beach Day last Tuesday. The sun was shining and the beach was crystal clear. Students from Parkerville and Perth Waldorf School descended on Coogee Beach and John Graeme Reserve for a day of games, swimming and social activities. It was great to see so many smiling and relaxed faces.

Students, staff and even a few parents spent the day rotating through a range of beach, grassed and shaded activities.

As usual, the highlights were the sausage sizzle and the tug-of-war, with the Year 11's emerging victorious over the Year 12's this year! Congratulations to all the students who participated in the day, especially the senior PE students who helped lead the 14 teams (over 200 students) through the rotations.

I would also like to give a huge thank you to all the staff who made sure the students were safe, well-supervised and enjoyed the day. 

Wendy Belford
PE Coordinator

Class 11/12 Psychology Elective

The psychology elective this year has started with an exploration of “the self”. Exploring our own personal identities and asking questions that philosophers and psychologists have pondered for thousands of years.

The students were then given a task to research some more modern psychologists and examine the impact they have had on our understanding of ourselves and on psychology as a whole. They made a poster outlining the lives and achievements of their allocated psychologist, then wrote and performed a skit in which they took the roles of “psychologist” and “patient” to demonstrate how the theory would apply in a clinical setting.

There were some fascinating and outrageous skits, particularly when Sigmund Freud and his theories entered the room!

Suzie Moore
High School Biology

Class 12 Projects

Sophie Milne

Dear reader: take notice of the clothes you are wearing, of the garments that are hung and buckled to you. Think of how these fabrics were made, of the basins of water and dye, of the skeletal sewing machines. Even bring your mind back to the first stage of the fabric, whether that’s in a lab or in a field. Now ask yourself: what’s the weirdest material these clothes could be made of? 

Hi, my name is Sophie Milne, and I’m exploring how we can push the boundaries of the material industry and begin to strive for sustainability with materials made with funky things like fungi, algae, and bacteria. My question is: 

“How can we use synthetic biology and alternative organisms to reimagine and improve the material industry?” 

For the past few years, I was vaguely aware of things like ‘mushroom’ leather, and didn’t think much of it, holding it in my mind as something neat but not very relevant. Earlier this year, late one night while in the midst of scrambling for a project idea, I stumbled across a TedTalk about synthetic biology and bio fabrics - terms that would somewhat haunt me later in the year. It struck my interest greatly, as it was related to climate change and the environment, while being artsy, and also holding a scientific yet somewhat whimsical feel to it - mushroom clothes, died with colourful bacteria, weaved with algae. It sounded mystical and intricate, almost fantastical.  

This short video lead me into my current focus of my project: mycofabrication, the act of using mushroom root to produce a fabric. While I am focusing on other bio fabric types, this is my largest current area of research. So, why is it important to our society now?  

Since prehistoric times, humans have taken natural existing forms and manufactured them into material that holds use and significance in society. We did it with stones and rock, leather, bronze, steel, and plastic to name a few. Now, in this post-industrial age of continuous innovation, we have developed a much-needed awareness of an important responsibility we have in our production: how we affect the environment. We are currently in the midst of a drastic climate crisis, which in turn has boosted the need for sustainable and low carbon materials to replace the harmful ones like plastic and leather. This sudden interest has brought forward biomaterials made from things like pineapple leather, kombucha scoby, spider web, tree trunk fibre, cactus leaves and many more, along with the three I’m focusing on. With my project, I want to look into the current development and viability of these bio fabrics (mycofabrics, bacterial cellulose and dye, and algae fabrics) and hope to produce a garment of some sort myself. Though it seems like only a fanciful theory, it is very much a feasible and anticipated new market, and in my opinion, offers up hope in the future of sustainability.  

I am currently also looking for a mentor. If you’re knowledgeable in biology, have experience with organic fabrics, can provide equipment for making these garments, or are simply interested in my topic, I’d love to hear from you.  

You can contact me at: class12projects@pws.wa.edu.au 

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About Class 12 projects

Class 12 projects are a key part of our students' final year, helping them explore big questions about themselves and their place in the world. They run alongside coursework and are a culmination of students' Steiner education.