Farewell to our Beloved Kindy Teacher, Anna Scott

After 32 wonderful years of dedication, love, and creativity, our beloved Kindergarten teacher, Anna Scott, has retired.

Anna has been a guiding light in our school, nurturing generations of children with her warmth, wisdom, and gentle presence. Her enchanting puppet plays, deep care for the children, and unwavering support for colleagues have left an indelible mark on our community.

Her presence in the classroom was something truly special. With her soft voice and kind words, she had a way of making each child feel safe, seen, and deeply cherished. There was a stillness in her that invited children into the magic of storytelling, into the quiet wonder of the world around them. One young student once said, "Anna is a real angel—I didn't know they were real." It is hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to the love and grace she brought to our school.

As a mentor to many teachers, Anna’s influence extended far beyond the classroom. Not only has she touched the hearts of countless families, offering a place of magic, security, and joy to all who have walked through her kindergarten doors, but she has also been an active member of the College of Teachers and a Teacher Trainer with SECA. Her wisdom, patience, and dedication to the craft of teaching have shaped the journeys of many educators, ensuring that her legacy will continue to ripple outward for years to come.

While we will dearly miss her daily presence, we know that her spirit will always be woven into the fabric of our school. We send her off with our deepest gratitude and warmest wishes as she embarks on the next chapter of her journey. May her retirement be filled with the same joy, wonder, and creativity that she so generously shared with all of us.

Lisa Payne
Head of Early Childhood

Farewell from Anna Scott

Thank you everyone who made this work life so good and hard and fun.

James Wishart once said I was the slowest incarnating kindergarten teacher he had ever meet ….I never quite understood what that meant but now I can only say ….thank you to all the beings human and invisible for allowing me to incarnate to a place where goodness and love abound (as well as tricky business !!!)

It’s been a BLAST!

Anna xxxx

The Easter Festival With Young Children

In Waldorf Schools around the world special emphasis is placed on celebrating
festivals. These events are generally connected with ‘The Spirit of the Sun’ – the
force that generates the very life of our planet and dictates the seasonal
rhythms. This force is known to us as the ‘Christ Force’ or ‘Christ Impulse” and is
not specific to one religion or another – it is the impulse that made us all
regardless of our colour or creed.

The very first festival that is celebrated in Waldorf Schools is the most important
of the year – Easter.

Easter is the time set aside each year to acknowledge the physical death and
resurrection of the Christ Force. It is the time when we give thanks to the great
Sun-sprit for entering our world and helping us to evolve as human beings. It is a
time to celebrate the greatest cycle of all – the setting and the rising of the sun
in the eternal dance of re-birth. Easter in the southern hemisphere is a
particularly wonderful time, as we see the summer heat giving way to a cooling
facility for new life and growth. Autumn Equinox 21 March is a perfect precurser
for the festival of Easter, as it marks the true transition from summer to
autumn. This gives us a real sense of the changing seasons and the coming of a
new feeling in the Earth. Also, beginning is the spiralling inwards that occurs in
the cooler months and leads to a sense of inner reflection. What better time to
hold a festival that prompts us to look at our own inner journey.

In Kindy, we bring this special event to the children in a way that is appropriate
to the very young. Our nature table abounds with decorated, blown eggs
hanging from the Easter tree, chickens and hares jumping about and bowls filled
with sprouting seeds – demonstrating new life coming into being.

During the three weeks leading up to Good Friday we tell special Easter stories
and sing about the approaching festival. Our Easter circle is filled with songs
about the chicken that brings new life in the egg and the hare that brings us the
Easter egg, which holds Christ’s message of eternal renewal. We are singing
about the apple that is filled with the star consciousness that brought the first life
to bear, and the trees beginning to colour; all the things that typify the seasonal
changes that are only just beginning.

At home, it is time to make your own Easter tree, knit a few bunnies and chickens and think about colouring and decorating beautiful eggs to share on Easter Sunday. Make a batch of buns with the children and tell them stories of new life and hope.

It is the extra-ordinary things that make the most impact on children and thus, it is wonderful to give them surprises beyond the material. In my house, the night before Easter Sunday saw my two daughters leaving a red apple on the doorstep for the Easter Hare to find the next morning. The children knew all about the magic star that lives in every apple that will sustain whoever eats it. When the girls got up the next day, they always found the left over apple core to indicate
the Hare had found his way to our door once again. This was the sign to race outside with baskets to go on the “egg hunt.” Once in the garden they started their search and lo and behold, scattered under bushes everywhere were beautifully coloured hard-boiled eggs with the occasional chocolate one dotted here and there. Once all the eggs were found they were evenly distributed between the girls. The chocolate ones were of most interest – of course, but the coloured eggs sat glowing in the basket under the Easter tree, ready to share with the cousins later that day.

Customs such as these are the stuff that childhood memories are made of and
the way to make festivals meaningful at home.

Whatever your own family customs are for this time of year, I wish you great
peace and joy over the Easter Holiday and look forward to the children’s tales of
what they did in their homes when the Easter Hare visited.

Love,
Fiona and Kelly - Marri Miah Kindy