Welcome back to Term 2

We hope everyone had a lovely Easter break and new families joining our school feel welcome and enthused to learn more about Steiner Education. May your children have a lovely first week.

Will

Yesterday, our staff gathered for Professional Development, with the keynote session focusing on the nature of Will — what it is and how we can work with it. This is a continuing theme for this year, identified by the College of Teachers as worthy of deeper exploration. Donna Kerr, the Deputy Head of High School, led the session and inspired reflection and contemplation on this important topic.

In Steiner education, we often speak of the three soul forces: Will, Feeling, and Thinking. Will is the first of these forces to be developed, and it forms the focus of Early Childhood education, from birth to seven years of age.

Of course, we continue to develop and strengthen our will well beyond the age of seven. One of the ways Rudolf Steiner highlighted for nurturing the will is through artistic and craft activities:

• Artistic and craft activities naturally involve repetition, which strengthens the will. (This also explains why early childhood education and parenting focus so much on repetition and rhythm.)
• ll art and craft activities cultivate both thinking-in-willing and feeling-willing. (Thinking-in-willing refers to purposeful, conscious action; feeling-willing relates to the emotional engagement we bring to our tasks.)
• The development of feeling-willing fosters a healthy social life, as we learn to navigate our emotions, sympathies, and antipathies (our natural likes and dislikes)
• As well as bringing joy, teaching through art and crafts strengthens both the feeling and willing capacities.

We are very fortunate to have such enlivening professional development sessions that deepen our ability to work with students in meaningful ways, from an Anthroposophical perspective. 

Federal Election

For this Saturday’s Federal election, the Association of Independent Schools (AISWA) has released a statement in support of parents having school choice.

Our school is an Independent non-government school funded mainly by the Commonwealth Government and tuition fees. We are extremely fortunate in Australia that non-mainstream schools like Steiner schools are government funded. It is not the norm in most countries for private schools to receive government funding.   

AISWA represents over 160 diverse independent non-govt schools across Western Australia, educating more than 90,000 students from all walks of life. Many of these schools are no-fee or low-fee institutions including remote Aboriginal schools, Curriculum and Reengagement in Education (CARE) schools and faith-based schools ensuring accessibility for families from varied socioeconomic backgrounds.  

The Key AISWA priorities are: 

1. Protecting family choice in education 
2. Ending the blame game between sectors 
3. Supporting vulnerable students 
4. Investing in cross-sector innovation 
5. Building choice into the future

In the 2022-23 financial year, total government funding for schools was nearly $86bn, which came to $24,857 per student in government schools and $14,561 per student in non-government schools. 

Here are few quotes and a link to the AISWA position: 

“There has long been bipartisan support for parental educational choice in Australia be it government, Independent, or Catholic.” 

“Despite this longstanding consensus, and the fact that Independent schools are the fastest-growing sector, the Independent sector continues to face uninformed criticism from ideological detractors.” 

“Independent schools help reduce pressure on the public education system.” 

“We don’t presume to tell parents how to vote, but we stand firmly in support of parents right to choose a school that best meets their children’s needs.” 

Short Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkKCTuSCOes 

Recent Media article : https://aiswa.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/PLRepository/EfAOg7oJRxFOpCVz3mfBd98BN-c8SSPMc-qDVO4eAnlPgA?e=fst2ag 

Some staff news:

• While Class 5 teacher Jenny, is away on maternity leave we welcome Chrissy who will work alongside Arlene, teaching and nurturing the students. Chrissy is full of enthusiasm and has a range of teaching experience. She is brimming with energy to be back in the classroom after parenting duties took her away.  
  
• We also welcome Rochelle Mulqueen back who will be taking Class 2 one day a week so Jayne can be on campus only 4 days a week. Rochelle is a current parent. 
• In the High School we welcome Chris as science and maths teacher since Andrew stepped away from our school at the end of last term. Thank you Andrew for your work and best wishes Chris. Both men are current parents at our school. Chris has previously taught in a relief capacity and brings a wealth of experience and qualifications to the science/maths role.  
• Catherine has been appointed to teach in Ngala Miah Koort kindy filling the position that Anna held until her retirement, last term. Cat is a parent and has been working in Early Childhood in various roles over the last few years.  

Have a lovely week as the children settle into school rhythm and routine and Autum/Djeran season brings a cooler freshness to our environment.

With much gratitude

Bruce Lee
School Administrator

PWS student selected for prestigious PULSE exhibition

We are delighted to share that 2025 Class 12 student, Celeste Bastian, has been selected for the 2025 PULSE exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. PULSE showcases the top graduating visual arts students from across the state, with only a small number of works chosen from hundreds of submissions.

Now Autumn, like a lusty king,
Strides through the fields - awake, aware.
From summer sleep we've watched him bring
This crispy coolness to the air.

And fruit, well-ripened on the tree,
To me it whispers, round and sweet:
"Be firm. Be strong. Then it shall be
That you'll bear fruit for gods to eat!"

by Michael Hedley Burton / verse no. 30