Reconciliation Week - Class 7 Wardong

The walk from Cockburn Library back to P.W.S., on that sunny Tuesday 27^th May morning, seemed particularly short.  The students were in great form after such a satisfying time.  The Class 7’s had witnessed the students from Fremantle College performing their Aboriginal dance on the grassed area outside the library, to the sound of the Didge.  The raising of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, was very moving. 

The 7’s had been part of the Reconciliation Ceremony, streamed live from Fremantle.  They observed the work of Reconciliation throughout Western Australia. 

Meanwhile, they helped themselves to a variety of the delicious food available. Many children enjoyed seconds, even thirds!  Yes indeed, they were in great form as they headed back to school, ready for their afternoon class.

Michelle Guffie
Class 7 W Teacher

Reconciliation Week - West Coast Steiner School

It was Tuesday morning, June 3^rd and despite the long weekend, the children were enthusiastic about the final practice of both songs and play before heading off to West Coast School for their second Reconciliation Ceremony.  It was also the launch of the book, the ‘Balyet Gets the Boy’, by Elder Cliff Humphries.

Class 7 Wardong had eagerly taken on the task of dramatizing the story and retelling it in Noongar.  They learnt their Noongar lines in four weeks and performed it well. The Class 7 Koolbardi participated by exploring the process in the creation of this book.  Students from both 7’s, originally from West Coast School, spoke of how they drew the illustrations found throughout the book.  After a delicious lunch of ‘Bush Tucker’, we boarded the bus in a jubilant manner, back to school for afternoon classes!

Class 8 Biology Main Lesson

Collaborative class project looking at the specific structures and functions within a human that allow the amazing symphony of our body to do all it needs to. 

Alex McLeod
HS Science and Maths Teacher

Class 8B Drama Main Lesson

Class 8B Drama Main Lesson presents – The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

The Tempest was Shakespeare’s final play before he retired from a life in the theatre. Scholars believe Shakespeare wrote a hint of a farewell to his audiences and included it towards the end of The Tempest for the protagonist character, Prospero, to speak, announcing he will “break his staff and drown his book”. Rather than being defined as a comedy or tragedy, the play is often characterised as a “romance”, containing darker elements but with lighter, comedic moments and a happy ending.

The play begins with a storm, the “tempest” of the title. Prospero, a powerful sorcerer has commanded his elemental servant, Ariel, to control the sky and the sea to wreck a ship passing his small Mediterranean island.

On this ship are people who have wronged Prospero and his daughter Miranda: King Alonso of Naples, who helped Prospero’s sister, Antonia, usurp the Duchy of Milan and then cast Prospero off in a leaky boat with his three-year-old daughter Miranda, twelve years earlier.

Also on the ship during Prospero’s storm are Alonso’s ambitious sister, Sabina; and Alonso’s noble and handsome son, Ferdinand; Gonzalo, a kindly old councillor who secretly sends supplies with Prospero into exile; a nobleman called Francisco; the court Jester, Trinculo; and Trinculo’s friend Stephano, a butler. On the island, Prospero has been living with Miranda, Ariel, and an enslaved half man, half monster, Caliban.

Alonso, washed up on the island after the storm, fearing his son Ferdinand has been lost in the wreck, is devastated and leads the other survivors on a search.

Meanwhile Caliban meets Trinculo the Jester and Stephano the butler who floated to shore on a full cask of wine, and an unlikely alliance is formed, based on delusions of grandeur.

Prospero has almost unlimited control over the magic of the island and soon has his enemies right where he wants them...

The Tempest is about choosing between wanting revenge for past injustices or showing forgiveness; power and how it can be used for right or wrong; loss and restoration involving several characters; and magic and illusion.

Our Class 8 students have worked together, taking collective breaths to blow The Tempest to life. By stepping into their roles, they connect to a golden era of the English language and imagine inhabiting an enchanted desert island, personally developing as growing young people.

PWS staff have worked hard to make this play happen: Justin Crossley, Eva Rinaldi, Gabriela Morales, Ian Lawrence, Shanelle Schramm, Sarah Boyle and Joshua Raich.

Families are encouraged to attend evening performances together, from all High School and Primary year levels. Entry will be by donation.

All performances will take place in Williams Hall:

Cast 1 Wednesday 25 June 10.40am
Cast 2 Wednesday 25 June 6.30pm
Cast 2 Thursday 26 June 9.00am
Cast 1 Thursday 26 June 6.30pm

Austin Castiglione
HS Drama Teacher

Class 12 Projects

Guy Ridge

Hello, my name is Guy and for my Class 12 Project I’m looking into sustainable fashion practices. My goal for this project is to spread information on change and to share and make upcycling easy and accessible to everyone.

The reason I chose this subject is because I’ve always liked fashion, and upcycling old jeans was something I enjoyed.  I decided I wanted to spread my passion for upcycling to others, and I also wanted to share how easy it is to do. Over this year I’ve become aware of the sheer quantity of fast and ultra-fast fashion, and it makes me kind of sad. I think a lot of people want to learn to upcycle but are stuck with the barrier of thinking, 'it’s too hard.' I want to change that."

Over the year, my question has changed and developed into this current version:

“What sustainable fashion options are available for individuals to contribute with  small and large scale change?”

For my Practical, I will be upcycling old denim jeans I find at the op shop and anywhere else and creating something new and something different. My practical is unfolding, and I still have some more to do, but this is the basis of what it will be.

Before I started my research, I didn’t know 100 billion garments were made new each year, with 92 million tons going into landfill annually. To me this was crazy to think about and over the year I have become a lot more conscious of how out of control consumerism is in our society today.

Over this year, I have realised the importance of individuality, and one way I like to express that is through fashion. With upcycling, you always create one-of-a-kind pieces. Individuality and artwork are what drive my passion for upcycling, along with a love for recycling.

Donations of quality jeans are welcome and much appreciated. If you’d like to donate, please get in touch via class12projects@pws.wa.edu.au

Thank you

Guy Ridge

Seraphin Maitland Smith

I have always struggled with maintaining my menstrual health, whether it was irregular periods, mood swings or even knowing how to match my lifestyle and activities to my cycle. My project started where all good things start, with my mother. I was talking about how I was putting on and losing three to four kilos every other week. I was confused and stressed that I was doing something wrong. She assured me that it was normal and that many women experience weight fluctuations throughout their period. It got me thinking, why was I only learning about this at 18? I formed my question soon after.

“How does poor menstrual literacy affect health outcomes in women?”

Menstrual literacy and health management in women is important but is not covered in the necessary depths within schools. Menstrual literacy is vital for several reasons such as supporting mental and physical health and understanding more about women’s bodies. The purpose of my report is to investigate menstrual literacy and women’s health in Australia. The focus, on non-marginalised women spanning from puberty to around 25 years old.  

I started my research quite early and found out a lot of surprising information. However, the most unexpected thing I found had to do with our very own Australian curriculum. Primary and high school teachers are indeed required to teach about menstruation and periods but unlike Math or English, there is not a specific set of information to help teachers communicate the proper information to students. This means that the topics being discussed are taught using the teacher’s personal knowledge. This can be harmful to students given that the information may not actually be correct. In addition, teachers who feel uncomfortable teaching the topic of menstruation may unknowingly encourage negative stereotypes, as the language used around periods can often be undermining, dismissive and normalise pain for young girls regarding their cycle.

I’ve been trying to start on my practical this term and round out the sharp edges of my plan. For my practical I want to make an educational booklet aimed at women but not ONLY for women, as men and boys need to educate themselves on female hormones and anatomy to understand the women in their lives. To create some common questions that adolescents may have, I decided that it would be a great idea to talk to some of the year 9, 10 and 11 classes and gauge what it is they do and do not know about menstruation and women’s health. This will directly influence the information in my booklet.

Overall, my project journey has been up and down. I started off very slow having not grasped the full weight of my task. Then the pressure set in, I spent the next month switching between pulling all-nighters to get just a bit more work done and doing absolutely nothing and letting the world pass me by. I have weighed what the outcome would be if I dropped out compared to if whether I stayed and achieved something I knew I would be proud of, I chose the latter. I’ve learnt a lot about myself, I’ve learnt I can often be lazy and prioritise the wrong things, but I’ve also learnt I’m smarter than I give myself credit for and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.