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

Wanju Welcome to Term 2

Honouring Djeran in the Kindergarten

As we move through the Nyoongar season of Djeran in April and May, we welcome the shift to cooler days and dew-kissed mornings. Djeran is known as a time of preparation and regeneration, reflected in the subtle changes we notice in our garden: the southerly breeze, the blooming of red flowers, and the soft rust tones of sheoak cones.

In the kindy, we follow nature’s cue—slowing down, adding extra layers, and tending to our outdoor spaces, much like the traditional repair of mia mias for the colder months ahead. The children delight in stories of changing seasons, build cozy cubbies, and gather nature treasures, deepening their connection to the land around them.

Inspired by the practices of the Nyoongar people, we bring reverence to this season through storytelling, seasonal crafts, and songs that honour the animals, plants, and the cycles of nature. Djeran gently reminds us of the importance of preparing with care, living in harmony with the Earth, and nurturing both the land and each other.

Whadjak artist Julianne Wade, Fremantle

Lisa Payne
Head of Early Childhood

Class 2 Craft

Connecting to Place

On behalf of Primary, I’d like to warmly welcome back all children and families, especially those new to our school. I hope everyone has had a rejuvenating Easter break. I know of many families who took the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty of WA.

We are now in the season of Djeran, and what a relief it is to experience the cooler nights! It is a time when bankias and red blossoms show their beauty, and the winds ease and begin to blow from the southwest. In traditional Noongar culture it was a time of preparation, such as repairing mia mias for the coming cold and rain of Makuru.

Our school festivals are about experiencing and celebrating the changes of the seasons and our own inner response to those. This year in Primary, the theme for the Winter Festival is ‘Connection to Place’. We recognise how heathy and important it is for adults and children to have a meaningful relationship to the environment around them.

Yesterday the entire Primary faculty walked down to Walliabup (Bibra Lake) to make nature observations. From this experience it is hoped little seeds of creativity will be planted back in the classrooms and the children will engage poetry, music and art activities about our special ‘place’ in the lead-up to the Winter festival.

The Winter Festival is on the evening of Thursday 19^th June. Please watch this space throughout the term for updates about what is happening and enjoy your own unique connection to place.

Kevin Mazzer
Head of Primary School

Class 5 Farewell Jenny Price 

Class 5 families gathered together at the end of Term 1 to share afternoon tea and wish Jenny Price farewell as she prepared to have her second baby, a sibling for Pepper.  Jenny will be on 12 month's maternity leave and Arlene and Chrissy will be looking after the class in her absence.  We all wish Jenny well at this exciting time.

Class 10 Forces and Motion Main Lesson

Over the last six weeks of Term 1, Class 10A & 10B engaged in a voyage of discovery that is the Class 10 Physics Main Lesson: Forces and Motion. Students explored the historical method of scientific discovery. They started by observing a pendulum to make qualitative judgements – and decorate their books. From these observations they made small, but noticeable, changes to observe how it responds. Once they had completed a qualitative study of the pendulum, they could make a hypothesis about the physical laws governing what they observed, and then test these. Through exact measurement and repetition, they were able to arrive at a conclusion, where they either confirmed or refuted their own hypotheses.

This process mirrors the pathways forged by the great minds of history that studied the lawful motion of the physical world, be it through direct interaction or through observing the stars. Through repeating the journey of discovery that the great minds of Galileo, Huygens and Newton took, students can see the natural development of scientific understanding – though it only took them three weeks, and not centuries.

After exploring the pendulum, the class examined the force driving this motion: gravity. The conducted both classical free fall experiments and repeating Galileo’s inclined plane experiments. Both gave estimates for the acceleration due to gravity, but both experiments have their own limitations. Feeling the tension between the idealised results and the results they obtained provided a great opportunity to reflect of the experiments and how working in the real world often does not align with theoretical expectations.

Students completed their exploration by developing Newton’s laws of motion qualitatively, examining momentum as a property of objects, and working with and torque and equilibrium. We then examined how these principles apply to the playgrounds they grew up in, to help free their imagination for their final task. For this, students were charged with challenge of constructing a Rube Goldberg Machine, as a whole class. Limited only by imagination (and what their parents would let them use), the class came up with some amazingly creative sections for the machine.

Brett Kranz-Little
High School Physics Teacher

Class 11 Panel Discussion on Social Media

At the end of Term 1, Class 11 General English took part in a panel discussion exploring different perspectives on banning social media before the age of 16. Each participant represented a unique role, and prepared and presented their views, responded to questions, and engaged in a debate. 

Term 2 Fees - Due Friday 9

The school fees for term 2 are due by Friday 9^th May, unless you already have a payment arrangement in place with the school or have an account with Edstart. The school fees are invoiced annually, so please divide the invoice total by four to determine the termly payments. 

The Building Levy has been charged separately to the school fees this year. The Building Levy is tax deductible, so payments received before 30^th June are able to be included with your tax return. Official receipts will be emailed to families in July.

If you need any information or would like to arrange a repayment plan, please contact Kathryn on account@pws.wa.edu.au. 

Payment can be made by the following options, please include your Invoice Number as the reference, thank you.

A late payment fee will apply to all accounts not paid by the due date. This does not apply if you have a payment plan arrangement in place.
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Groups/Classes

Participating in any of these activities goes toward Family Participation Hours. 

These groups for parents are run or led by teachers or parents. Members of the school community are encouraged to join any of the groups and enjoy the experience of personal growth and learning in this beautiful environment - a great inspiration for our children!

Community Notices are for members of the school’s community only and may consist of: Business adverts, producers, services, items for sale (non-school related), etc. keeping in mind that they need to be consistent within our schools’ ethos. Please try and keep your notice short (this is free of charge). All Community Notices will appear in this section for two weeks only.  If you would like a ¼ page advert, a $10 fee is required and will only appear in Week 2 and Week 8.

The first 1000 days of your Child

Step into a nurturing space where parenting is gentle, respectful, and rooted in connection. Join us online or in person—choose individual sessions or the full series, blending theory and practice for parents, caregivers, and educators.

Use code PWS25 for a special 25% discount!

✨ Discover more and sign up at plapla.com.au

Have questions? We’re here to help: info@plapla.com.au

Memes that Matter - Conversations that Count with Horst Komberger

Register by clicking on this link

Memes that Matter | Horst Kornberger

(https://www.HorstKornberger.com/memesthatmatter) 

Practising Presence - 'The Soul's Dance'

Cordage, Coiling & Weaving Workshop

Day 1 (16th): You’ll learn how to choose and prepare plant fibres, explore different ones to work with. Then make cordage and learn to coil a basket for you to continue working on at home.

Day 2 (23rd): We’ll review your coiled baskets and explore any troubleshooting. Then you’ll learn how to weave with plant fibres to create a variety of forms.

General Canteen Information 

Pixie Stott Canteen - Perth Waldorf School 

You can set up an account with the canteen using the form below:

CANTEEN MENU

Reusable stainless steel straws Silver just $1 cleaners 50c
Banister Downs milk full cream and lite $2.50 per litre.
Tammy sourdough bread whole meal $6.50 or fruit $8.50 available every day.
Breadtime story handmade sourdough Spelt $12 fruit and nut $14 4 seeds $13 preorder for Friday delivery.
Fresh Raw Local Honey $14/kg refill your own jar prepacked glass jars $9
Local Organic Olive oil $16.00/litre refill your own bottle or prefilled bottles available.
Grounded Pleasures chai $12.50 200g box
Grounded Pleasures Chocolate $11.50
Karvan coffee #3 $13/ 250g whole beans or Swiss water Decaf Ground $13.00/ 250g Tally Ho farm biodynamic tempeh $9.50

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Volunteers are welcome in the Canteen!

Food Handling Training Link https://www.cockburn.wa.gov.au/Health-Safety-and-Rangers/Public-Health/Safe-Food/Food-Handling-Training

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If you would like to volunteer please take the course above. For free access use the code FSCBURN315. The course takes approximately an hour to complete. You will receive a certificate upon completion. Once you have acquired the certificate we can arrange a time that suits you to come in. All hours can be used towards the Parent Participation Scheme including the online course. If you would like more information, please contact Megan in the Canteen or via email canteen@pws.wa.edu.au 
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Megan Harry
Canteen Manager