1 Michael Oak Waldorf School WEEKLY NEWSLETTER No. 8 16 March 2018 4 Marlow Road Kenilworth 7708 Cape Town Tel. 021 797 9728 Fax 021 797 1207 [email protected] www.michaeloak.org.za School Closing Times Next Week A Sense of Community The whole School will close at 11h30 on Tuesday 20 March. --------------------- Dear Friends, Aftercare Closing Times I have been thinking about our school and what makes it unique – why we choose to send our children Kindergarten: 2.15pm to a Waldorf school, this one in particular. My view - from inside out (my view from the office) and outside in (parent of three children who all attended Michael Oak) – is this: Primary: 4.30pm ------------------------ One of the reasons for our uniqueness is the sense of community, with both children and parents. This is fostered by the physically small area covered by the school – we can’t really avoid each other in this No Sport suburban block bounded by the railway, Marlow, Gibson and Sheerness roads. It’s a case of community next week by osmosis! So really, this is “geluk by die ongeluk”. We may complain about the lack of space, but it The sport programme does have this benefit – a real one. Parents, teachers and children have much more contact with each has been concluded other than we might have done in a larger area, and so know each other better. for this term. The teachers at Michael Oak make the main difference between this school and most others. Their focus ooooooooooooooooooooooo on the children is so deep and complex, the relationship forged over years. They keep their classes in their hearts and minds, discuss pupils at faculty meetings, and they depend on each other for advice, Harvest Festival support and encouragement. Parents are also a vital part of the Michael Oak mix, as their input is valued by the teachers in understanding and helping the children to achieve their potential. It is a two- Donations way process, for the teachers also have the expectation that their advice and suggestions to parents will Donations of non- be followed through. Keeping the balance of this give and take keeps us all engaged and involved. perishable foods for Baphumelele are still Another thing that holds us in the loose network welcome! that is the Michael Oak community is the fact that Please bring these to because we are not a really wealthy community, school first thing on we need to work together to get things done Monday morning before rather than just dig into our pockets unthinkingly our Harvest Festival. (or resentfully) to fund another project. Here again, “geluk by die ongeluk”. I have found over ooooooooooooooooooooooo the years that the workshops for making Fair The Leaflet goods have introduced me to people I might not have met otherwise, let alone grown to know and next week value, besides teaching me new skills. The There will be no printed fundraising events over many years, such as art Leaflet, only an e-Leaflet auctions, extravaganzas, musical events, etc. give on Tuesday, the last day a whole new slant on our community. Ann of term. Kantey, our language support teacher, wrote once about how creativity and integrity are ooooooooooooooooooooooo nurtured as an integral part of being human – DADS, DUDES this is not just part of the children’s education, but & KIDS for all of us involved with Michael Oak, parents and staff as well. The nurturing process just takes Enjoy the a different form! The sense of community is also fostered by our Camp in Ceres Open Days and Parent Information Programme – current parents are always very warmly invited to "Thank You, Lesley" -- We all wish you a wonderful, this Weekend! attend, so that our methods and expectations can busy retirement! Standing behind Lesley are be explained in a practical way, and each one Lynn Kerchhoff and Faiza Abdurahman 2 seems to have a different aspect. These events are not just for Michael Oak parents, though. They will Primary School help others who would like to know more about Waldorf education in general, and they apply to the other Waldorf schools as well to Michael Oak. Each Harvest Festival event is an enriching experience. Our teachers are Tuesday 20 March 2018 available to answer general questions then, but of Please note that the Primary School will finish course the best place for specific questions about at 11:30am on this day, the last day of term. your children’s progress is at the Class Evenings – a good venue for getting a feel for the “class family” To mark the last day of term we will be celebrating our annual Harvest too. Festival. As we are still in the midst of a worrying drought we will be focussing on water, as without water there can be no harvest. In the The festivals, plays, performances, games . we Western Cape we have been experiencing water restrictions since 2016 so watch the children grow from those first small our focus will not be on saving water, a concept that most of us and our beginnings in the Kindergarten, right through the children are already well versed in. We would rather like to put our energy enormous changes in the Primary classes, then into water in a positive way and try to internalise how spiritually important maturing into the High School, and on into the wide it is. Focussing on water with reverence and respect. world. It is so interesting to hear of past pupils’ achievements, to find out where they are and what This is also a time for us to extend a hand out to those less fortunate than they are doing, or to meet them again at the Fair and ourselves and share our harvest. We have decided to give your generous remember them from years ago - their performances donations of non-perishables to Bhapumelele this year. Bhapumele is an in a Shakespeare play, for example, or what they organisation including a kindergarten, hospice and soup kitchen. These were like in Kindergarten. We are also seeing more donations will be used to make soup which will feed those in need in and more past pupils sending their children to Khayelitsha. Michael Oak, which is such a joy (the proof of the Please would every family donate some form of nourishing non- pudding!). perishables, e.g. tins, preserves, etc. and send these to school with These are community links that resonate in many, your child before the end of term. They will be taken to Khayelitsha to many lives. They stretch all over the world and hold Bhapumelele after the Festival. us in a loose network of understanding and This is an internal festival and will be celebrated by the teachers and the connection – the world-wide-Waldorf-web. children only. Thank you Lesley Swart From the Primary Teachers (past parent and past Enrolment Secretary) The curriculum itself in the first 3 years in a Waldorf school, is a CONCENTRATION therapeutic one - working with thinking, feeling and willing (movement) in a balanced and rhythmic way, which help this DIFFICULTIES: faculty to develop. Each child with an attention problem which does not correct itself, A Waldorf Approach under the teachers guidance during these early years, is looked at individually to determine the factors playing into the problem. A child’s ability to focus and hold attention is a refined faculty and Child discussion in the Primary Faculty provides a forum for in the culmination of a healthy developmental process in the first 7 depth understanding. Eurythmy therapy, Therapeutic Art, and years. In the Kindergarten years, unstructured free play and Occupational therapy are offered in the school to assist the child protection from overloading the child’s sensory system, form a depending on the cause. vital part of this development. Recommendations to holistic practitioners who work with This ability to focus rests on many factors at play in the child’s life: attention problems through nutrition, supplements and lifestyle healthy routine and nutrition, sleep and emotional wellbeing, well choices are also made when necessary. monitored /restricted screen time, family lifestyle and constitutional factors -- allow the faculties of concentration to Rudolf Steiner strongly advised against labeling our children with grow, or hinder them. ‘deficits‘ but rather encouraged teachers to see these difficulties as challenges toward wholeness ie. in working holistically toward It is for this reason that a blanket approach of labeling and solution, the child’s full potential is given space to grow. medicating is not an approach that we use in a Waldorf school. Allopathic medicines treat the symptoms but do not address the Ilana Rudolph From the Primary School Faculty root cause factors of an attention problem. Opinions in this newsletter belong to the contributors, and are not necessarily those of the school. ALL advertisements must be sent to [email protected] Editor Charles Abbott. To receive the email edition of the Leaflet please e-mail to [email protected] 3 found the Philosophical-Theosophical Press (later termed Philosophical- Anthroposophical). Marie’s training in recitation and elocution inspired her to the study of purely artistic speaking. She also gave Marie Von Siever Steiner – introductory poetry recitals at Steiner's lectures, and assisted him in the A Remarkable Woman For Her Time, development of the four Mystery Dramas (1910-1913). With her help, And For All Time Steiner conducted several speech and drama courses with the aim of raising these forms to the level of Michael Oak has recently celebrated Founder’s day, which is an true art. opportunity to bring to light the influential role of Steiner’s second wife, Marie von Siever Steiner.