Dear All

This first half term has flown by with the Michaelmas message of ‘We Will Work’ permeating the school. The festival is in many ways the start of the year in school, and it is one of two festivals when the whole school community is coming together, this time to see the Michaelmas play led by Class IV on the Green. Class I, the lovely gnomes, have been learning about letters, derived from formdrawing and the quality of numbers. The meteors in Class II have learned about St Francis in a literacy block and place value in Maths. Class III, our dragon, has worked through the Hebrew creation and following Old Testament stories and Time in Maths. Class IV, who started the year with Norse Mythology and Maths, have just received their certificates for the fountain pen after practicing their handwriting and learning about the history of writing. Class V started the year in India and moved to Maths and freehand Geometry. Class VI began the year with the founding of Rome followed by the most amazing Physics block making discoveries about Sound, Light and Warmth. We are looking forward to seeing them doing Blacksmithing after the break. Class VII studied History and moved on to Physiology. Class VIII began with Anatomy, followed by a Maths block. This is only half the story, as all the weekly subject lessons continue to create a rich, interwoven, and varied curriculum.

Handwork teacher

I am pleased to share that Ms Garland is taking on the full Handwork provision at St Paul’s after half-term. A huge thank you to the teachers who stepped in to provide cover in Classes II, V, VII and VIII. Thank you to all parents for coming in to volunteer in the sessions.

Recent school events

Class V was grateful for all your contributions to the Harvest food collection which was sent to the North London Foodbank.

It was lovely to see so many students and parents coming to support the school’s Open Evening. It is a pleasure to see the school through the eyes of potential parents and it makes you appreciate what we take for granted.

The last Forum focused on the inclusive SEN provision in the classes and our new SENco and Inclusion lead Mr Henshall introduced himself. Steph Gill shared a display of fiction and non-fiction books with neuro divergent and disabled protagonists and other resources.

The Jumble Sale was a successful event as the school is opening the door to the local community so thank you to the SPCG and all parents and staff who donated and participated. I know that the huge effort to create the wonderful Advent and Winter Fair has already begun.

After half-term break

I hope to see many of you at the Coffee Morning (2^nd  Nov) and the ticketed Pupil concert (3^rd Nov) the first week back.

I cannot stress enough the need for us to continuously talk about how much life has changed for young people and ourselves, with the impact of social media and generally, how much time we spend in front of a screen. Please join us on 2nd November 7pm - 8:30pm when we will have Katy Potts from the Computing and Online Safety service in Islington with us.

In November the younger children will celebrate Martinmas with a Lantern walk. Please note the date for Classes I - II families is 10^th November and Kindergarten Lantern walk is on the 17^th November. Class V will share Diwali 14^th November and the Middle school evening on the 16th November. The specific parent bodies will receive information from their class teachers about what relates to your class.

It is half-term next week.  We hope that all students have a restful break in readiness for the next part of the Autumn term.

It is a difficult time for the families amongst us who are directly or indirectly affected by the situation in Israel and Gaza. From having talked to some of the parents, I hear that children are kept away from hearing too much of the news. It is not about taking sides but wishing for peace for the whole region.

With warm wishes,

Anna Retsler

Class IV made some clay serpents and dragons inspired by their Main Lesson block of Norse Mythology.  Prior to receiving their ink fountain pens, Class IV have explored the history of writing and of ink. They made their own ink from oak galls collected from oak trees, and used their own whittled wooden pens, made in woodwork, to write with.  They have been writing Norse Runes which is a straight alphabet that is easy to write this traditional way.  Apparently, the Magna Carta and Pride and Prejudice were both written with oak gall ink!

We had a beautiful Michaelmas festival.  Class I worked hard in perfecting their gnomes for the play and joined the rest of the Classes on the Green for our Michaelmas play.  Kindergarten buzzed with life with children and parents juicing apples, chopping vegetables for soup, naturally dyeing fabric, making wooden swords and churning butter.  The Classes, also juiced apples and made bread, but worked hard in the Shrubbery and Green, planting bulbs for Spring.  Some also picked litter from the New River Walk.  The Kindergarten shared the juice and cake together whilst the Middle School had a feast in the Nave of dragon bread baked by parents.  After lunch, all the Classes played games together on the Green to round off a days work and festivities to prepare for the Winer ahead.

As part of there A local rabbi and friend of the St. Paul’s, rabbi Roni Tabick visited Class III for the end of the festival of Sukkot. The rabbi told the children about his role as a rabbi and how Sukkot functions as a celebration of harvest, a remembrance of the forty years of wandering in the desert and an important prayer for rain. Rabbi Roni, joked that the children of St. Paul’s are always impressively able to recognise the four plants used in blessing of the Sukkah: etrog (citron), lulav (palm frond), hadassim (myrtle twigs) and aravot (willow twigs) before singing a blessing from the Torah for the class.

Class V looked at sad loss of the Sycamore Tree at Hadrians Wall and were inspired to paint trees.

This week, Class VII have finished off their Physiology main lesson block with group projects on various health conditions. Each group had to research their chosen condition to create a written summary, an awareness poster, and then present their research to the rest of the class. The topics have raised lively discussions around healthy living, and how to treat our bodies and minds with love and respect. 

We have some wonderful new additions to the St Paul's team. 

Lucy Westphal is our new Class I Assistant and also helps with Class I lunch club.

Lucy was born in Forest Row, England, where both her mother and grandmother taught in the Waldorf kindergarten at Michael Hall School.  She grew up out West, went to film school in Montana, and worked in the film industry for a decade before becoming a teacher.  Lucy also trained youth in non-violent direct action as the operations manager of Students For a Free Tibet in New York City. Before coming home to England, Lucy taught at the Honolulu Waldorf School, and the Santa Fe Waldorf School.  

“I chose Waldorf education because I feel that children have a great deal more to teach us than we them!”

My name is Sumayah Guendouze and I now work with Elena as an Early Childhood Practitioner in Rosebush Kindergarten.

I grew up in South London Peckham my whole life and was raised by French and Algerian parents, I have 2 younger brothers and a big ginger cat called Jaanu. I was homeschooled growing up till I was 16 so I am very familiar with all that is knitting, handwork, forest school, seasonal and slow living.  I love being outdoors, collecting leaves and listening to birds sing and having fires, knitting, reading, having a warm cup of tea with good friends, singing and storytelling. I speak 3 languages; French, English and Arabic (and Algerian dialect too!) 

Before coming to St Paul's Steiner school, I was working in an outdoor forest school nursery in Bethnal Green called Rangers Kindergarten for 2 years. I worked with children from ages 1-6 and had a wonderful time there. 

I've recently started the London Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten training, which is very exciting, and I look forward to learning lots over the next two years and seeing what I can bring to the children in the Kindergarten.

I am already learning lots at St Paul's so far, and have really enjoyed telling folk tales, fairy tales, and stories about my childhood to the kindergarten children and meeting all the 'big' class children who walk past the kindergarten sometimes! 

Hello everyone, my name is Marleen [pronounced: Marlayn] and I have recently joined Sarah in Apple Tree Kindergarten.

Before joining the team at St Paul’s, I was a teacher in both Dutch and English mainstream primary schools for many years. I have also briefly been a childminder.

In my downtime, I enjoy crochet, forest walks and board games.

What I enjoy most in my new role with the Kindergarten children, is the many smiles the children put on my face- through observing their imaginative play and listening to their conversations with each other.

Thank you to all who helped with our Open Evening.  It was wonderful to see so many children there, passionately advocating their Class and teachers. 

It made us very proud of our School.

FELTING ADVENTURES

My name is Rita Pearson and I have been a Steiner teacher for over 30 years, starting in Vienna then in the South Devon Steiner School.

In 2018 I have discovered the therapeutic effect of felting and started creating Waldorf inspired items for Christmas Markets in my local area.

If you are interested, please get in contact and either you can buy directly from my website or you can order the items you would like to have.

Contact:

www.feltingadventures2020.com

meszrit67@gmail.com

or Mobile: 07969 475752

Playmats, seasonal decorations, table runners, baskets, bowls, birthday crowns etc.