Ready for Handwork

Over the summer Brett and many wonderful volunteers donated their time jazz up the lower school handwork room. The back wall was knocked down and the back storage space converted into more learning space. The wiring has been redone, new and improved heating installed and a beautiful window put in to lighten up the room. I am so grateful to everyone who have given up their time to make the handwork room what it is now; spacious, airy and light. Handwork lessons and Monday Parent Craft began last week and all have started new projects with gusto.
I hope the year has started off as well for everyone else in the community.

From the happy handwork teacher,
Amanda.

2012 Toy, Food and Craft Festival - Nice Work!

Care, artistry and community - the sign of things to come for visitors to this years Toy, Food and Craft Festival at Raphael House.


Click on any image to enlarge.

Sean, Rosie and Acacia have their audience transfixed with the quality of their musical expertise and sensitivity,







Music, delicious food and drinks, plays, fun activities and craft stalls are the hallmark of the Festival each year.

The display of student work included handcrafted wood, clay, stone and jewellery, as well as workbooks and posters from all age groups. A wooden canoe was one of the handcrafted objects.






Learning the alphabet artistically is one of the classic elements of the Waldorf (Steiner) curriculum for a Class 1, year 2 child.

Colourful stories enrich the creative imagination of children in Class 3.

High School art lessons explore the many directions taken in the History of Art

 Who is this? I forgot to ask. Clay modelling allows three dimensional expression to come to life.

These posters are the work of Class 8, Year 9 students.

First Drawings with Pencils

Drawing with coloured pencils begins in classes 3 
and 4. 

In Class Four particularly the children are asked to pay careful attention to form, to look at the proportions of the human figure, to look at how our arms, legs, trunk and head are formed. They are encouraged to ‘grow’ the picture, finding the forms first and adding colour and details as they refine it further.

They have practiced using their pencils to create different lines, planes and gradations of colour, from pale shading to strong lines and forms. 

Topics from our Main Lesson stories, the Norse Myths, Local History lessons, festivals and much more has given us many different subjects to draw throughout the year as you can see from this small selection. 

Enjoy!

Purdy Earl

Celebrating the Spring

Kite Flying, beach cleaning, music, maypole dancing and tree planting were part of this year's Spring Festival at Raphael House. This is one of the traditional celebrations at our school that bring together our community, the seasons and a sense of connection with the environment. The planting of 33 trees also marked the 33rd anniversary of the school.

This link will take you to the article about the festival published in the Hutt News

Mid Winter Darkness and Light

Here are some images of last months 2012 Mid Winter Festival at Raphael House.  As you can see, the whole school is involved and the atmosphere makes for a powerful impression of light radiating in the darkest time of the year.







The Class 12 students are the flame bearers who ignite the mid-winter bonfire.






















The fire sends sparks up into a starry night sky.

Playing with fire: skill and care with fire poi spinning creates a spectacular display.

Look here to read our recent post about the lantern making tradition that is a big part of the preparation for the festival each year.

Our Obsession with Celebrities

Jim Mora of Radio New Zealand's Afternoons programme interviewed Helen Wright today on the the effect of gender stereotyping on our children.


Dr Helen Wright - head of a private girls' school in the UK, believes our celebrity obsessed culture is ruining us and that the fuss over Kim Kardashian represents "almost everything that is wrong with Western society". Her remarks have hit a global nerve.


Click the play button below to hear the interview (22 mins):

Mid Winter Lanterns

Recently the school celebrated the Mid Winter festival with a roaring bonfire and soup and stories in the classrooms.

 As part of the build up to the festival all the children in Classes 1-8 created lanterns to light their way on the night. This is a tradition dating back many years at the school, and each year the younger classes eagerly admire the older children’s lanterns, looking forward to creating them in years to come.

Class Four created 4-sided cardboard lanterns and, for the first time, cut out designs which they backed with tissue paper. They needed to use their rulers accurately to create their lantern and designs; they needed to use a craft knife skillfully to cut their designs cleanly. Cutting out tissue to fit behind the windows posed another challenge, as did constructing them once the design was complete.

The class put in several lessons practicing their skills and creating different designs before approaching the ‘real thing’. As you can see the results are beautiful. They worked with care and focus, helping one another until all lanterns were complete.

Well done Class 4 and all the other classes for creating such beautiful lanterns to warm us and light our way on the longest night of the year!

Purdy Biddle- Class 4 teacher