When community works like it should! The mallets in our woodwork room have been a bit tired and worn, like the one in the photo below. They were made many years ago from Tallowood and most were nearing the end of their life. So John Boxtel, our woodwork teacher, approached The Bellingen Men’s Shed to see if they could help us out by turning some new ones. It was perfect timing because Paul Holding (who is also the principal of Bellingen High School) was looking for projects for his woodturning demonstrations at The Bello Show! John supplied the timber which came…

There are a few more cases of whooping cough amongst children at our school. Whooping cough in older children can be a prolonged coughing illness which is typically worse at night. Both vaccinated and non -vaccinated children are being infected. Whooping cough caught at school or childcare can be brought into the home where it spreads to other family members. Coughing spreads the infection to others nearby.    Whooping cough caught at school can spread to any younger brothers and sisters at home. The biggest risk is to any baby at home.  Whooping cough can be especially dangerous for babies. In…

Sometimes a photo says it all.  While they were in Bellingen as part of their Building Main lesson Class 3  managed to find time to drop into Bellorana to share some of their music with the residents. Thanks so much to Jay for sharing her photos

With a smart phone in your hand, you are in possession of a technological tool with 1,300 times more computing power than the guidance computer that took the Apollo space mission to the moon and back. In this talk Bruce will lead a discussion about the new visitor in the family: Technology. How do we incorporate and understand the role that technology should play in family life. This is a debate in which there are no experts. The pace of change is simply too fast. But we can look to the wisdom tools we already possess, such as the 3…

May 8th 2015. There has been a recent confirmed case of whooping cough (pertussis) in a member of the Chrysalis School community.Whooping cough caught at school can spread to any other members at home. Coughing spreads the infection to others nearby. Whooping cough can be especially dangerous for babies.Whooping cough starts like a cold and progresses to bouts of coughing that can last for many weeks. Older children may just have a cough that is persistent and is worse at night. The infection may also occur in fully-vaccinated children.What should people sick with pertussis do?Pertussis is readily spread from an…

Report from the Tashi Waldorf School Nepal. If you can contribute, please contact Chrysalis Steiner School on 02 6655 8616. Donations will be channeled to Nepal through Steiner Education Australia.Following the concerns shown by all of you about the devastating earthquake that took place in middle parts of Nepal, this brief report has been prepared to get you acquainted with current situation in Nepal and to thank you all for all the concerns that you have about us and also for the prayers you did for our safety and well being.Before writing anything about the deadly earthquake, first let us…

All violin and cello students in classes 5-7 will have the opportunity to participate in our unique Chrysalis music camp called ‘Fiddlers in the Forest’. The class will take place at Mt Hyland on 3rd and 4th June and will be accompanied by the string team – Liz, Kym, Janelle, Victoria and Cathy Bower.The Fiddlers in the Forest Camp is a multifaceted music and wilderness experience. The two days are packed with rehearsals, exploration  and composing music in response to this World Heritage Old Growth Forest. The camp culminates in a recital in the heart of the forest. We traipse…

Class 7 left on their big adventure this week to Lady Musgrave Island. They will be away for 12 days in all, 7 of which will be spent on this little drop of coral in the big ocean. The Island Camp is one of the jewels in the crown of the Chrysalis Camp program. That such a complex, lengthy and rich camp experience is even possible is mainly due to the fact that the Chrysalis camp program has developed capacity and experience in the class every year since that first camp at Bundagen in Year 1. (See the picture below)…

In 2015 the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is available for students in Years 3,5,7 and 9 in all government and non-government schools on the 12th, 13th and 14th May. This program, which has the support of all State and Territory Education Ministers, will assess the literacy and numeracy learning of students in all Australian schools. The SEA (Steiner Education Australia) and its member schools have agreed that “in principle all Steiner schools are opposed to mandatory testing” because both the nature and the content of the test does not fit in with the Steiner educational approach and philosophy.…