a remembered song for Michaelmas

Every year, when I see signs of Autumn around me, I start humming this song that we used to sing at Michaelmas and I thought I’d share it with you.  

In Autumn Saint Micheal with sword and with shield

He passes over meadow and orchard and field

He’s on the path to battle ‘gainst darkness and strife

He is the heavenly warrior, protector of life.

…………………………………….

We are Saint Michael’s warriors with strong heart and mind,

We forge our way through darkness Saint Michaels to find

And there he stands in glory, Saint Michael we pray,

Lead us on to battle and show us the way.

Tania

Engagement Play: A Child’s Learning

EDUCATIONAL TALKS

We are hoping to have many more educational talks this year for parents and guests, starting off with a fantastic talk from indpendent education consultant Craig Taylor.

 

Engagement Play: A Child’s Work looks at animating your child’s connection to learning. Five simple steps to help your child from this pioneering educator with over 25 years’ experience. Craig has worked in Steiner, independent and mainstream schools and currently runs the Heads Up programme in addition to his work as an education advisor. The talk will run from 5-6pm on Friday, September 26th, after the Open Day. This event will be open to the public so book with reception now to ensure your free place.

We might also ask Craig to be a guest blogger on this site and share some of his experience and wisdom with us.

Meet the Bloggers!

Well I shall have to put the half a brain cell I reserve for technical know how to good use…  We have some new bloggers on this site but they’re all coming up as me (Sarah) for the time being, so until we get that sorted we’ll try and sign our posts at the end.  In the meantime please enjoy posts from Tania Fullerton and Jo Renshaw.  We’re all new to blogging so bear with us and keep visiting to see how we mature in this space.  Or better yet, set up RSS for this blog!  And do let us know if you like the idea of a Brighton Steiner School blog.  What subjects would you like to see covered?  We’ll do our best.

More soon…. Sarah

Tania’s first post

As a mother of a nearly four year old daughter in Playgroup I am often having conversations with other parents (both within Steiner and without), about what it is that we are hoping for in our childrens’ education.  I recently found this quote by Rudolf Steiner which explains really well what I believe to be a fundamentally different core perspective between Waldorf and mainstream education systems:

 

“We shouldn’t ask: what does a person need to know or be able to do in order to fit into the existing social order?  Rather we should ask: what capabilities are latent in each individual and what can be developed?  Only then can each emergent generation invigorate society with its new forces. Society will then become what young people, as whole human beings, make out of the exisiting social conditions.  The new generation should not just be made to become what present society wants it to become.”

 

and I was also recently emailed this hilarious poem from a Steiner School in Cape Town which has been doing the email rounds – recognise yourselves??- enjoy!

 

Waldorf Mums

 

Waldorf mums wear cotton socks

Woolen sweaters, Birkenstocks.

Waldorf mums have long full skirts,

Big silk scarves and layered shirts.

Waldorf mums have fluffy hair,

They’re kind and firm and make you share.

Waldorf mums drive Volvo cars

And talk of fairies, gnomes, and stars.

Waldorf mums love Waldorf meetings

Where they greet with Waldorf greetings.

Waldorf mums make Waldorf dolls

From purest wool and cotton balls.

Waldorf mums drink lots of tea

Which has been grown organically.

Waldorf mums serve fruits and meats.

Veggies, grains, and not much sweets.

Their favorite word is “nourishing.”

They love to hike and knit and sing.

They leave the gluten out of bread

And make you spend twelve hours in bed.

And if you fall and scrape your knee

They give you rescue remedy!

 

Tania

 

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? I wonder?

My daughter is coming up twelve and quite the young lady. Steiner educated since the age of three she’s no stranger to this alternative way of educating. Whilst toys and dolls are rapidly being replaced with makeup and snazzy shoes she is still thrilled by the wonder of nature, albeit quietly and without letting me think that it’s in anyway cool!

We visited my sister and her two children in Norfolk over the summer. She lives in a busy village and has a large garden that is home to a small flock of chickens and ducks, living happily alongside an abundant vegetable crop. My niece and nephew, six and four respectively attend the local school and will be meeting various testings and learning goals throughout their school career. Little nephew started school just a month ago, and is enjoying it well enough. The pressures of testing young children will be well balnced out in this little boys life as he begins and ends at home with the chickens. He and his sister pull on their wellies, run down the garden and collect eggs. My fast becoming-trendy-young-lady was racing them to get there first! The wonder of a newly laid warm egg sent her running back to the house to show me. She’s learned to write and read (in that order) and calculate and spell along with all the other kids in the country. At school she’s had hands on experience with hens and growing vegetables. They’ve not been brought to her in a theoretical manner, but in a way that has engaged all her developing senses. She, and my niece and nephew, have been introduced to the miracle of the connectedness of all things through this experiential approach to learning. None of them have been taught the processes that happen to create the egg, or the chicken for that matter. They’ve been allowed to discover the wonder for themselves, simply by having it put in their way. Through having these direct experiences they are being allowed to think for themselves and find their own conclusive magic about where the egg came from, but not without having lots of questions about it! But which child needs the direct answers to these questions? My experience as a mother and Steiner Class Teacher has taught me that very often for young children it’s the direct answers that take the magic away for the children. The simple response “I wonder?” will leave and lead young children to wonder. The questioning response is also a statement from the adult. If the adult can wonder, so too can the child.

We can’t all have chickens in our back garden but we can easily give children experiences of wonder and joy through the simplicity of being in and observing nature. An invigorating, or not, Sunday Sussex walk, a bonfire, digging potatoes, watching spring shoots come up through the hard earth, red autumnal sunsets. In short, anything that would make you say “Ah, that’s wonder-full!”

Welcoming a new direction

This site has been re-invigorated as the blog of Brighton Steiner School and now welcomes some new authors: Julie Neale (Class 5 teacher and parent), Jo Renshaw (Class 3 teacher and parent) and Tania Fullerton (parent and former pupil) join Sarah James (parent and spokesperson).  So now we have 2 teachers and 2 parents sharing their ideas and we hope this will generate more debate and build an online community.  We are looking to hear from other parents and teachers at Brighton Steiner School and from the wider education community so please let us know your views on our posts.  This blog is intended as a shared space for all those concerned about the whole-hearted education of children to achieve their highest human potential.

Brighton Steiner School Open Day March 14th

The Brighton Steiner School are holding a truly experiential Open Day on March 14th.  Lots of people labour under misconceptions about Steiner Education so here’s a chance to go and find out for yourself.  Parents can get hands-on and take part in lessons themselves, alongside their kids if they’re coming along.  There are different programmes running for Early Years, Main School and Upper School and a whole host of activities, performances and talks to go to.  Staff, parents and kids are on hand to answer any burning questions and there’s a student-run cafe for non-stop refreshment.  Drop in to whichever sessions you fancy on the Brighton Steiner School Open Day Programme.  Programme runs from 2-5pm then repeats 5-8pm so choose a slot that suits your family.  More info on Flyer 

Campaign against compulsory learning goals

There are a number of websites worth visiting on the campaign for exemption from the Government’s proposed learning and development goals.   http://www.savesteinerschools.org/ has up to the minute information in relation to Steiner schools, the main thrust of the OpenEYE campaign is here http://openeyecampaign.wordpress.com/about/ and the petition to the Government to reconsider is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/OpenEYE/.  Please do go on and sign if you are in sympathy with the campaign.  I’m also uploading a word file with an outline of what’s going on.  OpenEYE campaign background info  Thanks to all of those who have sent info in my direction to pass on.

Government should learn from Steiner and home schoolers

This according to a recent article in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/08/schools.education which says that an increase in testing and pressure to start kids in school as early as four years old are driving families away from mainstream education.  A little while ago I was in the audience for a Teachers TV programme The Big Question that discussed the Cambridge review of schooling, cited in this article.  The panel and audience represented all aspects of education: teachers, Government spokespersons, parents, authors, ‘alternatives’, mainstream… yet there was a broad swathe of agreement of the need to ease the pressure, particularly on the youngest children in schools.  A teachers’ union representative also made the interesting point that aggressive testing strategies have had a negative effect of teaching staff as well as pupils, with an increase in stress related absence and job dissatisfaction.  And yet, regardless of what the Cambridge review might feed back, the Government now looks set to impose rigid Learning and Development goals on kids from birth to five that could have a devastating effect on all forms of alternative education.  More information on this and the petition to stop it in next post…

Welcome to Steiner Dialogue

I’d like to start an open conversation with parents and teachers to discuss all aspects of Steiner education.  I’m a Steiner parent myself, and one of my clients in my Communications Consultancy is a Steiner school, so I guess you could say I’m ‘pro-Steiner’ but as well as talking to people within Steiner education, I would like to engage in a wider educational debate with other ‘alternatives’ in education as well as mainstream educators.  As a group of people with a keen interest in education, what passions and concerns do we share?