"The Merchant of Venice" Last years production

Upper school students once again performed in an outstanding Shakespeare production as part of the annual Shakespeare Schools Festival. Elmfield School together with three other schools in the area performed abridged Shakespeare plays at the Artrix in Bromsgrove. The standard of the performances of all four schools were high. Elmfield School received the following feedback from the Shakespeare Schools Festival Coordinator:

“…I was impressed with the standard of your production… one of the most professional I have seen…the acting from your entire company was unusually high, with your actors finding the subtle nuances within their characters… the soundscape provided by your musicians was another amazing element to your piece.”

Class 6 Raised £162 for OXFAM

Class 6 have been learning all about money as part of their Business Maths Main Lesson: borrowing & lending, giving & receiving, profit & loss and what money really is. As part of this, they collected old Ordnance Survey maps and recycled them into beautiful woven baskets which they then sold to raise money for OXFAM. Every child made a basket and every child sold their basket and they raised a wonderful total of £162! After an amazing discussion about how the money could best be used, they decided to spend the money on OXFAM Unwrapped gifts – clean water for 50 people, a bog to allow people hygienic toilet facilities, 2 goats, 2 family shares in a farmyard and emergency food for a family in a refugee camp. The class really got to grips with how money can be used as a force for good in our world.

The Three Kings Festival

Over the desert

led by a star.

Travelled three holy kings

from afar……….

Children wearing red, blue and green crowns came in procession. The kindergarten transformed, and a feast “fit for a king” prepared. Standing tall with kingly presence each child entered the mood of the regal feast.

Each king was served with sweet festive bread crowns and fruits of a majestic hue.

Singing songs of gifts, stars and far-away lands, the children experiences a truly magical kindergarten morning.

An opportunity to experience part of the Steiner Waldorf Education for yourselves and enter into discussion.

9.30 – 10.00 am coffee and cookies made by pupils

10.00 – 10.45 am – PTFA (Parents, Teachers and Friends Association) Chair welcome followed by talk with Paul Georghiades “Child Development and the Steiner Waldorf Curriculum”.

10.45 am onwards- Refreshments

10.55 – 11.05 am Instruments and Singing

11.10 – 12.10pm– Classes (see below for details)

12.15 – 1.00 pm A discussion on ‘How school and home can work in harmony’ – all welcome.

Classes

The following classes are open to prospective and current parents to experience a class in action and gain a greater insight/understanding into how they work. Prospective children and young adults ( aged 12+) are warmly invited to attend the classes with their parents (please indicate their age on your booking form).   There will be a crèche from aged 3 years + which would need to be booked in advance. For more information about the classes and how to book, please complete the Booking Form and either email to info@elmfield.com or post to Elmfield School, Love Lane, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY8 3UH. Places are limited to no more than 20 per class.

We respectfully remind you that the classes are for adults to experience (and 12 + pupils) and therefore not appropriate for younger children to attend.

• Metalwork for classes 7 to 11 (12 to 17 year olds) with Jason Pond
• Form Drawing for classes 1 to 5 (6 to 11 year olds) with Anne Gulbis
• Art Lesson for Class 9  (14 to 15 year olds) with Trevor Bowen
• Main Lesson for Class 1 (6/7 years old) with Gavin Ferris
• Maths Lesson for Class 2 (7/8 years old) with Tim Gray
• Physics Lesson for Class 7 or 8 (13/14 year olds) with Martin Dathan
• Early Years (for 2½ to 6 years old) with Fabienne Charles, Jackie Irving & Lorraine Bresnahan
• Eurythmy with Tomie Ando-Boardman

Talk with Christopher Clouder on 12 March 19:30 – 21:00 at the Wollaston Room, Town Hall, Stourbridge

Everyone is warmly invited. The talk will include the following questions. What do children need from their schools? How do schools develop to meet those needs? How has technology and communication changed children today? Is too much pressure put on children? How can Steiner Schools be part of the solution? There will be an opportunity for discussion after the talk.

house

The children have been learning about house construction through the ages, starting with early timber designs through to brick making and more recent construction methods.

They have thoroughly enjoyed the practical aspects like model-making!

Class 6 Geometry

You are warmly invited to the Goethean Science Workshop. This is an opportunity to gain an insight into this approach to science.

Event:    Goethean Science Workshop
Date:        Saturday 14th January (9.30 am to 1pm)
Venue:    Goethean Science Building, Elmfield School
Contact: 01384 394633 or Judyth Sassoon (js7892@bristol.ac.uk)

Anyone interested, please register interest by calling or emailing. Booking is not essential but an idea of numbers would be useful.

This workshop will demonstrate as clearly as possible how Goethean Science differs from mainstream science. The workshop is open to anyone (teachers, parents, members of the community) and no prior knowledge is assumed.

Goethean Science: What is it?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the 17th Century poet-naturalist, stood as a key point in the growth of Western thought. His scientific publications include detailed accounts of ideas, observations and deeply personal experiences of nature.

They are intensely autobiographical and totally in keeping with Goethe’s approach to science, as a reciprocal, participatory activity between observer and the observed. Goethe studied nature with scientific exactitude, combined with highly evolved artistic sensitivities. He strove towards developing a new method of perception, through which he could discover the underlying unity in nature.

In his time Goethe presented a comprehensive theory of metamorphosis and evolution, based on a mutable, “protean” concept. For Goethe the leaf represented the protean potential within the world of plants, and the vertebra that for animals.

However, many scientists misinterpreted the meaning of Goethe’s “protean archetypes”, regarding them either as physical manifestations or as Platonic ideals. This led to their rejection once Darwin’s magnificent theory of evolution had entered the mainstream. However, these “protean archetypes” should not be interpreted as either concrete physical entities from which the phenomena emerge, nor as detached spiritual “ideals” standing behind the phenomena.

Instead, they can be discovered within the actual phenomena of nature by a correctly tuned human consciousness. The starting point is to recognise what it is that one is looking for. With a certain amount of training, it is possible to recognise that Goethe was working with the productive forces behind nature.