Tel: +27(0)21 881 3867 - Fax +27(0)86 514 3427 stellenbosch@waldorfschool.org.za www.waldorfschool.org.za

2 2 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9

News from our Alumni… AKIRA COETZEE

Akira was one of our top students (one of many of the Matrics of 2017). She achieved 6 A’s and missed her seventh A by 1%. She has subsequently moved on and is currently studying at Stellenbosch University towards a BA (Languages and Culture). She was a superb student and a Waldorf student all of her life.

She entered Stellenbosch University in 2018. I was privileged enough to have her in my class from Class 9 and to see her per-forming in Stellenbosch’s “Vensters” – a performance that all first-year students have to do at SU. She has since completed her first year at SU and has achieved amazing results in her first year:

We, as a SWS community, are so proud of the outstanding achievements of Akira Coetzee. To be one of an elite group of only thirty-two first year students to receive this award is truly something special.

On congratulating this exceptional student on her achievement, this is how she responded:

“Thank you Ronél. I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without your previous guidance.”

This is a credit to ALL her Waldorf teachers, Violetka Diemer, when she was in Primary School and all her teachers in High School. We are so proud of this exceptional student and all the other students who are fulfilling their dreams.

Akira, we are all so proud of you! You are such a great example of what the Waldorf Curriculum stands for. Go out there and remember, for you, the sky is not the limit: Go out there and pluck those stars in the galaxy, they are waiting for you!

Ronél Swanepoel

HS Faculty and Matric Coordinator

Stellenbosch Waldorf School is proud to introduce our 2019 Matrics to the community. This year we have a class of 9 students and we will be introducing 3 students today…

Dominique-Simone Day

I find it funny how during our day-to-day conversations one always has so much to say about oneself but when asked to tell your whole life story through a small biography for strangers to read, you find yourself speechless.

My Waldorf journey began only seven years ago and boy has it been full of surprises. Before I found my home away from home, I was in two government schools and to say I did not fit in would be an understate-ment. Don’t get me wrong, I was incredibly lucky that I was able to attend these schools as they showed me parts of myself I never knew and taught me how to be tough. But there was always something miss-ing, something that didn’t feel right. It was during this time I was in a car accident and damaged my foot so severely that I was in hospital for a month and used crutches for an entire year. It sounds horrible and it was. However, if it weren’t for that I don’t think my mother would have found Waldorf which means I would not have found Waldorf.

When I first arrived here I felt out of place (as usual) and expected to be bullied like I was everywhere else. I thought to myself, “It’s only a matter of time”. Because of my accident I missed a year of school and that meant that I was a year older than my fellow classmates which also felt strange at first. I started in Gr7 with Mrs Berning as my guardian and boy was it tough getting into the swing of things. Everything was done so differently. Main lessons? Circle time? These were all foreign concepts to me and made me think the school was crazy at first. I remember crying the morning I came because I don’t like change and asked my mom if it was really necessary that I come here. She, as always, wiped away the tears and said: “My baby, you are Polish. There is nothing you cannot do.”

It took about three weeks before I was properly settled in and felt like I had been here my whole life. I was excited to come to school every day and woke up every morning with a smile on my face. But if I am being completely honest, it wasn’t until high school when I properly came out of my shell and started being the real me. It felt great. Waldorf, although I have complained on many occasions, has helped me find and piece together parts of me I never thought I had. I became confident and bubbly and showed my true colours. Fast forward a few years to Gr11 and Parzival and my mind was blown! That was honestly one of the greatest experiences I have had and brought me closer to so many of my classmates.

Now it was time for the class 12 challenges and we started with Eurythmy, moved on to the Class 12 play and it ended with the Class 12 Project Presentation and all I can say is WOW! Each of those challenges brought out the best and the worst in us but they were incredible. I can’t describe the heart- warming feeling you get watching all your hard work pay off. It was difficult, but oh, so worth it.

My Waldorf journey didn’t end as great as it started. In my personal life I lost a very big part of myself and my life when my father passed away unexpectedly and I did not want to carry on with school as it seemed so trivial to me at the time. Luckily I had my rock. My mother. She picked me up, put me back on my feet and saw to it that I finished what I started.

It is safe to say that Matric is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication and it is important but it is also important to remember that it does not define who you are. To anyone reading this who hasn’t done Matric yet and even those who have: there are times when you will be so tired that you can barely keep your eyes open and times when you are bursting with crazy amounts of spirit. It’s a rollercoaster ride, much like life. Whatever you do, try to make the most of it. I will be attending college next year to study media which will hopefully lead me into radio presenting. This has been my dream for quite some time and I am excited for the journey.

I don’t quite know if this interests anyone but that’s basically me in a nutshell. My main goal is to make my mother proud, walk away feeling accomplished of the person I am and have my father smile down on me.

Bridgette Berning

I started at my first Waldorf school when I was four years old.

I think the first part of my schooling career was by far my favorite. I started at Roseway Waldorf school in Kinder-garten. We lived down the hill from the school and every morning my sister, my mother and I started our day by walk-ing up the hill with our dogs. School mornings like that have yet to be beat-en! I have many fond memories of play-ing in their beautiful Kindergarten gar-dens with my best friend or going for walks, singing songs and doing paintings. I remember my first teacher there, Mrs. Saville, and I remem-ber the excitement of moving into Class 1. In Class 1 we were finally part of ‘the big kids’ St. Johns festi-val and I remember walking with our lanterns, the enormous bonfire and finally after the fire had died down, I remember us all taking turns to jump over the coals. These are some of the memories that made up my childhood.

Leaving Rose Way was a big change for me as we moved into a small government Afrikaans school called Uitkyk in a town called Greyton, far away from what I had known before. After eighteen months my sister and I started home schooling, this comes in as a close second in terms of my favorite parts of my schooling career. We moved to Stellenbosch Waldorf School when I started Class 5 where I was taught by my mother, Mrs Berning, for three years, which was another interesting chapter!

The last few years have flown by, a blur of Shakespeare, Parzival, Orange River Camp, Eurythmy perfor-mance, Class 12 plays and projects. One can only hope that this year flies by with the same disregard for time.

I am excited for this chapter of my life to be over and hopefully ready for the challenges that come with change. I will always be grateful to the Waldorf curriculum for the part it has played in my life and the lessons it has taught me.

Tasche Adams

My Waldorf journey started back in 2003 when I was only a little bit shorter than I am now. Apparently it was by chance that I made it here. My parents never wanted me to go to a mainstream school though, and when my god-parents, Jerome and Terry-Lyn told them about Stellenbosch Waldorf, they decided to give it a try. It was also convenient because they owned a restaurant in Technopark, so everything seemed like it was meant to be.

Many form drawings and bonfires later, it was 2010 and we decided that maybe it was time for a change and off I went to a mainstream school where I was introduced to uniforms and athletics. At first, I must say, I was quite excit-ed but a week later, I made my comeback to Waldorf because “normal” just wasn't for me. I was also not used to having around thirty classmates because here I only had seven. I now had my third pri-mary school teacher, Mrs. Forster, who took over from teacher Candice who left to marry a guy in the Karoo.

2014 arrived and high school started. No more form drawings or playing recorder but work, work, work. A new chapter, new friends and new teachers. A few highlights in my high school career was the Shakespeare play, where I discovered my passion for acting. Parzival, where the class’s relation-ship grew and where a viscous snake almost killed me. This may or may not be an exaggeration. And lastly, the projects. Even though stressful, I still managed to accomplish what I set out to do and in the end it was an extremely rewarding experience.

Now it’s Matric, and for anyone younger than me who is reading this, Matric is just No main lessons, more homework, little to no social life and marks that ACTUALLY count. It was a very intense transi-tion, going from Eurythmy to writing SBAs, but the experience so far has really kept me on my toes with many sacrifices having to be made. Many of my friends my age are already either in first year, or working and thinking about it sometimes makes me angry. Most mornings I wake up, sit on my bed for half an hour and ask God why he’s doing this to me. But, I guess in January 2020 I’ll look back and think about all these times and the picture will be clearer.

Please “like” our Stellenbosch Waldorf School Facebook page and share our events with your friends and family.

PS and KG Outreach Programme

Macassar Library and Aftercare Centre

Class contribution schedule Term 1

Tuesday, 26th February: Class 3

Tuesday, 05th March: Class 2

Tuesday, 12th March: Class 1

Tuesday, 19th March: KG1, II & PG

Contributions of bread, peanut butter, jam and fruit are all welcome. Collections will be made at the end of each Tuesday and taken to Macassar Library. We are providing lunches for approximately 80 children at present.

Thank you for your support.

Primary School and Kindergarten Teachers

Flowers in the foyer

Monday 25 February—Kerschbaumer Family

Monday 4 March—Kets Family

Monday 11 March—Jiyaad Khan Family

Monday 18 March—Yaqeen Khan Family

Thank you for all the beautiful flowers we receive each week!

Attention: Principal, Staff & learners

Whom it may concern

Herewith Macassar Library Staff want to extend a heartfelt thanks to the teachers and learners of your school for their generous donations of bread, spread and fruit.

The children really enjoys the sandwiches and fruit which we give to them every Thursday afternoon – they look forward to

this. There is a noticeable change in learners who visit the library on a Thursday afternoon because of the hand out of these sandwiches.

Thank you for making a difference in the lives of these children. (Macassar is a Community with a high unemployment rate and many households struggle to keep “head above water”).

Attached find picture of hand out of sandwiches.

Regards

Adelaide Muller Assistant Librarian: Library and Information Services

Community Services and Health Directorate

City of Cape Town Library Building, 10 Bind Avenue, Macassar

Tel: 021 444 6786 | Fax: 021 4446789 | Email: Ade-laide.Muller@capetown.gov.za | Web: www.capetown.gov.za

Dear Waldorf Community,

From next week 25th February – 1st March there will be 2 extra activities added to the After-

School Activities Club: African Storytelling on Friday afternoons and English Enrichment on Tues-

day afternoons.

Please see below for more information about these activities which will run EVERY WEEK until the

end of term. Contact Mimi Buijze for bookings and/or further information.

A white board will go up outside the Lucky Bean shop for learners, parents and others to check

and be reminded of what is on offer.

Please support this initiative!

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

English Enrichment program: I am in the possession of a Reading Laboratory which allows the

learners to work individually (with supervision) on comprehension, word understanding, spelling

and more. It is an imaginative, well designed program which learners thoroughly enjoy. With this

valuable resource there is no end to the support that the children will willingly receive. This activi-

ty will be offered free of charge to give all learners the opportunity to participate. It has been

communicated with the Primary School teachers and High School teachers who will be suggesting

which learners can benefit from this exciting tool to expand their understanding of English.

African Storytelling: This activity will be the telling of African based tales/stories. These stories will

be told over a 2-week period, poetry and basic instruments will be incorporated through the sto-

ry. This activity will take place twice on a Friday to give the younger learners, who rest in the early

afternoons, also the opportunity to enjoy the story in the second session. This will also be a com-

plimentary activity to again give all learners the opportunity to participate and enjoy.

13.00 - 13.30 - 14.00

TO BE ANNOUNCED

ENGLISH ENRICHMENT

TO BE ANNOUNCED

CHESS BACKGAMMON CLUB

AFRICAN STORY - TELLING

14.00- 14.30- 15.00

TO BE ANNOUNCED

ENGLISH ENRICHMENT

TO BE ANNOUNCED

CHESS BACKGAMMON CLUB

15.00 – 16.00

TO BE ANNOUNCED

TO BE ANNOUNCED

AFRICAN STRORY-TELLING

16.00 – 17.00

TO BE ANNOUNCED

ENGLISH ENRICHMENT

TO BE ANNOUNCED

Dear Parents,

An audiometrist will be visiting our school on 12th March in order to carry out hear-ing screening tests.

It is especially important to conduct these tests at an early age to detect possible hearing loss.

If you are interested in having your child tested, please collect/request a form from the office and return the completed form together with R65 for the test.

Kind Regards

SWS Admin

Our foyer display features the beautiful paintings and books that the Class 5

children did in their Botany Main Lesson. Feel free to come and have a look.

Events & Workshops

DATES TO DIARISE FEB-APR 2019 - (THESE DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

DAY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL

Sat

Sun

Mon 1

Tue 2

Wed 3

Thu 4

Fri 1 1 5

Sat 2 2 Class 6 Parent Meeting 09h00-11h00 Class 3 Parent Meeting Class 5 Parent Meeting Our Future Process-Coming to Strategy from 14h00 till evening

6

Sun 3 Svetlana’s Farewell Concert 11h30 3 Our Future Process - Coming to Strategy. Morning till 12h00

7

Mon 4 4 8

Tue 5 5 Diversity Workshop for HS students 08h00-15h00 9 SWS start of Term 2—school closes at 12h30

Wed 6 6 10

Thu 7 Class 2 Parent Meeting 7 11

Fri 8 School closes at 12h30 (staff workshop) 8 HS Open Day for Cl.7 children 12

Sat 9 Class 4 Parent Meeting and Social 9 HS OPEN DAY for Cl.7 parents KG/PG Parent Meeting

13 High School Parent Meeting KG & PG OPEN DAY

Sun 10 10 14

Mon 11 11 15

Tue 12 12 IJR Open Dialogue Evening for Parents 18h00-21h00 Hearing Screening Tests

16

Wed 13 13 17

Thu 14 BOT Meeting 18h00 14 BOT Meeting 18h00 18 BOT Meeting 18h00

Fri 15 15 19 Good Friday—Public Holiday

Sat 16 Links Meeting 08h30-12h30 Sun Light Music Studio Parent Meeting 10h00-12h00

16 Primary School OPEN DAY 20

Sun 17 17 21 Easter Sunday

Mon 18 18 22 Family Day—Public Holiday

Tue 19 19 Eurythmy Performance in The Shed 23

Wed 20 20 KG Easter Festival SWS end Term 1 School closes 11h00

24

Thu 21 21 Holidays 25

Fri 22 Class 6 Greek Olympics 22 Holidays 26

Sat 23 Class 6 Greek Olympics 23 Holidays National Teachers Conference 23-27 March 27 Freedom Day—Public Holiday

Sun 24 24 Holidays 28

Mon 25 25 Holidays 29

Tue 26 Class 11 Play 26 Holidays 30 Class 7 Parent Evening

Wed 27 Founder’s Day 27 Holidays

Thu 28 Founder’s Day Celebrations 28 Holidays

Fri 29 Holidays

Sat 30 Holidays

Sun 31 Holidays SWS 2019 TERM DATES

Term1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4

15 Jan—20 Mar 9 Apr—21 Jun 16 Jul—20 Sep 8 Oct—4 Dec

Classifieds

Vacancies

Gardener Required…

on Tuesdays OR Thursdays between 8AM and 12PM (or 4PM full day). The ideal candidate enjoys working with plants (specifically herbs, veggies, indigenous and waterwise), has experience and references as a gardener, likes dogs and can access transport to and from Lynedoch. Please contact Janene on 072 593 1296 (WhatsApp/call).

For Sale...

Pine Desk ideal for child’s homework space. Has 4 drawers. Come to Class 5 classroom to view. R400. Contact person: Lindy Laros.

Lift Required...

2 Children in need of transportation from Kuilsriver to Stellenbosch Waldorf school in the mornings and back from Stellen-bosch Waldorf school to Kuilsriver in the afternoon. Please contact Terri on 073 218 2446 or WhatsApp 061 455 5985.

Stellenbosch Waldorf School invites applications for the position of

GROUNDSMAN - GARDENS and MAINTENANCE

This position is available in our Waldorf School situated

in the beautiful Cape Winelands

COMMENCING MARCH 2019

Requirements: Knowledge and experience in gardening as well as general campus and building maintenance, interested in practical work, good communication skills

and ability to work well within a team.

Please submit your CV and Motivational Letter detailing

your experience via

email: stellenbosch@waldorfschool.org.za

or fax: 0865143427

Application closing date:

Thursday 28th February 2019

www.waldorfschool.org.za

TEMPORARY CLASS 3 TEACHER

Hermanus Waldorf School, Sandbaai, Hermanus

is looking for a temporary Class Three Teacher for period 01/05/2019 – 30/09/2019

The successful applicant must be:-

SACE registered

Have an enthusiastic, energetic and creative approach to teaching young children

Self-motivated and have the ability to work as part of a team

Applications will be received at the School office; by email or fax.

Only SACE registered and appropriate candidates will be con-tacted.

Closing date 15/03/2019

Fax: 086 247 4279

Email: info@hermanuswaldorf.co.za

MUSIC TEACHER

Roseway Waldorf School invites applications for a Music Teacher for our High School and to teach a Violin Programme in the Primary school from April 2019. The successful applicant needs to:

Be suitably qualified with a SACE registration

Have teaching experience and be able to teach Violin

Be enthusiastic and have a real interest in children and their development

Understand and identify with the Waldorf ethos of the school

(Waldorf experience will be of benefit)

Please send a 2 page CV with a motivational letter detailing your experience and qualifications to administra-tor@rosewaywaldorf.co.za. Closing date for applications is 25 February 2019. Only suc-cessful applicants will be contacted for an interview. Rose-way Waldorf School reserves the right not to fill this post.