The celebration of festivals is a key element of our schooling. It offers an opportunity to anticipate, connect and appreciate the natural cycles of the year. It offers a moment to ponder or reflect on ones own inner journey. It offers a space and time to gather and share in community.

This year, the staff of GHSS have made a concerted effort to rejuvenate the Djeran/Autumn and Birak/Christmas festivals. The latter to be celebrated in just three short weeks. Through questioning and speaking, we have tried to encapsulate the many faces and feelings associated with the time of Birak and Christmas. We have tried to bring this celebration in relation to this place and its people. As a consequence, we have chosen to make changes to the format celebrated in recent years.

This year, our Birak/Christmas festival will be celebrated from 5-7pm on Friday, 6^th of December. We ask that families gather on picnic rugs and camp chairs looking onto the Class 5/6 verandah which will form the stage for the evening. This festival will celebrate a gathering around the Moodjar tree and the central theme of light: the light of our expansive skies and the joy and activity that this brings, and the light of peace that the story of Christmas brings. The sharing on the night will follow a specific sequence so that we can live into this theme and carry it with us long after the last song is sung.

We acknowledge that this time of year is full and intense, with many commitments happening all at once. With this in mind, our intention is for the festival to be a relaxed setting for one and all. Once the school sharing has come to an end, music will continue in the background as you socialise, share and enjoy your own picnic. At this time of the festival, the P&F will also offer drinks and desserts.

It is important to note, that we ask that children are seated with and supervised by their parents and or guardians before and after their class sharing. We ask that families sit with and around their class group or chosen class group in the case of families with more than one child at the school. It is important to emphasise that parents will have duty of care for their children for the duration of the festival.

We look forward to creating something new together and to celebrate alongside you.

Bruce & Sarah