Myself in my aloneness I must feel.

What if I did not love?  Then would there be

No bridge to others.  I would live in fear.

Love leads me out to flower, star and tree,

To rushing river and to people dear;

If I am lonely, only love has power to heal.

Dear GHSS Families,

Seasonal Reflections Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang are the six seasons of the Noongar Indigenous calendar.

However there is  no start or end date to each season, rather, the passing of each one is something that is felt.  The Noongar people ebb and flow with the changes of Western Australia’s environment, letting nature guide them.  Plants and animals have a special purpose in the changing of each season.

The flowering of white blooming gums signifies we are entering Bunuru – our hottest, driest season of the year.  Traditionally, Noongar people lived close to the coast at this time of year to try and keep cool - avoiding the hot easterly and northern winds and taking advantage of the afternoon coastal breeze.  Fishing along the river, estuaries and coast meant that seafood was widely available.

During this time in the school term, we expect children to wear broad brimmed, or similarly sun-safe hats and bring their water bottles to school to ensure they are well hydrated.

Welcome We have welcomed a number of new staff to Golden Hill Steiner School for 2023! 

Sandy Price has taken on the position of Karri Kindergarten teacher.  Sandy comes to us from West Coast Steiner School and has already begun to share her wealth of Steiner experience with us all.

Bree de Koning is teaching our Class 3 children.  Many of you may already be familiar with Bree as she is long-term parent of GHSS as well as having worked here on prac when she was doing her teacher training.  We are so glad to now welcome her in the role of Class 3 teacher.

Lesley Wybenga is another parent who has a long association with Golden Hill Steiner School.  We are lucky to have her join us to provide psychology services as a part of our Student Services team.

Francine Miller has begun in the postion of school cleaner.  We are ever so grateful to  have her providing us with these services.

And then we also have other staff who are taking on additional responsibilities in their roles at Golden Hill.  Jewels Auburn has been granted Authority to Teach in the role of Handcraft teacher; Robyn Miller has taken on a promotional position as Curriculum Coordinator; and Rebekah Henderson in now fulltime in the front office as Marketing and Admin Officer, with Jody Hartfield taking on an extra day to fill the Enrolments and Admin Officer role.

School Day Times A reminder that our school day starts at 8.40am and ends at 2.55pm (2.50pm in Karri Kindy).  Recess and lunch times have changed slightly this year, recess is now from 10.35 until 10.55am and lunch is from 12.35 until 1.15pm.  

Rose Ceremony How lovely to welcome our 14 Class One's on the start of their journey through the primary years of education at Golden Hill.  It really was a special ceremony.

Class Seven  And our other group of "newbies" transitioning smoothly into High School are our Class 7 group.  What an amazing bunch of humans they are.  It was great to stand with their parents and send them off on their Orientation Camp with Sam and Robyn this morning!  I can't wait for them to share their adventures in the next newsletter.

Newsletter We are experimenting with our newletter format this term.  There will still be a newsletter every three weeks but we will be adding in a brief "Weekly Notices" format for all the other weeks of term.  And we are scheduling our classes and specialist teachers so that each gets to hold a feature space in one of our 3-weekly newsletters, once a term.  Your feedback and input is always welcome.

Jacqui Hollingworth

Principal

If you've been to the school in the past week you may have noticed the addition of a gazebo between the Karri Kindergarten and the office.  Thanks to David Stockdale and his team for their building efforts.  This fabulous new structure can be seen here being enjoyed by the brand new High School students, our inaugural Class 7's.

2023 School Fees Information

Golden Hill Steiner School has partnered with Edstart to improve school fee payment options for our families and operations processes for our staff.

Edstart is a financial services company that provides flexible payment plans for the education sector.

All invoices were sent on Tuesday 24^th January.

Please get in contact if you have not yet received one.

Commencing this year, families had 2 options for fee payment:

1. Commit to paying fees in full by Tuesday 31st January 2023
2. Pay in instalments through EdStart. To set up your Edstart account, please visit: edstart.com.au/goldenhill

Feel free to send through any questions regarding fees or fee payment to Oona at bursar@goldenhill.wa.edu.au

This arrangement is underpinned by a commitment to improve the affordability and accessibility of a Golden Hill education for all families in our community.

Feel free to contact Edstart directly on 1300 139 445 or email contact@edstart.com.au

Kind regards,

Oona Mansour

Bursar

Hi Golden Hill Families,

Have you moved house recently, changed your phone number or email address???

If any of your contact details have changed please make sure you have updated the office so we have current details on file.

If you are not sure if we have your most up-to-date details, please feel free to ring the office on 9848 1811 or come in and speak to Rebekah or Jody so that we can check.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Admin Staff

There are currently places open for new members to join the School Board.  Should you be interested please complete this form and hand it in with a copy of your CV to our friendly office staff or email directly to chair@goldenhill.wa.edu.au

Thank you!

Year 7 School Vaccination Program

The 2023 WA School Based Immunisation Program will be offered at your school by the local community school health immunisation nurses on 8th March.

These vaccinations are offered free to all year 7 students.

• A two dose course of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to be given during Terms 1 and 4.
• One dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (whooping cough) given in Term 1.
• All students require parent/guardian consent before they can receive any vaccination at school.
• Parents/guardians are requested to provide consent through the online portal VaccinateWA. Login - VaccinateWA (health.wa.gov.au)
• For information and consent for vaccinations via VaccinateWA follow this link School-based immunisation program (healthywa.wa.gov.au)
• If you are not able to access the online system, you can request a hard copy form from school or copy below link into your internet browser for a printable consent that can be returned to school.

https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/~/media/HWA/Documents/Healthy-living/Immunisation/School-based-immunisation-programs/School-based-immunisation-program-form.pdf

For queries regarding the immunisation program please contact your school nurse or email  sbipgreatsouthern@health.wa.gov.au or phone on 9842 7500.

If you choose not to have your child vaccinated at school or they are absent on the day these vaccinations can be given at your GP or the Immunisation clinic located at the Albany Health Campus.  For an appointment phone 9892 2499.

Sally Moir | School Nurse | Immunisation

WA Country Health Service - Great Southern

PO Box 5147

ALBANY WA 6332

T: 08 9842 7500

E: sbipgreatsouthern@health.wa.gov.au

Delivering a Healthy WA

A group of mamas are organising a girls empowerment program on Monday afternoons after school during term, at the Sanctuary.  Here is the Expression of Interest Link should you be interested: https://forms.gle/cDw9oAAgNdHJrDyb8

The first session with the girls will be this Monday Feb 6^th at 3:30pm.