Advent Garden - Sunday 30th November

The autumn leaves are changing their beautiful colour and the winds are getting colder. Winter time is on it's way. Together with the children, yourselves and friends, we would like to celebrate our Advent Garden this Sunday, 30th November at 4:30 pm at Dunshane Hall.
The Advent Garden is a quiet and magically filled opportunity for the children to begin the start of Advent. Walking through the garden, every child brings light into the darkness. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

The Teachers

Coffee Morning this Friday 28th November - 10am

Please join us this Friday for Coffee morning!
From 10 to 1pm
In aid of Kildare Steiner School

In the home of
Ray and Helen Nolan
The Orchard
Carnalway
Kilcullen
Co Kildare

For more detail 087 238 9376

Apple Picking Days...'tis the season!

A beautiful day is a day to cherish, but particularly so when one has the chance to join with your school community in supporting a fundraising event, build community spirit and just plain have a great time! On Saturday, the 27th of September, quite a few of our community had just such a day...
Svantje Mertens, teacher for Classes, 1-2-3 enjoys a day's effort up in the trees.

Dominic from the Kindergarten enjoys some picking time along with his fellow classmate!

Hard work never looked so fun! Above, a very hardworking Raymond carries his day's work to the lorrie for juicing.

The many luscious fruits of their labours...

Keep an eye out in the near future for Kildare Steiner School fresh apple juice for sale...it doesn't get any better than this on a beautiful day!

Feile na Samhna or "Festival of Halloween"

Please join us for a special Sustainability festival planned on Saturday, 1st of November in Newbridge at the Ryston Social Club. It is an all day, ongoing days event from 11am - 11pm.

As a community-based initiative geared up for fun and celebration of community, the objective of the Feile na Samhna is to create a space for people to meet, talk, learn and consider a range of positive solutions to address the challenges we face today in reducing our dependency on fossil fuel. The focus will be on fun, fusion and action!

This one day, colourful family friendly event will offer an opportunity to sample a range of workshops on traditional hand crafts and skills, informative talks on sustainable living, facilitated discussion forums as well as fantastic low-tech kids entertainment. Add to this a heritage exhibition compiled by local students and history renactment displays, local artists, dancers, performers and musicians and you have a tremendous day ahead!

This event was seeded from ideas inspired by the Transition Towns movement, the Community Powerdown Toolkit and FADA.

Please join us on Saturday, the 1st of November in Newbridge at the Ryston Social Club! See you there!

Planting Bulbs in your Garden?

Please consider making a Bulb Donation to the school!

Buying bulbs for your garden? Why not contribute some extra bulbs to help bring some lovely spring colour to the school?

Just place them in the boxes which can be found in the Kindergarten, Parent and Toddler Hallway and in the Main School...and enjoy the flowers when they arrive ☺

Questions, please contact Cliona by phone 087-1248036 or
email at clionamkelliher@gmail.com

First Parent Meeting for the Main School!

Dear Parents,

Our first Parent Meeting for the Main School, comprising classes 1-6 will be held Wednesday, the 1st of October. The meeting for Classes 4-6 will be at 7:30 pm, and subsequently at 8:30 pm for Classes 1-3.

Please plan to attend and know that your attendance is a show of support to our teachers who have invested a tremendous amount of time and energy to make sure the integrity of the Steiner curriculum remains intact, and the needs of our children are met. They are very interested in sharing their work and plans with us. This meeting will be essential in understanding the unique nature of our multi-grade classes this year. Please look for updates to confirm as the date approaches.

Annual Apple Picking Day - Date Changed to 27th September

Please join us for our annual Apple Picking Day! Last year, we picked, juiced, bottled and then sold our now famous Kildare Steiner School apple juice! Make a day of it!...bring a picnic with your family and spend any part of the day you're available. All are welcome. This became a successful fundraiser for the school, for which we hope to find repeat success!

Saturday, 27th September from 10-6am (previously 13th Sept)
The Orchard, Carnalway, Kilcullen

Any questions ask Helen 087-2389376

Last year in 2007...

Autumn/Winter Diary Dates

Dates to remember for this upcoming Autumn

Apple Picking Saturday September 13 10 am to 6 pm

Collection Day Whitewater Shopping Centre Friday, 19 September 9am to 9pm

Collection Day Naas Town Friday 17 October 10am to 6pm

Christmas Coffee Morning My House Friday 28 November 9.30 to 1(unconfirmed)

Bag Packing Tesco Naas Thursday 4 December 9am to 9pm

Irish Lessons this Fall for Teachers and Adults...

Irish lessons for the teachers are recommencing on Tuesday, 9 September from 5-7pm. The lessons are fortnightly for the time being. There are three spaces available for any adults who would like to join us. Cost is 20Euro per lesson, payable per term in advance. For anybody interested in joining these fun-filled lessons, please contact Dorly at 086-827-4884.

Food Allergies and Awareness

In preparation for the new school year, please note as a reminder, the following letter addressed to the families at the Kildare Steiner School:

1st September 2008
Re: Allergen Food Items

Dear All,

It is our school policy to ban food items that cause a severe allergic reaction that is potentially fatal (i.e. Anaphylaxis). A person allergic to such food items can have shock not only by ingesting but also contacting or inhaling particles therefore. Please do not bring any of the food items listed below to the school.

When the school is used as a venue for other activities than the usual school/kindergarten curriculum, the organisers of such activities also need to ensure that these food items are not brought in to the school premise.

Please put up this list somewhere visible in your household. If anyone wishes to add more food items to the list for the same reason, please contact Yuki Kobayashi 086 341 2006.

Food items banned from the School/Kindergarten: Peanuts, all nuts, peas, lentils, sesame seeds, chickpeas, buckwheat and food products containing these items.

Similar food items NOT banned from the School/Kindergarten: Butter beans, azuki, kidney, pinto and soya beans, sunflower seeds, pumkin seeds, broad beans, french beans and runner beans.

Attached is a letter from the parents of a child with severe allergies sent earlier last year:

Dear Parents:

We am writing to you on behalf of our daughter Iseult Reid. Iseult has severe food allergies to peanuts, nuts, peas, lentils, sesame seeds, egg and chickpeas. She has lesser allergies also, but the reaction to contact or ingestion of above foods can be anaphylactic shock, which can result in death within minutes. Although she is allergic to egg we don't mind children having products which contain egg as long as she does not consume the said products.

We are asking for the support and understanding of parents as we try to create a safe environment for her within the School.

Her needs have been discussed with the School teachers and unsafe ingredients can be eliminated, without any major change in the current school activities.

As many of you are aware, we have many festivals and fund-raisers where food is available and these are times when we need to be extra vigilant, as even contact with nut residue can cause a reaction. We would very much appreciate if food provided could be nut free if possible, or if there are nut products or foods that may contain nuts, that we are informed of this, so that we can take all the precautions necessary.

We try to create as ‘normal’ a life as possible for Iseult and we very much appreciate your help in this regard.

We’re always happy to answer any questions you might have about food allergy!

Yours sincerely,
Mark & Cliona

Welcome Back from Summer Holidays!

Where does the time go?...too quickly for sure. We hope you've all enjoyed your summer holiday and are ready for the new year!

Our dedicated teachers have spent many hours in planning and preparation for this upcoming year and we are excited for the changing seasons and all it brings with it.

A note from our Class 1-2-3 teacher, Svantje Mertens:

The exciting first day is creeping quickly upon us. Please ensure your child comes with good rest, a healthy, packed lunch (nut, pea, seed, lentil free!), wet weather gear and indoor slippers. Class 1 parent are welcome to stay for the first half hour of the day for a whole school assembly.

I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of days.

Regards, Svantje

Welcome back Kildare Steiner School families!

Cob Oven Building Workshop Announcement

Dear Parents,

I am writing to let you know about a cob oven building workshop that we are running on the school grounds on Saturday, the 26th of July from 10am - 4pm.

The objective of running the course is four-fold:

1. A potential revenue generating event for the school, depending how many attend 15 - 20 maximum.

2. To develop the outdoor facilities of the school and generate a focal point for some celebratatory activities run by the school.

3. To have some fun, get creative and get to know more parents.

4. To learn an ancient form of building that uses natural renewable materials.

The fee is nominal at 50 euros individual and 90 euros for a family. It is a kid friendly, community friendly activity with the purest of ingredients namely clay sand and straw.

The course instructors are experienced cob builders having trained with Yanto Evans one of the worlds most experienced cob builders and advocate, they have built their own cob house and done a series of cob building demonstrations including a permanent cob oven on site at the electric picnic venue last summer.

If you are not familiar with cob ovens or construction, please see the following link for cob construction in general: http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/cob.htm

...and cob ovens:
http://balinsky.com/gallery/coboven

If you have any friends who may be interested please let them know.

To introduce myself, my name is Kate Park and I have a daughter Aoife who is now going in to
class 1 and a son Kian who is attending the mother and toddlers group.

If you are interested don't hesitate to call so I have some idea of numbers to cater for on 05991 62867.

If you are really enthusiastic we will be doing some preparatory work building the foundations and laying down some stone work this coming weekend 12th and 13th of July. If you are coming ring, and I can confirm the times we will be there, and clear the area a bit. The site of the oven will be behind the prefab Gale has been using for 5th and 6th class this year.

Finally there is nothing to compare with the taste of home made pizza and bread that has been cooked in cob. You may well be tempted to build your own!

Looking Back: Last Day of School on St. John's Day

What would the last day of school be without festivity? On 27th of June a delightful gathering was had as we celebrated St. John's Day with music and dance.


After the dancing, with live fiddle music by our teacher Dorly O'Sullivan to accompany us, we shifted over to the building where we shared goodies. Later that evening we were treated to a school play, The Search for a Nose, by Class 5 and 6:

The King, his court, the Prince and the Princess celebrate a happy moment.

Mike Twitch (aka Markus Pedersen) pleading his case to the King.

Class Meeting this Saturday 28th June at 3pm

Dear Parents,

Parents have requested an opportunity to discuss the combining of classes 4,5 and 6. I hope that the following date will suit you all:

This Saturday - 28th June at 3pm

Please make every effort to attend as I have issues I'd like to discuss with you. The school and I need your support now.

Kind Regards,
Gale Pullen

Cherry Trees, Class Play this Friday and the Last Day of School

Dear Parents,

Laura Wynne has made a beautiful design for the parking lot, which includes a lot of flowering cherry trees. She has already collected money toward it, from the business sector. We would like to ask for a contribution of 50 euro each so that we can buy 9 flowering cherry trees. This would be an end-of-year present that would live and grow into the future, creating beauty and something to remember your children by.

If you are willing to do so, please pop the money into an envelope and give to a teacher, or come this Friday, with a cherry tree for us to plant!...because...

On Friday 27th of June at 7pm, after a hard days work, you are invited to come relax and giggle at our play about noses! After the play we will say farewell to the Graduating Class 6, followed by a party. Please bring something yummy for us all to eat.

For those with Class 5 and 6 children, please be sure to arrive at 6:30 so that the actors can dress and prepare.

Grandparents are especially welcome.

Kind regards, Gale

The How-To of the Blog

Hello again. This is the part where we discuss the how-to-do-it of the blog.

First, the stuff that must be said: This blog is intended to be open and free for all to contribute, as and when needed, as it relates to your interests for the growth and development of the school. That said, please know that standard Internet communication, blog rules and protocol apply here: please keep your words clean and purposeful. Expletives will not be tolerated. This blog is meant to be productive and with the intent for all to be informed. Please approach your communication on this blog with the perspective that this is a public forum and that prospective parents and media will be reading our blog. This is not a place to discuss specific issues with parents, teachers or about specific children. We trust you will use traditional channels of good communication face-to-face or a secure email connection. Internet protocols elsewhere exist in which you would be required to sign an agreement in order to participate. For now, we will consider that your participation constitutes agreement. Once you decide to contribute, you are, in essence, agreeing to the rules.

How Do I Participate?

First, there are several words you will see floating around blogs: Post, Posting Comments, among many others. Here is a brief definition of commonly used words:

Post: A post is what you’re reading right now. A post is an article which makes up a blog. Typically, one person’s blog is made up of their own posts (musings, or whatever), to which people can respond, by “posting a comment.” For a more complete description feel free to explore:

http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2006/06/the-giant-blogging-terms-glossary/

How Do I Respond?

For the purposes of our school blog, you will respond, or “post a comment” by going through the moderator, in this case, me, Natasha. You will email me at natasha@kewene-hite.com and I will post it for you through the blogging application, which for us is www.blogger.com. Other than moderating in the sense that I just make sure your post is not full of expletives, no judgement will be made on your post. I will just post and include your name (as a signature) to the bottom. In most blogging applications, you would need to sign on with a user id and password to post a comment. I am assuming that not everyone will want to do this, so emailing me your post will bypass that requirement. If you choose to sign up and post your own comment, which you could through the blogger.com site, however, that is your choice.

As an organizational note, all topics mentioned above will be given and categorised by Labels, which you’ll find at the lower right hand of the post, so that over time, posts containing specific issues and topics will be listed on the Sidebar by subject. I will apply the labels when I receive your emails.

Please consider this blog a work-in-progress. As moderator, I’m open to your opinions and comments on what you find here. Please consider this to have oversight by the Council as well. Over time, as our blog develops, relevant issues that may come up will be brought to the council for discussion. Again, your ongoing comments are welcome.

Happy Blogging everyone. Now on to the fun stuff…

Introductions...

Welcome to the first post of the Kildare Steiner School Blog!

My name is Natasha and I will be the first of the parent moderators for this blog. Please consider this the beginning of what I hope will be an enlightening, inspiring and useful resource for the school which will work to meet the following needs of our school community:

• Communication between parents and faculty …to explore ideas and possibilities regarding school development. This is not meant to replace email or obviously, face to face connection.

• Announcements for Events/Activities/Class & School Outings - meant as a complement to the posted handouts at the school and those received through the children.

• PR, Enrolment and School Promotion – With the overall idea that the activities and events of the school would be documented over time, the collective material that would accumulate here on the blog can become a contributing factor to the means by which prospective parents looking into the school might use to determine and assess the value of sending their children to the school.

• Fundraising – Aside from grant work and conversations that are most often done behind-the-scenes, this will be a place to exchange, propose and explore ideas related to increasing funds for the school. This might also be the place where ideas previously discussed at meetings can be posted for the community response.

As I’m sure you know, we had two recent fundraising events earlier in the month, the Flag Day on June 6th and Bag Packing Day on June 12th. Both were very successful in raising funds for the school and raised collectively over 1200 euro. Through the blog we will be able to post follow up comments on past events. Many thanks to our teachers, parents and students for your time and contribution!

• Site Development – With our ongoing list of needs and wants for our school grounds, many of the issues both immediate and down the road can be posted for all to see and respond to.

The blog will also have ongoing features, which you will find to the right of the screen, known as the Sidebar. Sidebar Features will provide an ongoing slideshow of recent events (above), as well as something of a portal, where to the right, you will find links to the following:

a. Steiner Community nationally/globally
b. Inspiration – Steiner Schools around the world
c. Articles on Steiner Education
d. Among other things…

Through the medium of a blog, needs, issues and successes relating to our school can be available for all to partake.

Please see the second post for the How-To of the Kildare Steiner School Blog! This is meant to work for us as parents and faculty, to help us work dynamically together. We welcome you and your participation.

Best wishes for our blogging experience, Natasha