A few days after the summer solstice we celebrated our annual St John’s festival at the Kildare Steiner School. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to say thank you to people who have helped us during the year, as well as inviting anyone who is interested in our school to come along to the open day. We had a bonfire ,barbie, pizzas made in our traditional cob oven and music and maypole dancing! It was a lovely evening. It even stayed dry and the full moon was magnificent.
Pictures below taken by Janet show some of our guests enjoying themselves on our wild range of climbing w equipment!
This year was special as we had to say a sad goodbye to two of our dear teachers. Claudia Brave, who has been involved with the school since its inception in 1988, and has recently taught the children handcrafts has retired to follow new adventures. Our kindergarten teacher Viola Laumans, who has been with the school in its current location for the last five years, has also gone on to pastures new….she is going to study a Masters in drama therapy in Maynooth, so good luck Viola. Both these friends and colleagues will be greatly missed by the whole school community.
One of our parents, Sinead O’Tiarnaigh, who has been training to be a Steiner teacher in Clare will be taking over in the Kindergarten from September. We are changing the format of our handcraft curriculum…so if you know of anyone who might be interested in teaching the children knitting, cross-stitch, crochet, or any other type of craft, please give me a call and let l me know…we would be interested in speaking to you. We are lucky enough to have two local artists coming to work with us in the new school year, making totem poles and crafts to celebrate St Brigid- we are indeed blessed!
We are continuing to enrol to the growing school throughout the summer, so if you or anyone you know is interested in finding out more please give me a call on 086 4005211
- Angie Ruane
01 July, 2010
01 June, 2010
Working with our gifts
t occurred to me recently that being part of a school community where people work with their gifts and give them willingly to the school is a great privilege. At the end of April we had a fundraising concert in Dunshane, organised by Dorly O’Sullivan, one of our teachers and an accomplished cellist (Dorly is pictured here playing the fiddle at last year’s St John’s festival). She co-ordinated both her own DARA quartet, and a host of other local classical artists who gave us a wonderful evening of music. Dorly uses her musical gift every day in the school where she teaches recorder and singing. We also host local musicians to teach our children violin and guitar, so we are very lucky.
In May one of our parents, Ger Loughlin organised two trad and folk concerts in the Moat, which were great craic (for adults and children!) and terrific fundraisers. Again the artists gave of their talents for free and we are particularly indebted to the wonderful local group Bunoscionn, as this was their second year running to support us in this way- if you see them advertised do go along – they are superb…..
Ger’s partner Carolina is a photographer and took the pictures for our new school brochure, which was then designed by Richard Lyons, another parent who had just completed a sponsored cycle ride to Hook Head and raised over 1,000 euro for the school. Isn’t it amazing what people can achieve, just with their raw talent and a will to help?
The craft group in the school is also something else….they got together last autumn and now have a thriving Friday morning group for parents, friends and anyone who wants to join really…. Pictured is Mags Kearney with some of the group’s handiwork. They have been concentrating on wet felting work and have made some really beautiful artefacts. They plan to extend their range next year and hold a series of workshops on other crafts such as spinning and willow weaving. We also hope to share some of these crafts with the children in the school who already learn knitting, tapestry, candle making and basket weaving. It is lovely to see the kids develop some of these ancient skills at the hands of people who have a natural skill and talent.
I think when the children see how the community comes together to share their gifts in this way it truly helps all of us to see how we can live our philosophy of educating the head , hands and heart in County Kildare. It is very powerful.
The School will be enrolling right through the summer, so if you are interested in finding out more about our holistic approach to education, contact Angie Ruane on 086 4005211 .
In May one of our parents, Ger Loughlin organised two trad and folk concerts in the Moat, which were great craic (for adults and children!) and terrific fundraisers. Again the artists gave of their talents for free and we are particularly indebted to the wonderful local group Bunoscionn, as this was their second year running to support us in this way- if you see them advertised do go along – they are superb…..
Ger’s partner Carolina is a photographer and took the pictures for our new school brochure, which was then designed by Richard Lyons, another parent who had just completed a sponsored cycle ride to Hook Head and raised over 1,000 euro for the school. Isn’t it amazing what people can achieve, just with their raw talent and a will to help?
The craft group in the school is also something else….they got together last autumn and now have a thriving Friday morning group for parents, friends and anyone who wants to join really…. Pictured is Mags Kearney with some of the group’s handiwork. They have been concentrating on wet felting work and have made some really beautiful artefacts. They plan to extend their range next year and hold a series of workshops on other crafts such as spinning and willow weaving. We also hope to share some of these crafts with the children in the school who already learn knitting, tapestry, candle making and basket weaving. It is lovely to see the kids develop some of these ancient skills at the hands of people who have a natural skill and talent.
I think when the children see how the community comes together to share their gifts in this way it truly helps all of us to see how we can live our philosophy of educating the head , hands and heart in County Kildare. It is very powerful.
The School will be enrolling right through the summer, so if you are interested in finding out more about our holistic approach to education, contact Angie Ruane on 086 4005211 .
10 April, 2010
Native Irish Saplings Planted
March was a very special time for the Kildare Steiner School as the whole school community came together with the volunteers of the Native Woodland Trust to plant our wonderful gift of 1,500 native Irish saplings at our school in Gormanstown, near Dunlavin.
In just two miraculous days on the 26th and the 27th our school grounds were suddenly transformed with paths plants and all our wonderful trees. The little saplings we planted included oak, willow, beech, holly, cherry and other fruit trees. In order to protect these little babies from damage by the hare population they are all staked and enclosed by a green tube. They may seem small now, but they will grow rapidly and the children are going to have such fun watching and tending the woodland garden during this exciting process.
The planting also gave the community a great opportunity to do what it does best – work together to create and enjoy something beautiful. It was great to see parents, old friends, families and children alike all pitching in and sharing their energies…. The weather was unbelievably kind to us and after the planting the cob oven was fired up for home made pizzas, when the relaxing part of the day really started.
We should say once again we are indebted to the Native Woodland Trust who plant trees in schools right across Ireland and worked so hard with us to realise our own vision. We are also tremendously grateful to our anonymous Canadian donor, this amazing gift came out of nowhere to us and was truly magical.
The Kildare Steiner School is an independent non-denominational school for children aged three and a half to twelve years of age. If you would like to come and see our lovely school, or are interested in the extensive benefits of the Steiner approach to education, please contact me, Angie Ruane , on 086 4005211 or check out : www.kildaresteinershcool.org
In just two miraculous days on the 26th and the 27th our school grounds were suddenly transformed with paths plants and all our wonderful trees. The little saplings we planted included oak, willow, beech, holly, cherry and other fruit trees. In order to protect these little babies from damage by the hare population they are all staked and enclosed by a green tube. They may seem small now, but they will grow rapidly and the children are going to have such fun watching and tending the woodland garden during this exciting process.
The planting also gave the community a great opportunity to do what it does best – work together to create and enjoy something beautiful. It was great to see parents, old friends, families and children alike all pitching in and sharing their energies…. The weather was unbelievably kind to us and after the planting the cob oven was fired up for home made pizzas, when the relaxing part of the day really started.
We should say once again we are indebted to the Native Woodland Trust who plant trees in schools right across Ireland and worked so hard with us to realise our own vision. We are also tremendously grateful to our anonymous Canadian donor, this amazing gift came out of nowhere to us and was truly magical.
The Kildare Steiner School is an independent non-denominational school for children aged three and a half to twelve years of age. If you would like to come and see our lovely school, or are interested in the extensive benefits of the Steiner approach to education, please contact me, Angie Ruane , on 086 4005211 or check out : www.kildaresteinershcool.org
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