July 2012 – Kevin Avison came on the 11th July to give an inspirational talk: Steiner Education – from early years to young adult. He explained, entertained, inspired and educated us all on why Steiner education is so different and how creativity is embraced right through the curriculum. The kindergarten room was full of interested and interesting people and as ever, it was good to meet new people and share the evening, with the added benefit of cake! The talk also helped us raise some funds towards craft materials needed urgently for next term, and along with a generous donation from a supporter of the project we are now able to buy more painting paper, paints, wool felt and craft wool for next term’s craft activities. We plan to host a series of talks in the autumn – more news as we make progress with that! **CDs of Kevin’s talk are available for £4**
May Day 2012 – We had a lovely May Day celebration and the sun did come out eventually! Pony rides, yummy food, crafts using willow and wool, music and dancing even the parents had a go with some fairly complicated ribbon weaving round the Maypole!
February 2012 - At our workday last week we planted a willow structure for the children to play amongst. The ground was surprisingly stony and we needed a mattock to get the willow rods into the ground! A Big thank you to Jacob Old from Mellingey Mill, St Issey for letting us have some willow to create some playful willow structures in the Mowhay. A wonderful reconnection here as some years ago, Jake’s father Tiggy, taught basket making to the residents at Basill Manor. Now we are looking forward to it growing and are ready to weave in the new growth! 
Candlemas/Imbolc
We celebrated Candlemas at Kindergarten and woke the seed babies from their long winter sleep by planting candles the children had dipped. They were placed into the cold earth of our new vegetable bed. Once lit, (tricky the in the breeze!) the little candles burned brightly, warming the soil and lifting our hearts to welcome the arrival of Spring.
JANUARY 2012 – Our new teacher has arrived!
Marcel is now leading Kindergarten with his warmth and enthusiasm taking it forward into its next stage, beginning with Ofsted registration. The autumn term ended with the children playing out the nativity story in kindergarten, taking turns each day to be the Ox, Donkey, Mary, Joseph, Angel and Shepherds and this term started with the Three Kings being played. Some wonderful costumes have been made by the parents and the children are loving dressing up in it all!
A huge thank you to Sally, our first teacher, for being here to get the kindergarten up and running. We couldn’t have done it without her!
Christmas Fairs
This year we had a stall at Trebullom Hall Advent Fayre, hosted by the Peredur Trust. Marcel and Sally performed a wonderful puppet show, telling the story of Mashenka and the Bear which was much enjoyed by an audience which filled the Hall!
We also had a stall at the new Advent Market at Treworra Barton in Davidstow which was great fun and buzzing with activity, food and people. Sally and Marcel performed Mashenka and the Bear to a different audience and we raised some well-needed funds to help the Kindergarten. With two fairs and our advent spiral in between, we were well into the festive swing of things!
Plans are afoot for an Easter Art Event, an opportunity for children across the area to create something special. The event will culminate in an exhibition over Easter weekend (with hearty refreshments)making a wonderful opportunity to see what we hope will be a wide variety of artwork from local children. Watch this space for entry forms and more as plans unfold.
September 2011 - Inny Valley Kindergarten is open! Finally, after a Kernow Steiner Project team effort since 2004 the first children arrived on Tuesday morning for the beginning of their kindergarten experience. A herculean effort by parents and friends of the project meant we were able to finish the painting, lay carpet, install radiators and mow the 5 foot high nettles in the Mowhay, just in time to open! The sand pit and raised bed has been built and there are plans for willow fences and tunnels and felted wool rug-making for indoors. Sessions are currently running on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and until we are OFSTED registered, we have a couple of parents on site (tucked away pretending to be invisible!) while the session is taking place. We have some places available for this term still, please contact us for more information.
SPRING 2011 Newsletter
KINDERGARTEN NEWS The Kindergarten will start this September in the Tea Room at Basill Manor, St Clether. We have been fortunate to gain the experience and commitment of a pioneering and rather wonderful Kindergarten Teacher. Sally will be joining us after Easter and we will be working together with our children during the summer term to prepare the hall and mowhay, make toys and get ready for the Kindergarten to open in September, Please ring Jo for details if you would like to work with us over the summer. We are applying for registration with Ofsted and are working to keep fees affordable whilst covering rent and salaries etc, and keeping a realistic approach to the school’s viability. There is a huge amount of paperwork to be done and we are also busy writing letters to see if we can build a pot of funds to offer bursaries to those in most need. We have always believed that Steiner education should be available to everyone regardless of ability to pay and as a project we are working really hard to make this possible. If anyone has any fundraising experience we would love to hear from you, it’s a big job and try as we might, we just can’t make the days stretch any further! We are in the process of registering children for the September intake and have just a few places left. Please contact jo@kernowsteiner.co.uk if you would like to register your child for a place. ****************
PERIWINKLES We have had quite a mellow spring term at Trebullom. The lantern walk and the advent spiral feels like a distant memory, albeit a happy one. We have woken the seed babies from their winter sleep and witnessed new life flowing through the ground. A clear vision for the future is now emerging. We have made a good start in the vegetable plot and been blessed with many a sunny morning to enjoy our outside time. The children have played with the toys we have made for them, made spring potions and have all become very proficient in the art of tree climbing! We had some very successful craft workshops at Periwinkles last summer, such as wet felting and round knitting. These workshops will continue at Basil Manor, in the new season. This is great way to raise funds and brings everyone together for quality time. If anyone has a skill or craft they would like to share please let us know, we can talk about it further. Can I please ask you all to think about paying for the half term at the first session. If a Cheque is easier, that’s fine. This can save time for everyone and helps the flow of future sessions I would like to say a big thank you to all those who have made the last few terms so enjoyable by helping out wherever they can, with a true feeling of unity. There are many elements to leading the group and I know you will be a great team next term. I’m filled with confidence that you will continue to hold the space and enjoy the sessions as much as Kayleigh and I have. Rachel. This summer term, we will continue our nature explorations in the beautiful grounds at Trebullom and also celebrate the coming seasonal festivals with fun crafts for parents and children alike. Baking bread, making paper craft birds, felted flowers and insects, clay animals, wind streamers and seed sowing are amongst some of the activities we will be doing this summer. Freshly made snacks of organic bread, seasonal food and drink are shared together each session. Naomi. On Tuesday 19th April we will be visiting Tregillis Farm, to welcome new lambs into this world. Please bring lunch to share. We will gather from 11am until about 2pm. Thank you Laura, Jim and Mali for having us there again. It’s such a wonderful experience for the children to witness these new lives in such a special way. Mayday at Basil Manor is Sunday 1st May. This will be a very special and memorable event for all. Look out for the posters with all the details!
Summer Term Dates April 26th to May 24th Half Term 2 weeks June 14th to July 19th
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MAY DAY FESTIVAL Sunday 1st May, 12-4pm, Basill Manor. Join us for Maypole dancing and music at 2.30pm, Crafts and games for children (including quoits and may crown and willow wand making), the nearly-famous Tregillis Organic Barbecue will be cooking along with a café full of home-cooked goodies such as nettle soup, salads, jacket potatoes, handbaked bread; tea, coffee and cakes will also be available; there will be a puppet show and there will be pony rides through the afternoon. Our Kindergarten teachers will be at the festival and it’s a good opportunity to meet them. We hope to have a few stalls too, so come along, bring your dancing shoes and help us celebrate May Day, build some good energy for our new kindergarten venture and raise some much-needed funds.
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CRAFT NIGHT Craft Night happens at Minti’s house on the first Friday of the month from 8pm-10ish. Everyone is welcome to come along and make something for your child, or Periwinkles or for Kindergarten. You can bring your spinning wheel too if you like! ***************
EVENING TALK WITH JOY DE BERKER Tuesday 7th June, 7.40 for 8pm start, Basill Manor We are very lucky to have Joy coming to inspire us. This evening will look at the benefits a child can gain from the gentle educational approach of a Steiner Kindergarten, where children and parents can experience an educational approach that really meets the needs of our time. Joy de Berker is an experienced Kindergarten teacher who has lectured widely in Steiner early years education. She brings to her talks a warmth and enthusiasm both for Steiner’s understanding of child development and for family life. COST – £5 PER PERSON OR £8 FOR A COUPLE Refreshments will be available. ****************
Dates for your Diary 19 April Visit to Tregillis Farm 11am-2pm 26 April –Periwinkles Term starts 1 May – MAY DAY FESTIVAL 12-4 Basill Manor 3 May – Meeting with Sally for parents interested in Kindergarten workdays over summer. Time to be confirmed. 6 May – Craft Evening at Minti‘s 7.30-10pm 7 June – Evening Talk with Joy de Berker ‘Understanding Childhood’
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TREGILLIS FARM AND THE KERNOW STEINER PROJECT Lots of you know the farm already, but in case you didn’t, Tregillis is a family farm in South Petherwin that produces beef, lamb, pork, poultry meats as well as animal feeds and veggies. It is a biodynamic farm, which means that it is worked with the happenings of nature whenever possible, using the preparations and methods that were first set out by Steiner in 1924. The main concern is producing food with high nutritional value, encompassing the community and trying to improve sustainability. Quite a tall order! To quote Steiner in lecture 4 of Agriculture: ‘Are the foodstuffs providing us with the proper living quality of forces? We need these living forces …’ And this is really interesting – can we produce food that not only healthy, but is nutritionally valuable spiritually? For the Will, to give consciousness, and more? Through biodynamics it may be possible. The farm should be active not only with food production, but also to gather people for festival celebrations as well as harvest some materials for craft work and art and so on (wool, hides, willow, horn, wood, feathers, dyes etc). Let us know if you have any ideas, would like to come for a walk or camp, or join in with the preparation work & stirrings. Laura & Jim & Mali
CAN YOU HELP? Fundraising The Kernow Steiner Project would benefit hugely from someone with fundraising experience. Keeping this show on the road means lots of letter writing and filling in funding applications. Accountant We also urgently need someone who can help prepare some basic accounts for us. We are often required to send a set of accounts with funding applications. We have our records in spreadsheet form but need someone to transform that into accounts please! The Kernow Steiner Project relies on the tireless support and determined enthusiasm of our Parents. However, there are some skills we do not have amongst our current group and if you can help with either of these aspects please let us know. **************** OTHER THINGS…. We now have a Co-operative group ordering facility with Essential Trading who specialise in Organic foods. A tiny fee of £1 per order is requested to utilise this handy service. Orders are delivered on a Monday, with orders placed by close of business on Wednesday. There is a minimum group order value of £250. For more information about ordering and paying for your food please speak to Jo. **************** LOWER SCHOOL PLANS With our Kindergarten opening in September, plans are hatching for the next stage: a lower school group to cater for 7-14 year olds. We have a potential small group of 8/9 year olds emerging, with another group of rising 7’s come September 2012. If you have children of lower school age and would be interested in helping establish this next stage of the project please let us know.
