AEON - Issue 5 - Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School

Five
Issue Five July 2013
A letter to the future
My kids don't learn poetry
Ten Tenets
AEON Issue Five July 2013
p 20
Sylvia Brose Ha
ll cons truction
and opening in
1985
Contents
04 School Council
»» Council Members
»» Moving on
06 A letter to the future
08 Fine motor and more
09 My kids don'’t learn
poetry...
10 A successful disaster
Titanic: The Musical
12 Festivals
14 Ten tenets
16 Glenaeon 2013
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Netball, Hockey
Blame it on the Boogie
Open Day
Works of Mum
Year 11 & 12 camps
20 Donations and
The Foundation
22 GlenX
Welcome to AEON 5.
Aeon gives a glimpse into the
rich learning community that is
Glenaeon, established as
Australia’s first school for Rudolf
Steiner education. The magazine
is a record of school life, featuring
people and events that are
important in our community.
Glenaeon pioneered the vision
of a creative and collaborative
education in Sydney: we look
forward to a reinvigorated future
where we celebrate the unique
community that has grown around
the school. Aeon is a voice and
forum for the rich learning that
remains the school’s core impulse.
Whether currently involved with
the school, or one of our many
alumni families and friends, we
invite you to enjoy in the following
pages the unique vision of a
Glenaeon education.
Andrew Hill
Collegiate Chair
23 Centenary Day
Article and photo from the
North Shore Times August 1985
written by Jan Barford at the time
of the Sylvia Brose Hall Opening.
Aeon and Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School would like to
acknowledge this article was provided by Terry Ryan as
displayed in Glenaeon School, Another Time 1981–1988.
p12
Glenaeon Alumni and Friends is the new body bringing together
our diverse community of present and former students, parents
and friends of the school. We look forward to many events
celebrating the Glenaeon community and our 54 year history.
MidWinter festival
Nikki Crow is our Alumni Coordinator and she welcomes
enquiries about alumni activities and feedback about Aeon.
For all details of alumni events, contacts and general information,
or to receive Aeon electronically, you can contact Nikki on:
[email protected]
Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School Ltd
ABN 94 000 385 768
5a Glenroy Avenue, Middle Cove
NSW 2068, Australia
Phone: 9417 3193, Fax: 9417 5346
www.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au
Design: Campbell Van Venrooy (cvvdesign.com.au)
Page
2
p 20
Council
There are many things that work behind the scenes of a school. One of them is the regulatory
and financial foundation that ensures the school remains legally viable and financially sustainable.
These matters are not ones that should be front and centre in the childrens’ education, but matters
which nevertheless are fundamental to a school’s existence, survival and success.
lenaeon Rudolf Steiner School
Ltd is a not for profit company:
the directors of that company
form the Council which is the
governing body of the school. As in
any sound company there is a clear
delineation between management
and governance: the directors are
not involved in managing the school,
but maintain a role in providing an
overview of long term strategy,
maintaining the school’s financial
solvency and protecting the school
against risk.
While most of our directors are or
have been parents of children in the
school, in stepping onto the Council
they move out of the personal role
of being parent of particular children
in particular classes. They take on a
broader stewardship role where they
champion, advocate and oversee the
governance of the school as a whole.
Directors go through a detailed
selection process, and the Council
maintains a balance of professional
skill sets that encompass Steiner
education, finance, human resources,
law, marketing, and facilities.
Directors are volunteers,
contributing many hours of service
to the school. We are deeply grateful
that this so necessary task is given
so happily and professionally.
This year we said goodbye
to two long serving directors,
Malcolm Day a member of Council
for over ten years and Ian Davis
who has been a member of Council
for ten years and Chair for eight
years. In Ian’s place as Chair, we
welcome Ken Gunderson-Briggs,
and it is an opportunity to profile
all current members of the
Glenaeon School Council, on the
following pages.
G
Ian Davis
Ken Gunderson-Briggs
Ian’s long service of ten years
on the Council has been an
extraordinary contribution to the
school while maintaining a busy
schedule in his professional career
as Mangaing Director of Telstra
Television, Ian has worked tirelessly
to guide the school to a successful
and sustainable future. He oversaw
the reorganisation of the school’s
management and governance
structures during this time, and he
has been instrumental in guiding the
school to a new era of stability.
His professional skills in
organisational development and
management have been profoundly
valuable, while his personal skills in
guiding our organisation through a
complex change process have been
exemplary. On a human level, he
has been steadfast in his personal
commitment to Glenaeon over
such a long period, and he leaves
an enduring legacy for the future.
We are deeply grateful to Ian for his
contribution to the school and wish
him well in all his future endeavours.
Stepping into the Chair role we
welcome Ken Gunderson-Briggs.
Ken’s eldest child began at Glenaeon
in 1997 and his three children have
all attended the school. Ken has
been a member of Council for nearly
four years and served as Treasurer
during that time. Ken has been the
driving force behind the creation
of the Glenaeon Foundation Ltd
and as the founding Chair he has
done a huge job in establishing this
important new development arm of
the school. He now steps up to Chair
of the Council and we welcome him
into this important role.
Ken is a Chartered Accountant
with 30 years experience in
professional chartered accounting
in public practice, including 20 years
at partner level.
In 2009 Ken established
Gunderson Briggs, a boutique
chartered accounting firm that
looks after the financial affairs of
business owners. Gunderson Briggs
specialises in solving problems,
providing guidance and giving advice
to people in business.
Ken was previously a Partner at
Grant Thornton for 15 years, holding
the role of Head of Privately Held
Business Services.
Since 2003 Ken has been a
non executive Director of Harvey
Norman Holdings Limited, and
has held positions on a number
of not for profit boards including
the Windgap Foundation. Ken also
has involvement in sporting bodies
including North Sydney District
Cricket Club, Mosman Cricket
Club, Northbridge Football Club,
and undertaken various roles from
Treasurer to Coach & Player. 
Page
3
AEON Issue Five July 2013
Members of Council
Robin Borrud
Alasdair Fuller
Originally hailing
from California, Robin
has a background in
marketing and sales
in the US, where she
worked at the national
level building campaigns
for major brands, as
well as locally with
small advertisers to set
up and create in-house
marketing agencies that
allowed them to control
all of their marketing and
media needs.
She and her family
moved to Sydney 4 ½
years ago. She has three
daughters at Glenaeon
– Emily in Class 7, Lilly
in Class 4 and Clara in
Class 3. The family moved
to Castlecrag from the
Eastern suburbs to be
closer to the school.
Over the past three
years since her family
joined Glenaeon, she has
become very active in the
community and in her
children’s classrooms.
In addition to serving
on the Glenaeon Council
she is currently Class 4
class parent.
Alasdair and the
Fullers have had a
long involvement with
Glenaeon with both
children going through
the school, Oliver from
Class 3 to Year 12 and
Francis from Kindy to the
current Year 12. Alasdair
is married to Julia Byrne
who works at the school
as an Art Therapist
and was featured in a
previous edition of AEON.
Alasdair works as the
Head of Procurement for
NBN Co, the company
rolling out the nationwide
high speed Broadband
network. He joined NBN
Co in early 2010, from
Optus, where he was the
Director of Procurement
for the previous nine
years. Alasdair started
out at a New Zealand
law firm, and was also
an investment banker
with the NZ subsidiary
of Macquarie Bank. He is
a Barrister and Solicitor
of the High Court of
New Zealand.
Page
4
Lee Hill (Deputy
Chair)
A member of the
Glenaeon Council since
late 2010, Lee is closely
associated with the
School in many ways.
His partner Donna Miller
is the current Year 12
Guardian and an Art
teacher at Glenaeon.
Lee & Donna’s two
daughters joined the
School in 2005 – Blaise
is now in Year 8 and Jaz
is in Class 6. Lee became
involved in the Glenaeon
Parents Association
(then P and F) in 2006,
initially as part of the
Spring Fair organising
committee and later
became co-Chair of the
P&F Committee.
Born and educated
in the UK, Lee moved to
Australia in 1992. He is
an experienced business
leader with a background
in general management
and marketing. Lee’s
career has spanned a
diverse range of sectors
including tertiary
education, consumer
goods, financial services
& web technologies. Lee
is now self-employed
as an advisor to service
businesses, in particular,
in Tertiary Education
and Professional
Services. During the
past ten years Lee has
served on many Boards
including charities (The
Variety Club – NZ), notfor-profits and Public &
Private companies.
Ann Kenna
Earle MacGregor
Ann has been involved
with Glenaeon for nearly
ten years, initially with
daughter Eliza (who
graduated in 2009) and
Tatum who graduated
in 2012.
Ann has over 25 years
of Human Resources
advisory experience
gained through her
consulting & corporate
roles including HR
Director, Wolters Kluwer
Asia Pacific (Publishing),
General Electric (GE
Finance), Allens Arthur
Robinson (Law) and
ACNielsen (Research).
During her career as a
senior HR practitioner she
has led many large-scale
change management
projects including
acquisitions, mergers and
organisational re-designs.
She is currently the
Principal of her own
consulting business
(hrINSIGHT.com.au).
During her time as a
parent (and class parent)
at Glenaeon, Ann has
had the opportunity to
broaden and deepen
her knowledge of, and
interest in, the teachings
of Rudolf Steiner. Ann
with husband Mark have
been active volunteers
at the school, initially
as class parents, joining
working bees, spring
fairs & parking rosters
and more recently when
Ann joined Council in
May 2012.
Earle is Treasurer on
the Council and former
Treasurer of the Glenaeon
Parents Association.
His children have both
enjoyed their high school
years at Glenaeon with
Hannah finishing Year
12 last year and Lincoln
currently doing his HSC.
His wife Michele
enjoys her involvement
with the school in
managing the Treasure
Chest at Castle Crag.
Professionally Earle
is an experienced
General Manager,
CFO and Consultant
who has worked for
several entrepreneurial
and Australian listed
companies, mainly
requiring significant
organisational change,
development and growth.
He has guided
three companies,
Freedom Furniture,
Mortgage Choice and BT
Investment Management
through Australian
stock exchange listings
and directed two large
mergers. Earle is a
Chartered Accountant
having started his career
with Price Waterhouse
in audit and business
advisory services.
...and
moving on
Martin Porteous
Tracey Puckeridge
Ray Shorrocks
Malcolm Day
Martin’s two teenage
children (now Year 10
and Year 11) both joined
Glenaeon after their
primary schooling at
Kamaroi. Martin is the
Manager of INALA Day
Services and member
of the Executive at
INALA, a Steiner-based
Disability organization,
and is responsible
for the coordination
of staff training and
development. He is the
Australian representative
of the Executive of
ARSCESTA (Steiner based
disability organisations
in Australia) at the
International Conference
of Social Therapy and
Curative Education at the
Goetheanum in Dornach,
Switzerland.
Having originally
studied Arts/Law at
UNSW, Martin has been
actively involved with
Anthroposophy and
associated work for over
35 years. Prior to his
involvement with Inala
he graduated from a
Steiner- based Speech
and Drama training,
and worked as writer,
performer, director and
teacher in Australia,
England, USA and Europe
for ten years.
He has been a
Director of Sydney Rudolf
Steiner College for ten
years (Steiner-based Adult
Education) and a member
of Council since 2007.
Tracey Puckeridge
was a Class Teacher for
14 years at Casuarina
Steiner School, Coffs
Harbour. During this time
she fulfilled leadership
roles as a College
Executive member,
College Chair, Deputy
Principal and was a
Board Director for eight
years. Tracey joined the
Glenaeon Council in 2012
and has enjoyed her
time getting to know the
Glenaeon community.
Tracey is currently the
CEO of Steiner Education
Australia. This position
gives her a national
picture of the Steiner
education movement in
Australia and she holds
key stakeholder positions
representing SEA at state,
territory and national
government levels.
Last year Tracey was
invited to be a member
of the International
Forum for Steiner/
Waldorf Education and
represents Australia at
these meetings, which
gives a broad ranging
perspective of the growth
of the Steiner movement
globally, as well as future
issues and current
educational trends.
Tracey was also
recently elected to the
Board of the Association
of Independent Schools
of NSW, continuing
a long tradition of
Glenaeon’s involvement
with the peak body for
independent schools
across the state.
Ray has been a parent
at Glenaeon since 2002
and his three children
have all attended the
school, with Hamish
currently in Year 9 and
Margot in Class 6.
Ray is a Director of
Patersons Securities
Limited and Heads
the Corporate Finance
Department in Sydney.
He is also the Chairman
of an ASX listed
company and a director
of a number of private
companies. Ray has
worked in the Investment
Banking industry for
more than 20 years. Prior
to his role at Patersons,
Ray was the Head of
Corporate Finance at
BBY Limited. Ray is
highly conversant and
experienced in all areas
of mergers & acquisitions
and equity capital
markets, including
a significant track
record of transactions
in the metals and
mining, industrials and
property sectors.
Malcolm has been
a member of Glenaeon
School Council for over
ten years.
Educated as an
architect, Malcolm has
enjoyed a long and varied
career in architecture and
all facets of the building
industry. As a director,
he has contributed an
enormous amount to the
school over his time on the
Council, playing a major
role in the planning and
oversight of the significant
building projects that the
school has undertaken
over the past ten years on
all our campuses:
»» The Arts/ Science
building at Middle Cove;
»» The Marion Mahony
Griffin Hall and the
BER development at
Castlecrag;
»» The renovations to the
property in Willoughby
to create the Glenaeon
Preschool.
Prior to that Malcolm
was a very involved
parent, sending his four
children and a step son
to Glenaeon: he even
trained as a teacher and
was one of the last student
teachers to be trained
by Glenaeon’s founder
Sylvia Brose. Malcolm’s
wife Joy Day continues
to be an active organiser
and contributor to our
Parent and Community
Education program: we
thank Malcolm for his
outstanding contribution
to the school and wish him
and Joy all good things
in the future.
Page
5
AEON Issue Five July 2013
A letter to the future
In 1912 Captain Robert Falcon Scott lay dying of starvation and cold in a tent on the
Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. One of his companions in the tent was a doctor called
Edward Wilson who as well as being a medical practitioner was a gifted artist and the
zoologist on the expedition. Wilson’s love of nature, particularly birds, had inspired his
friend Scott to be more attuned to the natural world and its wonders than he had been
before, and as he lay dying Scott wrote a last letter to his wife, a heart-breaking final
letter if ever there was one, making a plea for his son’s future:
You see I am anxious
for you and the boy's
future — make the
boy interested in
Nature if you can, it
is better than sport —
they encourage it at
some schools — I know
you will keep him out
in the open air.
Page
6
his remarkable last letter,
written with a frozen pencil in
a temperature of –50 Celsius,
was found many months later
buried in snow with the bodies
of the explorers. His wife did as
requested and the boy Peter Scott
grew up to be a well known artist
and illustrator, and a leading pioneer
of the conservation movement.
He mentored the young Sir Davis
Attenborough and in particular
founded an organisation in the UK
called the Wildfowl and Wetlands
Trust (WWT) which has been active
in preserving bird habitats and
eco systems, and running wetland
visitor centres educating children
on conservation issues.
To mark the 100 years since
Scott's Antarctica expedition,
the WWT ran a competition
throughout the UK to find an
inspiring letter. Scott’s last
letter, written at the other end
of the world 100 years ago, has
resulted in the international work
of the WWT fostering the care
and protection of the natural world.
The WWT wanted to find a letter
that might be just as inspiring in
another 100 years time.
T
And the connection to Glenaeon?
The winning letter was written by
Brent Astley Richards who is the
uncle of Warwick and Jack Taylor
in Classes 5 and 6. The letter
was chosen from 600 entries and
selected by a panel of celebrity
wildlife broadcasters one of whom
is taking some of the top letters to
Antarctica where she will post them
from the most southerly post office
in the world to all schools in the UK.
As one of the judges said of the
winning letter, "We have to inspire
our youngsters to get close to nature,
not just for their own benefit but
also so that they will protect our
environment in the future.
"It’s mindboggling how Captain
Scott’s letter, written thousands
of miles away and a hundred years
ago, has resulted all these years
later in WWT saving endangered
bird species around the world and
running wetland visitor centres
around the UK which get children
close to nature. Just imagine
what Brent Astley Richards’ letter
might accomplish a hundred years
from now?"
Yes, its extraordinary how a
single heroic action can continue
doing good for so long after. The
letter speaks for itself, encouraging
children to switch off their
computers and go and see the
immense variety of wildlife (in
Britain). It’s a letter to children
in the UK but the message is for
al children everywhere, a letter we
publish in AEON as a message to
our children here. 
The winning letter
Dear: Children of Great Britain
Thank you to Heather
for passing on her
brother Brent’s letter.
His sentiments are
exactly those that
we would want a
Glenaeon education
to promote in our
students.
We trust his letter
will inspire children
everywhere to be
committed to the
natural world around
them and work
creatively in nurturing
our natural heritage.
I am writing to you because:
You alone hold our future and indeed the future of all living things in your
hands. Past generations have made a real mess of our planet but at long last
we are all beginning to learn that we can and must make a difference. Over
the last fifty years or so we have made great headway against the seemingly
insurmountable problems of indifference, ignorance, political necessity and
corporate greed but there is much still to be done. When I was a boy in the
1950’s most of our rivers were so polluted they held little if any wildlife, now
most are clean and healthy and once again full of fish, we need to keep them
that way. On the other hand in those days I could often hear the wonderful
song of the Nightingale or wander through hay meadows full of wild flowers
and butterflies, sadly much of that environment has since disappeared.
We need to save as much as we can of what we have left and recreate those
environments wherever possible.
In 2013 would you do one thing for me:
Many of you love your computers so to start with, look up wild birds, wild
flowers, insects and wild animals and see what an immense variety surround
us. Did you know for example that we have the fastest creature on earth here
in the UK and it can be seen in most cities. It’s the Peregrine Falcon and it
can reach speeds of over 180mph. We have snakes, lizards, bats, a moth that
looks like a Humming Bird, a bird that walks along the bottom of rivers and
one that flies nonstop for more that three years, all things that you could
see. All you have to do is switch off your computer and go for a walk. But
when you go for the walk take a long hard look at your environment. If you
see a wild flower take a good look at it but don’t damage it, look at its shape
its colour, the leaves and where it grows. Look at the birds, their colour, the
shape of their beaks, did you know that the shape of the beak will often tell
you what they eat. Fat beaks are usually for breaking into seeds, thin for
eating insects, long for poking into tree bark or down into mud. When you
finish the walk go home and write down the best bits and think what you
could do to help our wild creatures.
This is important because:
The only creature on this planet capable of destroying it, is man. We all
need to be aware that we survive because of the natural balance of nature,
a balance we are in great danger of upsetting completely. You all hold
the future of this planet in your hands and only you can determine its
ultimate fate.
Glenaeon Middle Cove
Campus pathway
From: Brent Astley Richards
Page
7
AEON Issue Five July 2013
Fine Motor
and More
“An entire generation of children are losing their motor skills
because of a chronic addiction to technology such as smartphones and iPads...
The situation is so desperate that a growing number of parents are turning
to physio and occupational therapists to help build muscle tone in their
children’s hands and arms.” From a recent article in the Daily Telegraph (May 4th)
While it might be true that some media outlets are prone to exaggeration, there
may also be a grain of truth here. Yes, it’s a danger our school have been warning
about for many years. The chickens are coming home to roost as the long term
and age-inappropriate use of technology starts to be noticeable.
And what are the strategies that professionals are suggesting to remedy this
desperate situation?
“(At one school) children ...spend time playing with plasticine, threading beads
on fishing line and playing with clothes pegs to practice the “pincer grip”
essential for handwriting.”
I read this article somewhat incredulously. Are they serious?
“...playing with clothes pegs to practice pincer grip”..? Clothes pegs?!?
How do we build fine motor skills at Glenaeon?
1. Kindergarten
Kindy is one big "pincer grip"
factory: baking, bread making,
building, cleaning, weaving, finger
knitting, sewing, winding, cooking,
tidying, wax modelling…it goes
on. All activities are full of will, full
of busy, purposeful fingers doing
important, purposeful things. Then
comes Class 1...
2. Writing before reading
Our approach to literacy is
founded on movement as children
naturally learn through movement.
To ensure children learn to read in
an age-appropriate, child-friendly
manner, we teach them to write their
letters first, and then read second.
The writing is active movement
and needs to come first, while
reading which is passive should
come second. The act of writing
practises "pincer grip", or as we call
it, "pencil grip": the teacher spends a
significant amount of time modelling
and practising the qualities of this
kind of grip, knowing that bad
habits established in Class 1 can be
life-long. The emphasis on writing
strengthens the hand and fingers,
and is the foundation on which good
fine motor control is established.
Page
8
3. Drawing
We teach drawing simultaneously
with writing for an important reason,
one in addition to the artistic reason
of being able to create imaginative
and beautiful representations of
story images. Holding a stick crayon
reinforces pencil grip, further building
fine motor control.
4. Musical instruments
Playing a musical instrument is
based on ear-hand coordination.
Playing recorder every morning not
only builds fine motor control, it
also builds musicality, and of course
creates beautiful music that uplifts
the soul.
5. Craft
Knitting and sewing are real
life, adult skills that produce real
products that are both useful and
beautiful, like bini’s, scarves, dolls
and toys. They build eye-hand
coordination, and both skills depend
on the "pincer grip" so essential
for pencil grip. They also build a
healthy self confidence and sense
of achievement.
Using Professor Howard
Gardner’s understanding of
multi-intelligences, we could say
that at Glenaeon we establish
fine motor coordination through
four different intelligences:
»» Linguistic intelligence:
writing
»» Visual intelligence:
drawing
»» Musical intelligence:
recorder playing
»» Kinesthetic intelligence:
handcrafts.
Using our own words, we
can say head (writing), heart
(art and music) and hand (craft)
work together to build the child’s
fine motor skills, a perfectly
balanced approach that builds
balanced human beings.
hese are the very reasons why
we have no technology in our
primary classrooms: it’s not
because we don’t like technology
(we do!), it’s not because we can’t
afford technology (it’s cheap!), it’s not
because we don’t know how to use
technology (it’s easy!). It’s because
these human skills need to be
established first in this essential early
time. It’s because good education
demands a balanced, human-centred
foundation as its very core.
The lifelong benefits of fine motor
control can lead to unexpected
career choices. Glenaeon alumni
Dr Tom Thorvaldson is a surgeon in
Maitland, NSW. In his early years at
our school he learned to write, draw,
play recorder, knit and sew, and as
a young medical student a senior
surgeon complimented him on his
very neat stitching of a major wound.
The compliment led him to consider
his specialty options, and today he
happily continues to use his fine
motor skills in life-saving surgery. 
T
We should thank the Daily Telegraph for presenting such important news on the
state of childhood today. If ever we needed vindication for our approach, this is it.
This article by writer Nikki Gemmell appeared in a recent edition of The
Australian. It’s a beautiful piece and we have an answer for Nikki: in the past
term Class 6 learned The Man From Snowy River, and Year 8, embarking on
their Shakespeare Main Lesson, learned a number of sonnets.
Learning poetry in either a main lesson or in Morning Circle continues
to be a standard part of the Glenaeon curriculum from kindergarten to the
senior high school. Any parent could tell Nikki that at this Aussie school,
all students learn poetry by heart.
Her article is worth a read to remind us of the importance of the spoken
poetic word, and we thank her for permission to reprint in AEON.
My kids don'’t
learn poetry by heart
in their Aussie schools
Nikki Gemmell
The golden hour. An Aussie beach, an evening of heavenly clearness.
Several families around a fire, tummies full of snags and steak.
he sparklers have all been
sparkled by the kids – whirligigs
and words in the sky, too brief!
And the glow-sticks are losing
their potency. The world is settling,
exhaling at last. Suddenly, a voice.
“There was movement at the
station...” The entire poem: 104 lines,
by heart. One by one we're reeled
in, caught; especially the children
who’ve never heard of the colt that
got away, of the galloping rhythms of
Australian recital. By an urban bloke,
no less, who none of us knew had it
in him; a shine in him as he sat there
and stunned us all.
The voice, the words washed over
each adult, stilling us with a great
calm of reverie and wonder. Oddly,
it didn’t feel out of place among
state-of-the-art beach recliners and
iPhones. Most of us were astounded
our friend could remember the poem
at all. “Mum taught me as a kid,”
he shrugged quietly. “I’ve never
forgotten it.”
Shortly afterwards, I did a TEDx
talk in Brisbane. These talks are
meant to be memorised rather
than delivered with notes; it’s a
feature of their tightly controlled
presentation. But the words felt
like they were hanging on by their
fingernails, they lost their grip too
much; mortified, I surrendered to
palm cards. My mind just refused
T
to relax and unfurl amid the mad
fracturing of motherhood, work,
age, life. So much in my head,
too much! I willed my brain to
astound me that day and resolutely,
disappointingly, it didn’t.
Learning by heart is a form of
mental exercise; leave it untended
and the ability rusts away. Like
handwriting and shoelace-tying,
its significance is fading in this
modern world. Memorising anything
at length now feels like an agility,
a marvel, that's being lost amid
everything, instantly, on tap;
screens are constantly at the ready,
in front of us and in our pockets,
for whatever we want. Recital’s
no longer taught in schools. NYU
professor Catherine Robson’s book
Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the
Memorized Poem looks at recitation
from last century, when it was
part of the classroom curriculum.
Why do it? To cultivate a love of
literature, to boost self-confidence,
to improve the speaking voice, to
exercise and strengthen the brain –
and to maintain a connection with
the poet. “If we do not learn by
heart,” Robson writes, “the heart
does not feel the rhythms of poetry
as echoes or variations of its own
insistent beat.”
Poets are big on recital. Russian
Joseph Brodsky demanded his
students memorise a thousand lines
per semester. Why? To prepare
them for later life, he reasoned, for
whatever might be flung at them;
to provide solace. During his exile
in the Arctic by the Soviets he was
grateful for every piece of poetry he
had in his head. Aung San Suu Kyi
kept her mind exercised during her
own long imprisonment by learning
a new poem every day. In the end
she’d memorised Tennyson’s and
Yeats’ complete works.
My kids don't learn poetry by
heart in their Aussie schools. In
London they were forced to, for an
annual, compulsory, school-wide
competition. Five-year-olds were
reciting mostly nursery rhymes
but the older kids were diving into
Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Lear. It
was wonderful to witness. The sheer
skill of it; the way their little minds
would absorb the poem’s rhythm,
beauty, narrative muscularity. I wish
they'd do something similar here.
We have a vast tradition of bush
poetry that feels like it’s not written
for the page but the voice.
A campfire voice, just as I heard
on that wondrous night recently,
which felt like we were suddenly
afforded a direct line to the poet.
Banjo Paterson felt close, thrillingly,
for an arrested moment, and then
life took over once again... 
Page
9
AEON Issue Five July 2013
a successful disaster
Titanic: The Musical
Earlier this year there was a triumphant tragedy, and our magicians of stage and song
(Musical Director Manu Prasad, and Directors Liz Chan and Scott Henderson) worked their
annual alchemy on Year 10 and turned them into performing gold: the show was entertaining,
engrossing and engaging from start to finish with beautiful ensemble work across the cast.
Congratulations to Year 10 for a fabulous performance, one that impressed for
the balance between all the roles, and the uplifting and moving finales. The show played to
three well attended houses. As always a large group of backstage supporters provided the
foundation for the show, including school staff and many parents, and we thank all involved
for the huge effort that brought this unique show to the Glenaeon stage.
Page
10
Page
11
AEON Issue Five July 2013
Festivals
Hymn to the Sun
Once again thou flamest heavenward; once again we see thee rise.
Every morning is thy birthday, gladdening human hearts and eyes.
Every morning here we greet it, bowing lowly down before thee,
Thee the Godlike, thee the changeless, in thine ever-changing skies.
Shadow-maker, shadow-slayer, arrowing light from clime to clime,
Hear thy myriad laureates hail thee, monarch in their woodland rhyme.
Warble bird, and open flower, and, men below the dome of azure
Kneel adoring Him the Timeless, in the flame that measures Time!
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Akbar’s Dream
Mid--Winter
ur MidWinter festival marked
the time of the year when
the sun reached its lowest
arc, otherwise known as the winter
solstice, and we celebrate this
moment on so many levels.
For the younger children there is
the moment to be aware of the sun
and its annual journey. The journey
moves from the high arc of summer
when from the zenith, the sun can
beat down so relentlessly, to this
time of its lowest arc when the pale
light of the winter sun seems unable
to fend off the winter chill. Through
all its changing journey, the sun
provides a constant source of that
most remarkable and immaterial
entity, light.
Our MidWinter Festival is for
the children, a reminder of our
dependence on this most elusive
and profound of earthly experiences.
When each child /student in
the school lights his or her own
individual candle in the darkened
hall, it is an image of each one’s own
unique spark of being, derived from
a central light, and there for each one
to carry on our own unique journey,
no matter how dark or challenging
the way ahead may seem.
For adults in our community
the festival celebrating the longest
night of the year is a time to pause
and ponder on light itself, this
most elusive of mysteries which
we value as the foundation of life
on earth: the nature of light, the
nature of our own mind, the deeper
O
Page
12
reaches of our being and what
guides us on our journey.
The candle flame of the festival
can be an image for us of many
things, even a starting point for
renewing our own consciousness.
As Professor Arthur Zajonc points
out it in his magisterial survey of the
history of human understandings
of light Catching the Light: The
entwined history of light and mind,
humanity has strived to understand
light in so many different ways
through history.
What is this outer light to us
today? We have definitions from
Physics, but even the great Albert
Einstein, who knew what he was
talking about, came to a point of
admitting he could not actually
say what light is. He remarked
at the end of a long career spent
studying light:
“All the fifty years of conscious
brooding have brought me no
closer to the answer to the question,
“What are light quanta (ie what is
light)?” Of course today every rascal
thinks he knows the answer, but he
is deluding himself.”
Earlier traditions experienced light in
more unconscious ways:
“I am the one who openeth his eyes,
and there is light;
When his eyes close, darkness
falleth.”
Egyptian god Ra,
from an inscription, 1300 BC
Through many cultures and
history, light has been seen as a
divine being, an ethereal substance
honoured as a spiritual force given
to provide a guide to humanity on
earth: the gods Krishna (India), Ahura
Mazdao (Persian), Ra (Egyptian),
Apollo (Greek and Roman) all
were the light bearers of their
respective cultures.
As Dr Steiner was at pains to
point out continually, these spiritual
traditions of mankind find their high
point and consummation in the new
tradition that marks the birth of a
new consciousness and civilization:
“I AM the light of the world: he who
follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
Gospel of St John 8, 12
Our MidWinter festival can be
approached on many levels. This
year we began our community
festival in the evening with a mug of
warm punch by the fire, a very warm
and human social beginning to this
festival that celebrates an eternal
cosmic rhythm. 
Class 5
Indian Feast
arlier this year Class Five
begin a chronological sequence
of epoch studies that extends
to Class Eight: Ancient India, Persia,
Egypt, Greece, Rome, Medieval
Europe, the Renaissance and the
Age of Revolution.
This year Prue Ritchie and
her Class began the year with
the study of Ancient India. The
children’s experiences over the
course of this unit serve as a good
example of the approach that both
fires the imagination and embues
a love of learning.
Integrated into the lessons are
experiences in the arts – dance,
painting, song, speech and drama.
The children learned the Gayatri
Mantra, most revered of mantras,
and one spoken by children each
day in schools all over India.
They sang songs, wrote
Sanskrit, practised the Rangoli
forms – the traditional patterns that
welcome the deities. They learned
traditional dance movements and
donned saris. All these experiences
are powerful foundations for the
development of positive interest
in the world and healthy respect
for other cultures.
The stories from the Ramayana
that are told each day in this
Main Lesson are amongst the
most ancient in the world. The
students listened and creatively
reconstructed the tales in their
main lesson books.
E
This year the stories also
acted as a wonderful vehicle for
developing the children’s use of
evocative and descriptive language.
Exploring similes they created their
own word pictures of the dramas.
In their writings:
»» “Sita’s beauty shone like the stars
on a moonless night”,
»» “Ravana, the lord of the demons,
… fell to the ground like a tree
in a thunderous storm”,
»» “Sita was seated in the flowers
like a beautiful lotus floating
silently and calmly”; and
»» “Ravana carried Sita through
the air like a cloud flashing
with lightning.”
Towards the end of this Main
Lesson, along with many parents
and teachers I watched Prue’s Class
Five perform a selection from the
Ramayana; a substantial and much
practised performance of song and
dance and speech-work. They did so
very well. The following day though,
saw them repeat the performance
– all of it, on their own insistence –
for our Assembly. I think that they
were all taller. They had taken hold
of something and all stepped out
into the world with just that bit more
confidence and strength.
At that same UNESCO
gathering in 1994 in Switzerland
Arthur Zajonc, keynote speaker at
the Glenaeon teachers conference
in 2012, had this to say of Steiner
school graduates: “they possess
the eye of the discoverer, and
the compassionate heart of the
reformer which, when joined to a
task, can change the planet.”
The Main Lesson experiences,
from the imaginative world of
Class 1 to the richly intellectual
challenges of the senior school give
our students the strength of an
inner picture of the evolving human
consciousness and encourage the
development of that invaluable
quality – truly creative thinking. 
Elizabeth Baxendale
Class Teacher and
Appraisal Coordinator
Page
13
AEON Issue Five July 2013
From the book, ‘Beyond Winning: Smart Parenting in a Toxic Sports Environment’
by Kim John Payne, Luis Fernando Llosa, Scott Lancaster
ten tenets
of a balanced
whole youth sports experience
eyond Winning’ provides frustrated parents with help in the form of
advice and concrete solutions to common questions, and step-by-step
instructions for helping young children develop athletic ability in an
environment that’s less structured while encouraging athletic and personal
growth. It also reveals how to avoid bullying, sledging, and elitism.
Consider these principles to provide an ideal balance of active and
educational play and foster a healthy mix of mental and physical development
in your child athlete each year.
‘B
Kim John Payne is an Australian Movement
teacher and Steiner educator who has developed
a high profile in the UK and the US for building
sports programs in Steiner schools. His new
book will be out in August. ‘Beyond Winning’
offers an alternative approach to teaching
sports to children. It deemphasizes short-term
goals like winning and youth championships
and discourages the introduction of adultoriented, league-structured competition.
Instead it emphasizes training techniques
and coaching strategies aimed at improving
core strength, balance, and creativity in
aspiring athletes, using an age-appropriate
four-stage timeline, based on a child’s physical,
psychological, and neurological development.
1. Play one sport per season
When a child plays more than one
sport, they often end up with little
free time. Children need downtime
to exhale, regroup and recharge
emotionally. They also need to rest
and recover physically from training
and, of course, time to properly
focus on school work. What’s
more, a cluttered athletic schedule
impinges on all-important family
time, essential to the development of
healthy, supportive family ties. The
bottom line: a child should be able to
fully enjoy one particular sport rather
than be overcommitted and harried.
Fun, not frenzy, is the key.
2. Play different sports during
different seasons
Kim John Payne
Page
14
Avoid specialization at an early
age, or at any age, for that matter;
it is problematic both physically and
mentally. Children need a variety
of athletic experiences to develop
better motor skills and limit burn-out.
Playing different sports also helps
prevent wear-and-tear injuries (seen
surprisingly frequently nowadays
in children as young as nine or ten)
and, most importantly, keeps them
passionate about playing well into
adolescence and beyond. Forcing
children to develop one sport at
the expense of others can turn
training into a grind and playing into
a perpetual performance review,
rather than what it should be: fun
and invigorating.
3. Play competitive sports
a maximum of three seasons
per year
Take one or two seasons off
to discover and explore other
activities that are challenging, but
not necessarily team oriented. This
expands an athlete’s skill set and
broadens his or her perspective.
After consecutive seasons of soccer,
basketball, and lacrosse, for example,
the stress of competition can wear
on a youth. Relaxing or trying
something different like surfing,
kayaking, hiking, or even fishing, is
a great way to learn, achieve balance,
and rest mind and body for next
year’s athletic endeavours.
4. Engage your child in at least
one activity per year which
involves the development and
mastery of balance
Balance is an often overlooked,
yet vital, cornerstone of athletic
development. Most sports
require young athletes to find or
maintain balance during the flow of
competition, while attempting to
execute other actions like a hockey
slap-shot, a golf shot, rebounding a
basketball, or completing an infield
play. Work on improving balance
helps a child develop core strength
and rotational force, which is vital
for optimal performance in sports.
Incorporating a balancing activity
that is both fun and challenging (like
skateboarding, mountain biking,
skiing, or snowboarding) is a great
way to improve a young athlete’s
capabilities in a favourite team sport.
5. Study the history of a sport
you play
Children should not miss the
opportunity to get to know the
colourful background of their
favourite sports. Learning about
how, when, and where the sport
was invented and how it has evolved
will give them a great historical
perspective and deeper appreciation
for the sport.
6. Learn all the rules of the
sport your child plays
Many athletes have found that
a thorough knowledge of rules of
the sport they play deepens their
understanding and can give them
a distinct competitive advantage.
For example, even at the elite
professional level, PGA golfers have
learned the hard way what can
happen when you make decisions
mid-tournament without a proper
grasp of the rules. Such errors have
cost them strokes and thousands if
not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Raymond Berry, retired NFL New
England Patriots head football coach,
was famous for quizzing his players
and carefully reviewing the rules
with them at least once a week.
Berry believed that with a thorough,
frequently refreshed grasp of the
rules, his players would have a better
understanding of how the game is
played, and therefore make fewer
mental mistakes and have a distinct
advantage over their opponents.
7. Arrange for your young
8. Provide children with
practices that challenge and
engage them
This suggestion applies to both
parents in their backyards and
youth sports coaches. We often
hear that children don’t want to
attend practice or learn a new
skill: “practice is boring;” “it’s not
fun;” “I’m not getting any better.”
Many youth sports coaches have
little time to prepare, or lack the
knowledge to run a practice that
teaches the fundamentals but is
also dynamic enough to engage
every child. Practices often devolve
into scrimmages, where coaches
teach little, and groups of children
are forced to sit, watch and wait.
Whether you are at home or at a
team practice, you should do your
homework, consult the experts,
and set up a circuit to engage
and challenge kids when you are
teaching them fundamentals and
technique. Children should be rotated
frequently between drill stations
to keep them physically active and
mentally engaged. Parents and
coaches should make sure to spend
as little time as possible explaining
things verbally to players. It’s better
to show them what you want them
to learn. If you do need to talk with
them, engage them in conversation
rather than lecturing them. Elicit
observations from your child or the
team. They will surprise you with
their acute insights on what they are
doing well and what they need to
focus on more to improve.
athlete to help coach a team
at a younger age level
9. For older children, teach
If you’ve ever had to teach,
you understand the amount of
preparation that goes into doing a
good job. Teaching also provides you
with a great learning experience.
The very fact that you are required
to explain something to someone
forces you to think through the entire
process and understand it much
more clearly. Providing a young
athlete with the opportunity to coach
(or assistant coach) a younger child
or team is a great training experience
for him or her: learning through
teaching can translate directly into
deeper understanding and improved
performance on the field.
The best way to understand how
something works or why you’re
doing a particular exercise is to
educate youth athletes by showing
them how the body works: what
muscles and joints are involved
in sports activities, and why it’s
important that they be developed
to increase strength and avoid
injury. Introducing your youth
athlete to the body’s anatomy is an
important first step in understanding
how the body works (for book
or DVD recommendations visit
www.wholechildsports.com).
10. Train the Brain –
Build/Create/Problem Solve
An important, often overlooked
element of athletic development
is cognitive development. When
children play in their backyards, or
at the park with friends, and make
up games, build tree forts or design
obstacle courses, they are actively
learning how to think and problemsolve. When engaged in novel
tasks they have to learn to make
adjustments and work out solutions.
In organized sports, children are
often given too much instruction
before, during and after games, and
not allowed to figure things out for
themselves. Coaches bark orders
about playing in position rather than
allowing children to learn from their
mistakes and adjust on the fly.
Challenge your children at home
and then find a coach who does
the same on the field. Start by
setting up areas in your house for
creative play and experimentation.
Introduce new things they can
build in the living room or backyard.
Change their environment: Take
your kid for an exploration hike or
bike ride. These varied experiences
help them develop creativity and
adaptivity, critical building blocks
of cognitive development which
will complement their physical and
emotional growth. 
them how their bodies work
Page
15
AEON Issue Five July 2013
Glenaeon 2013
U nder 14
Girls H ockey
co mplete
an u nbeaten
s eason
Sport
Netball Legend at Glenaeon
ne of Australia’s greatest netball
players, Anne Sargeant OAM
visited the Middle Cove campus
for a coaching session with the
school’s Netball teams.
Anne represented Australia for
eleven years from 1978-1988 and
captained the Australian Team for
six years from 1983-1988. Anne
retired in 1988 leaving behind a
record which will almost certainly
never be matched. Her outstanding
contribution and achievement in
netball was further recognised with
the award of an Order of Australia
in 1988 and in 2003 the award of
“Sydney's Greatest Netballer Ever”.
Anne coached an enthusiastic
and awe-struck team of girls
through some basic skills, team
work, drills, partner work, fitness
and goal shooting. Anne said she
was delighted to be passing on her
experience to another generation of
keen netball players.
She offered her coaching skills
as a fund-raising auction item for
the Sydney Cancer Council. Mother
of a team member, and teacher
at Glenaeon, Donna Miller bid on
O
Page
16
Anne’s offer and was delighted
when she won.
The Glenaeon netball team goes
into their next match fuelled with
enthusiasm after being coached by
a world champion.
Background
During her time with the
Australian Netball team Anne played
in three World Championships
where Australia was equal first with
Trinidad and Tobago in 1979 and
achieved first place in 1983. This
included the tour of Wales in 1985
when she captained an undefeated
Australian side and posted a career
personal best of three consecutive
100% shooting games.
Anne Sargeant was also a
member of the NSW Netball from
1978–1988 and captain of the team
from 1982 until 1988, in these last
eight years leading her team to an
impressive four Australian titles.
In 1987 Anne was inducted into
the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame
and in 1988 she was admitted to
the NSW Hall of Champions. 
Hockey
he Glenaeon Under 14 Girls
Hockey team won their
last game 2-0 and thereby
completed an unbeaten season to
emerge outright winners of their
grade. Congratulations to all the girls,
and particularly to their coach and
Sport teacher Kat Evonley who has
put so much effort into developing
skills and building the team. 
T
Well done to all!
open
day
er 100
good crowd of ov
for Open
us
visitors joined
wa
sa
d
an
,
ril
Ap
Day in
rooms
ss
cla
nt
total of 23 differe
it
s:
lay
sp
di
or
d/
in action an
t showcase
en
fic
ni
ag
m
a
s
wa
ve campus,
of the Middle Co
prev iew of
culminat ing in a
rs were highly
ito
vis
e
Titanic. Th
ve some
impressed and ga
Many thanks
k.
ac
db
glowing fee
bin Borrud
to Maria Lee, Ro
wick who
rd
Ha
and Deanne
tour guides
acted as parent
visitors around
of
ps
taking grou
the grounds. 
A
Blame it
on the boogie
ur MidWinter Ball Blame it on
the Boogie was an absolute
blast and thoroughly enjoyed by
a full house who discoed the night
away in homage to the Seventies.
As our central social event of the
year, the Ball has come to be a
special event that continually sets
high standards. Our warm and
special thanks go to Year 7 parents
for all the work in planning, hosting,
setting up the hall, and a very quick
and efficient take down. While it’s
invidious to point out individuals
as so many parents did sterling
jobs on the bar, on the food, on
the hall decorations, Class Parent
Representative Stu Tyrrell did an
enormous job behind the scenes and
we thank him for his coordination.
The night will live long in the
memory, so thanks and a serious
well done to all! 
O
Art exhibition
works of mum
huge Thank You to everyone
who was able to contribute
to the Works of Mum
art exhibition.
The show was a lot of fun
to put together, and reading the
accompanying stories was as
interesting as seeing the works
themselves. The show was a
real sharing of family treasures,
memories and contemporary pieces.
It was amazing to see examples
of work from three different
centuries and we had everything
from grandma’s knitting to toys,
trunks, embroidery, plates, quilts,
tapestries, and fine art pieces.
The variety of items all combined
to make the exhibition work as a
fantastic acknowledgement of our
mothers, grandmothers, aunties,
and great grandmothers. So thanks
again everyone for embracing the
idea and providing such wonderful
material to work with!
Thanks to Glenaeon staff
Sarah, Mary, Margaret, Michael,
and Elizabeth E for providing
the beautiful venue, publicity,
maintenance, and coordinating
A
with parents for the drop off and
collection of the art works. Thanks
also to the PA for their support
in staging the show and to Claire
Brown and Jackie Rawlings for
invaluable help in bumping the show
in and out of the hall.
Best regards to all. 
Jock Brown, Glenaeon Parent
I would like to send HUGE
congratulations to Jock Brown,
Elizabeth Ellean and Claire Brown
and their helpers for a wonderful
inaugural ‘Works of Mum Art Show’
I was fortunate to have two art
works in the show and experienced
firsthand their sensitive preparation
and organisational skills.
Jock’s curation of the cross
generational pieces was particularly
heart warming and I felt honoured to
share in this creative side of many
Gleneaon mums and grand mums.
Thank you Jock for instigating
this show. 
Christine Wiltshier
Page
17
AEON Issue Five July 2013
Glenaeon 2013
Year 11
Some reflect ions
on the trip by Year 11
students
An imaginative recreation of a child’s reflections on
Hermansburg and its Lutheran mission...
In Central Australia
Day 1
Day 11
Term Two 2012
I still didn’t know what was
happening, my mind was not working.
I didn’t understand at first, but when
I caught on I lost it. Why were they
taking me away from my mother?
She had looked after me for 10 years
already. She taught me how to look
after myself and my sisters and
brothers. But they take me away from
her and put me here, with all these
white folk and other kids like me. A
half cast they call us, they put us all in
together and lined us up according to
the colour of our skin. I got picked to
come down to this mission, the only
one for a hundred miles I reckon, they
call it Hermansburg. I wondered how
long till I could see my mother again?
I was told to collect fire wood from the
woods with the other kids today. I felt
like running off, but then I thought
where to? My mother was probably
moved by then and anyway I have a
good life here, food, company. I also
kind of like Paster Schulze’s funny
music. When we try to sing it he gets
this funny smile on his face, I don’t
think we sing it so well.
arly in Term 2 Year 11 returned
from their Central Australian
camp with many stories to
tell. The class visited Uluru, then
spent 5 days working as aides in
the classrooms of Yipirinya school
for indigenous students in Alice
Springs. They finished their visit
with some days on the Lara Pinta
Trail through the MacDonnell
Ranges, one of Australia’s signature
outback experiences.
The trip was led by Senior
College Coordinator Manu Prasad
who has built the relationship with
Yipirinya over the past four trips
to the school. Outdoor Education
Coordinator Scottie Williams
managed logistics and the outdoor
end of the trip, including getting
students up at 2.30 am so they could
walk to the summit of Mt Sonder
to see the sunrise, no mean feat.
Guardians Yura Totsuka and Brigitte
Tietge-Rollans accompanied the
students in this important step in
the students unfolding journey of
understanding one of Australia’s
most significant issues. 
E
Day 2
The other kids seemed happy enough
to be here, all laughing and acting like
the white folk. Going to a thing they
call a ‘church’ and all that. The food
they give us tastes funny not like mum
used to make. The girls and boys are
all split up to sleep. The rooms are so
hot and small for too many bodies. The
other kids don’t seem to mind though.
Day 5
The ‘Paster’ Schulze, he spoke with
a funny accent and his name was
hard to pronounce, but he was
the first white fella I saw to speak
my language. He spoke about our
dreaming stories and didn’t say a
thing about any of ceremonies or
whatever they do, I liked him.
Page
18
Day 24
I went to a Sunday service today; they
played the funny music and talked
about God. Everyone was all dressed
up-like. The stories were almost like
the ones the uncles used to tell us
kids back at home. I thought maybe
this was just another way of saying it.
Paster Schulze’s wife also spoke to us
today; she was a fancy woman with all
the gloves and all that.
Year 8
Paster Schulze has died today. We
walked down with him singing his
favourite songs down the dry river
bed. All of our anguish matched the
suffering he was going through and
he was finally put to rest in the red
dirt where he could become part of
the land.
Camille Karski
What if our lives were
like theirs?
"
As a people we value
our sense of freedom and
believe that we can do
anything we set our minds
to, but what if those options
weren’t available to us?
It’s hard to imagine not
having a sense that you
could become whatever you
pleased because of sheer
disadvantage you suffer,
we often complain about
school, the early wake-ups,
getting out of bed on a cold
day, but just imagine not
even having an option of
going to school, or having
to stay home and look after
your siblings. It’s difficult to
imagine unless you’ve seen
it first hand, by hearing a
teacher talk about a girl in
year 5 staying home to look
after her sisters while her
mum is out, or seeing a girl
rushing over to get seconds
or thirds of lunch because
she has no idea when the
next decent meal is going
to be.
Being amongst these kids
has shown me that special
people can overcome
adversity and that it takes
a special group of people
to care for these kids. The
attachments that you
form with these kids are
unbelievable, in a short
space of time you begin to
feel a certain need to care
for them, and hearing about
how they live and seeing it
is absolutely heartbreaking.
The attachments I’ve formed
will always be in my heart,
especially with one little girl
in particular who I fell in
love with from the moment
I laid eyes on her.
The past few days have
completely changed how
I perceive the world. The
sheer joy on the kids’ faces
as they come into school
is unlike any kind of joy
I have experienced, the fact
that they can get so much
joy from something we as
a western society take for
granted is both beautiful
and heart-breaking at the
same time.
"
Louise Cameron
Year 12
Solo Camp
Thoughts
A gentle tugging
Of a mischievous grin
Brown toes in the dirt
Crack of thirsty leaves
Cry of a lonesome flight
A silent rock
As old as the sky
Scurry of a hurried ant
Red, red sand
A persistent fly
Vast, endless desert
Swirling, rolling olgas
Chatter on the wind
Desperate faces
A singing church
In a subdued town
Patterned pools on a
downward fall
A murky waterhole
An ocean-blue sky
Through silken gums
Pale leaves whisper
An old mission
A past time preserved
Autumnal afternoon sun
Warming spiky brown grass
A child’s laughter sings
A delighted song
Sasha Lee
he 3-day Year 12 Solo camp is
the culmination of the school’s
active wilderness program which
began in Kindergarten with classwalks into the bush around the school.
Over the intervening years the class
has been kayaking, ski touring and
rock climbing to name just three of
the activities as well as worked with
aboriginal children in Central Australia,
giving the program an extended
community dimension as well.
The solo camp has both elements
the wilderness and the community.
The main part of the camp was
spending 30 hours by themselves
in the bush, which may seem
very non community! However,
the independence required to do
this both mental and practical is
in fact a wonderful preparation
for participating in society in an
independent and resourceful way.
It does not train hermits! Further,
it gives students, who are in their
final year of schooling and about to
step out into the world, a chance
to contemplate their past and their
future in a detached way.
It is very possible that they will
never get such an opportunity again.
There was a more direct community
dimension to the camp as well,
because on the final day the students
were instructed in and carried out
revegetating a disturbed native
landscape, planting 180 trees. They
will have heard political messages
emphasising the importance of
revegetation schemes in Australia,
and this was an opportunity
to experience the process and
understand its difficulties. 
T
Donna Miller & Nigel Hoffmann
Year 12 Guardians
Page
19
Donations and
the Glenaeon Foundation
Gifts
often think of Isaac Newton’s
famous comment: If I have seen
further it is by standing on
the shoulders of giants. He was
admitting that his own unique and
ground-breaking work was always
based on the work of those who
went before him.
How often this applies to all of us.
We can assume we are cutting edge,
doing new things, breaking new
ground, reaching for new horizons,
and we may be. But the ground we
are breaking out from, the edge we
are cutting beyond, the ground we
stand on as we reach for that new
horizon…was established by those
who went before us. A mature sense
of reality for any individual, and any
organisation, is the sense of the gift
from the past on which we stand
which enables us to do the work we
ourselves are destined to achieve.
At Glenaeon I am constantly
reminded of that gift, and how we
can so easily take it for granted.
We stand on the shoulders of the
founding parents, teachers and
friends of Glenaeon who dedicated
so much work, money and good
will to establishing the first Steiner
school in Australia. From a founding
Kindergarten class of three students,
their efforts have left us a legacy of
a Preschool to Year 12 school spread
over three campuses: the combined
number of those enjoying a rich
Steiner education from Playgroups
through to Year 12 at Glenaeon now
totals over 500 children.
Virtually all of our facilities were
financed by extensive fund-raising
within the school by teachers,
parents and friends through the 70’s
and 80’s: the Castlecrag campus,
the Sylvia Brose Hall, our classrooms
at Middle Cove were funded by the
generosity of the community during
I
Page
20
those decades. The only facilities
not funded by community were the
Marion Mahony Griffin Hall and the
two classroom spaces at Castlecrag
which both came from the very
recent Commonwealth government
BER program. The Arts/Science
building at Middle Cove was built
on a bank loan with some bank debt
still in our financial mix.
The simple reality for independent
schools is that tuition fees only
fund the school’s delivery of the
curriculum: the small surpluses that
are generated each year go to the
upkeep and maintenance of existing
facilities. Any new facilities need
to be financed by other sources of
funding. Long term planning for the
future can only be built on other
streams of funding that are over and
above tuition fees.
We have many plans for future
developments at Glenaeon including
the following:
»» New Buildings: Our masterplan
envisages a number of buildings
that will complete our suite
of resources and provide the
optimum of facilities for our
students;
»» Sylvia Brose Hall Appeal: our
iconic hall at Middle Cove, so
central to the life of the school
for so long, is now nearly 30
years old, and in need of a serious
refurbishment;
»» Scholarships: we have long
wanted to widen the possibility of
access to our school by providing
scholarships to students who
could not otherwise attend,
including indigenous students;
»» Bursaries: each year the school
provides support for current
families who find themselves in
financial difficulties.
ast year the school established
the Glenaeon Foundation to
start this important process of
community-building and fund-raising
that all independent schools need to
address increasingly in the future.
Many years ago Glenaeon employed
a professional fund-raiser who was
active in raising the funds needed
for establishing our current facilities
but the school has not embarked on
any significant fund-raising for nearly
20 years.
With the needs of the future
of the school very much in mind,
the new Glenaeon Foundation
determined that as a matter of
urgency we should appoint a
Director of Development. This
position is now common in
independent schools: the task is to
establish a culture of philanthropy
in the school and to build the
relationships and community
support that will raise significant
funds for our future. This role is one
requiring specific professional skills
and experience and we needed to
cast the net wide to find the right
person able to step into the role.
After an extensive search we
selected Nicole Crabb as the
successful candidate. Nicole brings
a background in marketing at senior
levels in the corporate world, as
well as running her own marketing
consultancy: much of her work has
been involved in building networks
and partnerships across businesses
so we are confident she will provide
the school with considerable
professional expertise in building
the networks with parents, alumni
and the wider community that will
support our needs into the future.
Nicole is excited about working at
Glenaeon and is eager to become
part of our community.
L
Nicole Crabb
Dear Friends
Nicole also has experience in
social media and one of her tasks
will be to upgrade our social media
presence: watch out for some new
social media initiatives keeping you
up to date with school events!
The Glenaeon Foundation has
established two key funds for
gifts to the school, both with
deductible gift recipient (DGR)
status meaning all contributions
are tax deductible:
»» The Glenaeon Foundation
Building Fund to support capital
works and new buildings; and
»» The Glenaeon Foundation
Scholarship and Bursary Fund
to bring diversity to our community,
to widen access to our education
and to support families over a
period of financial need.
All gifts benefit the children
of the school either directly
or indirectly, they build our
community, and through a gift,
you can be the shoulders on
which the future stands! 
Having now completed one term at Glenaeon and having had
the opportunity to get to know a few of you better, I am excited to
be part of the Glenaeon community. I am convinced on the unique
value of a Rudolf Steiner education and the way in which inner
wholeness is carried out into the global community by our students
and our alumni. I have seen many examples of how our students
and alumni have a strength and security in their thoughts and
actions and are becoming our agents of change, our future thinker
and leaders. It brings me great personal satisfaction and peace of
mind to work for and belong to something that has the potential to
change the world for the better.
For our school, like many independent schools, the cut back
in Government funding will have a strong negative impact, and
we must rely on individuals for our long term financial viability.
Financial gifts, crucial to the school’s survival and existence,
supplement tuition fees, the major financial source.
In every school, a cycle of fundraising events marks the seasons
and helps add to the school’s operating budget. The Annual Giving
Appeal supports the important work of the Glenaeon Foundation
Building Fund and helps underwrite the Glenaeon Foundation
Scholarship Fund. I am delighted to announce that the Annual
Giving Appeal 2013 generated $11,500. While we are starting from
a small base, this represents an increase of 120% on last year’s
appeal. Thank you to those of you who gave most generously to
the Appeal.
Your donation will assist us with some of the following projects:
»» New buildings on the Middle Cove campus
»» An enhanced Scholarship and Bursary program to make
our education accessible to a wider range of families
»» Refurbishment of existing classrooms and facilities at
Middle Cove and Castlecrag
I look forward to meeting with many of you over the coming
months and hearing of your thoughts and vision for this remarkable
school. In the meantime if you would like to discuss the work of
the Foundation, please call me on 9932 2317. 
Andrew Hill
Collegiate Chair
Nicole Crabb
Director of Development
Page
21
AEON Issue Five July 2013
where are they
?
Dr Luke Fischer
Toby Fitch
Jess Mulholland
now
From left: Robin Hearfield, Daniel Bateson (GlenX'98)
with Bliss n Eso’s Jonathon Notley and Max MacKinnon
Poet’s Voice
here has been something of a
resurgence of poetry in Australia
over the past decade, and two
people who have been very active in
the local poetry scene are Glenaeon
alumni Dr Luke Fischer (GlenX’97)
and Toby Fitch (GlenX‘03).
Toby recently published a volume
of his own poetry, is the poetry
reviews editor for Southerly and
curates a monthly poetry night at
Sappho’s Bookshop in Glebe.
Luke won the literary journal
Overland’s Judith Wright Poetry
Prize for 2013: his entry ‘Augury?’
was selected from nearly 300 poems
and earned a prize of $6,000.
The Overland Judith Wright
Poetry Prize is one of the most
lucrative and prestigious literary
prizes in Australia, and is the only
major prize dedicated to new and
emerging poets. The prize was
judged by Overland poetry editor,
Peter Minter. In his judge’s report,
Minter describes ‘Augury?’ as a
contemporary ‘ramble poem’, a
genre with a rich history ‘where
the complexities of human
ambivalences are made ineluctably
central to the experience of nature’.
Fischer’s poem, Minter says,
‘balances epistemological certitude
on a hinge of doubt. At first the
poem grabbed me because it is
fundamentally honest and wellcrafted, making no bones about
wanting to be easily read and
demonstrating an excellent grasp
T
Page
22
of romantic, modern and postmodern environmental poetry and
poetics, all the way from Goethe
to Gary Snyder. ‘Augury?’ is a
marvellous example of a radical
poetry that draws its energy more
from progressive intention and
scope than, for instance, displays
of formal experimentation.’
Luke attended Glenaeon from
Class 4 to Year 12, has a PhD in
Philosophy from Sydney University
and is now back in Sydney after
time teaching philosophy in Europe
and the US: he is currently working
on post-doctoral research and is
converting his thesis into a book.
At the recent Festival of
Innovative Australian Poetry held
at the NSW Writers Centre, both
Luke and Toby were active on panels
discussing recent work and reading
their own poetry.
Jess Mulholland
We are delighted to welcome
back Jess Mulholland (GlenX’09)
who is currently back at Glenaeon
undertaking an internship as part
of her degree in Marketing and
Communications at Charles Sturt
University. Jess will be working
on a number of projects including
building our alumni networks, social
media, the school website and
marketing our presence in the local
community. She is interviewing
many of her former classmates and
writing profiles that will be posted
on the website. 
Bliss n Eso
ne of Australia’s leading
Hip-Hop bands returned to
their roots during Term 2.
Aria award winners and charttopping band Bliss n Eso returned
to the Middle Cove campus where
the two founding member of the
trio first met in high school.
The band was preparing to
release a new single called Home
is Where the Heart is, recalling their
high school time at our beautiful
bushland campus. The single is
part of their new album Circus in
the Sky.
The band shot video footage with
students which now features in the
music video.
Jonathan Notley (GlenX’98)
and Max MacKinnon brought back
friends from their high school year
group to reminisce and relive some
happy school memories.
Current Years 10, 11 and 12
students were excited about meeting
such illustrious GlenX, and many
autographs were inscribed on diaries
and school bags.
The band is now on an Australiawide tour, with the album Circus in
the Sky riding high at No. 3 in the
Aria charts. At time of writing the
YouTube clip of Home is Where the
Heart is, with footage of Glenaeon,
had 126,762 hits. 
O
1
Centenary Day:
Dedication of the MMG Hall
Glenaeon
gala
2
he centenary year of
3
2013 marks the
hundredth anniversary
of the beginning of the Griffins
remarkable story in Australia. This
pioneering couple captured the
spirit of our nation and expressed
our identity in their design for our
nation’s capital. Here in Castlecrag
they laid the foundations for a
new vision of Australian suburban
living that fused family homes
in a sustainable and harmonious
balance of community and the
natural environment. They were
pioneers ahead of their time:
sometimes viewed as unorthodox,
even odd, many of their views and
values are now benchmarks for
government policy.
They were also among the first
to bring the work of Dr Rudolf
Steiner to Sydney. Marion joined
the nascent Anthroposophical
Society in 1930 and founded a
study group that aspired to start
a school based on Dr Steiner’s
impulse. She also ran a playgroup
for children in Sunnyside Avenue
that she hoped would one day
become the basis for a school. It
was not to be in her time, but by
the time she left to return to the
US in the late 1930’s, she had
created a rich seedbed of people
committed to a new vision of
education and community. They
formed a creative community
of progressive individuals:
regular plays, dance and musical
4
T
performances were held in the
Haven Amphitheatre, study groups
discussed philosophy and festivals
brought the community together.
One of the Castlecrag group
was Sylvia Brose, a young teacher
who was inspired by the Griffins:
she said later that Marion’s group
was for her a University in the
bush of Castlecrag. She later went
to Europe and studied Steiner
education.
Walter BG had taken on a
young partner in his architectural
practice that worked between his
Sydney and Melbourne offices:
Eric Nicholls moved to Sydney
to cover the work here, and after
Walter left for India, Eric took over
the practice. He too was inspired
by Dr Steiner’s work.
From Marion’s seed community
these two individuals together
founded Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner
School, with Sylvia as the founding
teacher and Eric as the founding
Chairman. The three students in
the first Kindergarten at Pymble
in 1957 soon grew in numbers,
and the school moved to its main
campus at Middle Cove, part of
the original Burley Griffin estate of
the three peninsulas of Castlecrag,
Middle Cove (originally named
by the Griffins as Cove Crag) and
Castle Cove. 
In Canberra’s centenary year we
celebrate Castlecrag and Glenaeon’s
common origins in the inspiring
work of the Burley Griffins.
Our Centenary Day will unveil a
sandstone plaque naming the Hall as
the Marion Mahony Griffin Hall, with
contributions from the school and
community, tributes to the Griffins
and their legacy, our Alumni Choir, and
a festive afternoon tea will mark this
day as a special one: on 19 October
from 3pm.
And in the evening from 7pm,
the Glenaeon Gala for 2013!
An informal night of meeting, greeting
and entertainment from the GlenX
community: come and catch up with
past students, parents and friends of
the school in a night specially designed
to uplift, remind, and re-establish
friendships, to entertain and embellish.
Glenaeon Centenary Day Gala
from 3pm on 19 October 2013.
1.T he Marion Mahony Griffin Hall.
2.Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin,
Sydney 1930.
3.Sylvia Brose with her first class (circa 1957).
4.Eric Nicholls
If you wish to advertise in AEON in 2013 please contact Nikki on 9932 2313 or [email protected]
Page
23
AEON Issue Five July 2013
Coming Events
We welcome all former students,
parents and friends to join us for these key events
in the upcoming year.
 School Concert Years 5-12 16 August  Year 12 HSC showcase 20 August
 Spring Festival 13 September  Centenary Day and Alumni Gala 19 October
 Glenaeon Art Show 1 November  Family Fair 2 November  Glenaeon Carol Service 2 December
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
2
9
16
23
30
3
10
17
24
31
4
11
18
25
1
30
6
13
20
27
31
7
14
21
28
1
8
15
22
29
1
8
15
22
29
4
11
18
25
1
5
12
19
26
2
6
13
20
27
3
1
8
15
22
29
2
9
16
23
30
3
10
17
24
31
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
Mon Tues Wed Thur
Fri
Sat Sun
30
6
13
20
27
31
7
14
21
28
4
11
18
25
1
5
12
19
26
2
1
8
15
22
29
2
9
16
23
30
29
6
13
20
27
30
7
14
21
28
29
6
13
20
27
30
7
14
21
28
1
8
15
22
29
5
12
19
26
2
September 2013
30
2
9
16
23
27
3
10
17
24
28
4
11
18
25
27
3
10
17
24
28
4
11
18
25
29
5
12
19
26
2
9
16
23
30
October 2013
29
5
12
19
26
1
8
15
22
29
30
7
14
21
28
1
8
15
22
29
2
9
16
23
30
2
9
16
23
30
3
10
17
24
31
7
14
21
28
4
November 2013
3
10
17
24
31
6
13
20
27
3
28
4
11
18
25
29
5
12
19
26
30
6
13
20
27
29
5
12
19
26
30
6
13
20
27
31
7
14
21
28
4
11
18
25
1
December 2013
31
7
14
21
28
3
10
17
24
1
30
2
9
16
23
31
3
10
17
24
27
4
11
18
25
28
5
12
19
26
1
8
15
22
29