THE THE MESSENGER MESSENGER Term 3 Week 7 Wednesday 2nd September 2026 Term 3 Week 7 Wednesday 3 September 2025
international neighbour. On arrival, the group will be welcomed by Joni Sarmento and Candida Belo of Friends of Venilale, who will help facilitate the visit.
Dear School Community, Last week, eight Year 10 students departed on their French exchange, heading to all corners of France for 10 weeks to rejoin their exchange partners who were here in Term 2. We wish them well on this challenging experience as they embrace French language and culture and integrate themselves into a new family. While these students are in France, seven Year 10 and 11 students will embark on a life-changing journey to Timor-Leste, travelling to the village of Venilale to reconnect with our long-standing sister school community. Departing 27 August for 19 days, the group will be accompanied by two staff members, flying via Darwin across the Timor Sea to our nearest
A core part of the Year 10 curriculum is helping students build empathy and recognise their place as global citizens. Spending time with the community in Venilale and at Uai Laco Junior School offers an opportunity for genuine cultural connection and self-reflection. After landing in Dili, the group will acclimatise and visit local sites, including a meeting with the Australian Ambassador to TimorLeste, Ms Caitlin Wilson. They’ll then travel to Venilale, staying at the Santa Maria School Guest House and joining daily lessons and activities at Uai Laco School. Students will teach English, run games, and lay groundwork for what the school hopes will become an annual visit — tying into their IB Community, Activity, Service (CAS) requirements. Year 11 IB students will also further their Anthropology studies, researching the role of music, religion and diet in Timorese culture. The trip closes with days at the Da Terra Baucau Farm Stay, a permaculture research centre, for reflection.
The earth laughs in flowers RALPH WALDO EMERSON David and Annie Foster, with the wider Friends of Venilale community, have run sessions on Tetun language, etiquette and packing advice. Students have also completed vaccinations and health checks. Mansfield Steiner has fundraised for Venilale for years. This visit is hoped to deepen that partnership and lay the foundation for ongoing connection between the two schools. While the snow didn’t really hold up its part of the bargain students still had positive experiences on Mt Buller and Mt Stirling which was made possible by our willing and adventurous parents and staff. Thank you again to all that made these experiences possible. It’s time to start looking forward to Spring!! Glenn Hood | PRINCIPAL
GRAPEVINE PLAYGROUP Laura Herridge Our mornings together are becoming
warmer, and Lady Spring is just around the corner. Our playgroup children have recently been completely enchanted by a special poem called The Fairy Polisher by Enid Blyton. This delightful story follows a child who spots a shiny black beetle in their garden and discovers a strange little brownie sitting on a wall, singing a merry tune while scrubbing the beetle’s back with a duster and polish. We stumbled across this treasure in an old favourite childhood book. We instantly fell in love with how it inspires the children (& all of us) to love, respect, and care for all the tiny creatures in our garden— especially the often-overlooked ones who play such an important role in our world. The children absolutely adore this story, and we love telling it. Be sure to keep a careful eye out at home... for the next time you see a gleaming beetle, your little one will know exactly who polished its back!
MORNING STAR Tash Kavanagh The Honeybee’s are welcoming the
first signs of spring as the weather warms. In morning circle we have been singing about the snowdrops and daffodils as we prepare for our spring festival in a few short weeks. Our hobby horses are starting to take shape as the children help to thread the needle and hold the wool as we add the manes to the socks. Making the most of the warming weather we have begun eating our afternoon tea outside, sitting in a big circle, listening to the birds and watching the big school walk past.
ALL SCHOOL EVENTS AND DATES: MANSFIELDSTEINER.VIC.EDU.AU/CALENDAR
warm days. We have begun our Spring festival circle, verses of butterflies, lady beetles, bees and little bulbs. Our Guinea pigs have arrived. They have a lovely home that has been a collaboration of parents as well as Brad and Wayne constructing a yard for them to roam in the sunshine. Ollie has been very kind and brought his Guinea’s in to live with us during the week. The children have embraced caring for them, petting them in our little care bags and feeding them carrots and grass. Willow the Welsh mountain pony from Mullumbimby has come to visit the Echidnas. She loves to have sleep overs and has begun going home with the children to enjoy some adventures in their homes. There will be many stories to share over the coming weeks as she returns each day to kinder. The children were excited to gather some produce for morning tea and to find some seeds and seedlings to plant in the garden at our first excursion to the Fresh Food Drive. Spring has certainly arrived in Morning Star.
ROSA MUNDI Jack Finegan Rosa Mundi have been spending time out
in the yard watching the Princess of Spring begin to work her magic on the flowers and trees as they seemingly spring back to life. We are excited to watch our garden grow and provide us with healthy food come term four. Our morning circle has also changed with the season, as we prepare for our Spring Festival and sing songs of blossoms and warmer weather. With Library bags all finished the children have been visiting the school library and borrowing their favourite books to take home. They have kept their hands busy making wool flowers and building fairy/gnome gardens in the yard.The children are ready for their independence and have loved completing their class jobs each day.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
MORNING STAR Sandi Valerio The Echidna children are welcoming the
CLASS 1 Kristi Mulvihill The Land of King Equals
Class One has thoroughly enjoyed beginning their adventures in the Alpine environment at Mount Stirling through cross-country skiing. They have also engaged enthusiastically in their practical mathematics lessons based on The Land of King Equals, learning the four mathematical operations with the help of four visiting gnomes. Using pebbles as concrete materials, students have explored and developed their understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in a hands-on and meaningful way.
CLASS 2 Samantha Charlotte The King of Ireland’s Son
In the final days of Winter, we continued our journey alongside The King of Ireland’s Son, following the winding paths and rich imagery of this beloved tale. Through our language work, we explored the different parts that come together to form a sentence, delighting in both sensible and nonsensical combinations of words as we discovered how meaning is woven through language. In our practice lessons, the children have been strengthening their times tables and mental arithmetic skills. We were also introduced to Clive the Greedy Crocodile, who helped us learn the symbols for greater than and less than by always opening his hungry jaws towards the larger number. Nimble fingers have been busy in Craft, where the children’s knitted gnomes are steadily taking shape, each one growing with its own unique character. In Spanish, the class continues to sing enthusiastically and expand their vocabulary. Musical skills are blossoming as the children add new pieces to their recorder repertoire, and our weekly visits to the Library remain a much-loved highlight of the week. As the first stirrings of Spring begin to awaken around us, we look ahead with bright hearts and eager anticipation for the season to come.
CLASS 3 Liz Morrell & Laura Herridge Money
Our Class 3 Main Lesson has taken us into the fascinating world of Money. We began by exploring a time before coins, notes and bank cards, when people relied on gifting, sharing, trading and bartering to meet their needs. The children particularly enjoyed bringing the idea of bartering to life by setting up their own bartering stalls. With goods displayed and ready to trade, they quickly discovered that bartering was not always as simple as it sounded! A successful exchange depended on finding someone who had something you wanted, who also wanted what you had to offer. There was plenty of lively discussion, negotiation and decision-making as the trading began. Through story, practical activities, discussion and writing, we have been following the development from barter towards the use of objects that were widely valued and could be exchanged more easily, and eventually to coins and money. The children are beginning to see that money developed as a practical solution to some of the difficulties people encountered when exchanging goods directly. Alongside the history of money, the Main Lesson has provided many opportunities for mathematics and literacy, as well as conversations about value, fairness, needs and wants. Our bartering morning was a wonderful way for the children to experience for themselves some of the questions that people faced long ago — and to understand why the way we exchange goods has changed over time.
CLASS 4 Clare Bennetts & Sarah Tehan Norse Myths
We have been busily practising the play The Theft of Thor’s Hammer for our performance on Thursday at 12pm and 7pm. Students have been testing each other on their lines, learning about their character and managing themselves on and off stage. This story allows students to have a laugh at themselves and engage the audience in a lighter plot, compared to some other plays. It involves a diverse range of personalities that students feel sympathy or antipathy for. It also highlights how the Norse myths teach us about how some ancient cultures worshipped more than one god and that these gods were imperfect, embodying various flaws and quirks. As we listen to more of the Norse myths we edge towards Ragnarok, the end of the old world and the beginning of the new.
CLASS 5 Micheal Brittain & Carol Watts Ancient Greece
Class 5 enjoyed a fantastic day at Athletics, participating enthusiastically in all events. This week, we are continuing our study of Heracles and his labours, and beginning to explore the Ancient Greek Olympics and the five main events. Through this, students are learning about Greek culture and the values of physical skill, training, and healthy competition. In Morning Circle, we have been practising our hymn, Hail to Prometheus, while exploring coordinated movement patterns to express the rhythm of the poetry.
CLASS 6 Lou Pullar & Carol Watts Dickens
“Please sir, I want some more,” pleaded young Tom as he played Oliver Twist in the energetic and delightful performance by Class 6 of ‘Oliver With a Twist’, an adaptation of the original Dickens story to meet our Primary school audience. Over the past four weeks, in between skiing and geometry, they worked hard to learn their lines as well as many catchy songs and fun dance moves to put together a really fabulous musical play. Congratulations Class 6 and many thanks for the great support from Kimberley for the music, Leith for the dance moves, Danielle for incidental music instruction and Skye for all things backstage. We couldn’t have done it without you!
YEAR 7 DionHall Geometry
Geometry and Measurement has been a main lesson requiring both care and attention. With our hands we worked carefully to ensure points met and lines were straight, creating symmetry, proportion, and beauty. With our minds, we rationalised plausible answers to questions involving unknown angles on parallel lines, extending our reasoning to predict patterns beyond their immediate influence. Finally, we explored ancient Mesopotamia and the origins of the sexagesimal number system, which still underpins our measurement of time and angles today.
Having finished our rendition of the Tempest, the Year 8s are now in the midst of a Geography Main Lesson, Origins, Processes and Landforms. Looking at the movement of the earth, and the impact that geography has on societies. As part of this, we have travelled off to the Northern Territory, visiting Alice Springs, the West Mac Ranges, spending time on country with the community at Lilla, and then moving along to Uluru. The student’s have loved this experience, seeing the amazing geology of Central Australia, and meeting the locals.
YEAR 9 Vanessa Hewson The Bodily Basis of Intentionality
In this Main Lesson, we explored two fundamental questions: How does a human being turn intention into action? and How do we take responsibility for our actions? In the first half, students investigated the human musculoskeletal system and compared its structure and function with those of other animals. Through observation, discussion, and hands-on activities, students explored bones, muscles, joints, and movement. Using wooden dowels to model the movement of different types of joints, they gained a practical understanding of how the body moves. In the second half, students explored the foundations of healthy and respectful relationships. Topics included emotional literacy, effective communication, consent, and contraception. Through smallgroup activities and guided class discussions, students developed their capacity to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with sensitive topics, strengthening both their self-awareness and their understanding of others. Throughout the Main Lesson, students were encouraged to see the relationship between the physical and social dimensions of human life. By understanding how the body enables purposeful action and how our choices affect others, students deepened their appreciation of personal responsibility, self-awareness, and the importance of acting with intention and respect.
SECONDARY
YEAR 8 Seamus Kavanagh Geography, Origins, Processes & Landforms.
IB DIPLOMA Years 11 + 12
ART Charlotte Dayman
On Monday night we held our IBDP Visual Art exhibition which Year 12 student, Grace, has been working towards over the past two years of her Diploma. The exhibition showcased eight resolved artworks that were created with curiosity, risk taking, an array of material and technique explorations and many dedicated hours in and out of the classroom. Grace’s work spanned across painting, drawing, ceramics, digital animation and installation. Alongside the works, a curatorial rationale was presented, unpacking the themes and concepts within the work which centred around Surrealist ideas of unlocking images from the artists unconscious mind and turning them into tangible artworks. The IB Visual Arts subject aims to offer students the opportunity to experience Art, as an artist does, and this involves sharing their work with an audience. Thank you to everyone from the school community who came to support Grace on the evening, we hope you enjoyed seeing this diverse body of work - a real visual feast!
MUSIC Celeste Cleason
Our solo concert season began in Week 5 with a special Year 10 concert before they headed off to France and Venilale. It was a wonderful celebration of the individuals within the class with many students singing and accompanying themselves. The evening concluded with several uplifting and fun band performances. Well done to all the students involved. Our upcoming solo concerts will take place in Week 8 and 9. Busy preparations are well underway, with rehearsals and some, no doubt, furious practising! We look forward to sharing the evenings with the school community. All concerts commence at 6pm. SOLO CONCERTS DATES Class 3 & 4 Wed 9/9 , Class 5 & 6 Thurs 10/9 Year 7 & 8 Wed 16/9, Year 9, 11 & 12 Thurs 17/9
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Spring Fa ir October 24