GRAPEVINE
On Tuesday
we held our first ever secondary athletics carnival at Lords Oval in warm sunshine. Students competed in all the events and there was an excellent atmosphere which saw the students putting in a huge effort. Thanks to Nick, Amy and Liam for organizing and running the day. We look forward to many more to come.
Melanie Deefholts from Developing the Self will be here in the first week on Term 2 to work with parents, students and staff to raise our awareness of the challenges and expectations associated with the different stages of development. Please support this key wellbeing measure through your attendance.
Students from Kinder to Year 12 will celebrate Easter (rebirth) through our festivals. This year Secondary Students will also take part in a walk to acknowledge the seasonal migration of the Bogong Moth, which at this time of the year leaves its summer home in the mountains and returns to the lowlands to continue its lifecycle. In the first week of the holidays a team from Emergency Pedagogy will be holding Bushfire Recovery workshops at the school that address trauma. Please see the QR code attached for more details.
Thank you to all our families for your efforts this term. Managing school, work, family and all the associated activities is no small task, and everyone does their best to make it work. I hope the Holidays are a chance for you children to take some time to relax and spend time with you.
Happy Holidays!
Glenn Hood | PRINCIPAL
LITTLE ROBINS PLAYGROUP Laura Herridge As the Autumn weather began to turn and brother wind came to visit, we concluded our first term together at Little Robins Playgroup. Together we enjoyed a warm & delightful Easter festival, complete with wet felted rainbow eggs, scrumptious Easter currant buns and a warm mug of chai for chilly hands. We told stories and sang songs about playful Easter animals, Autumn adventures and the beautiful bond between parent and child. What a lovely time we have had together these past 9 weeks! We can’t help but wonder what adventures might await us in Term 2. Wishing many Easter blessings to all.
MORNING STAR Sandi Valerio The Early Childhood faculty have had a wonderful start to Autumn. Our focus at this time of the year is our Easter/Autumn festival. Little hands have been busy working on crafts ready to take home on festival day. We are all singing songs of Autumn days and the coming of Easter. Preps have been busy planting wheat, making wooden boats, winding woolen pom pom bunnies and making Easter baskets. Echidnas have spent their days planting wheat, working on Easter baskets, weaving pom pom chickens, modeling clay eggs and making felted nests. The Honeybees worked together on Easter baskets and planted wheat to take home. Our festival day is now upon us, ‘Autumn good morning and Summer good night’.
CLASS 1 Kristi Mulvihill Class One has moved on to the first Main Lesson block of Mathematics, “The Quality of Numbers.” The class has begun exploring the individual characteristics of each number from one to twelve, including whether they are odd or even, how they are represented in Arabic and Roman numerals, and the letters involved in each number’s name. The practical manipulation of pebbles has provided a concrete understanding and a physical image on which the children can build their knowledge
CLASS 2 Samantha Charlotte The Class Twos have been exploring ideas of morality and the range of human characteristics through animal fables. They have listened wide-eyed to the tricks of the fox, discussed the studiousness of the ant, laughed at the hubris of the hare and questioned just how silly the crow could be. Throughout the main lesson they have been learning new letter teams, as well as how to join more than one idea together in a sentence. We’ve been preparing for the upcoming Easter festivities by singing with Class One, watching our wheat grow and felting a decorative egg. The first main lesson of term 2 will be a play, the performance of which is scheduled for 14/5 at 4pm. Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter break!
CLASS 3 Liz Morrell Science and Gardening The children have been immersed in the living world of soil, plants, and growing food. A highlight of the block was a walk to Pat’s garden, where the class experienced the breadth and abundance of his vegetable garden and compost systems. The children observed closely, asked thoughtful questions, and developed a deeper appreciation for the cycles of nature and the care required to grow healthy plants. Back at school, they have explored soil through observation and simple experiments, discovering the different components of soil and how each supports plant life. The class has also taken on the shared responsibility of caring for our worm farm, learning how food scraps are transformed into rich compost. Throughout the block, language work has been meaningfully integrated, with students engaging in grammar activities, word study, and poetry inspired by their experiences in the garden and the natural world.
CLASS 4 Clare Bennetts Local Area Class 4 have been learning about our local area and drawing lots of maps, beginning with their bedroom and moving onto mapping the school, our town and our local area. They have learnt how to navigate with a compass on Wednesdays with Lou J. We are intertwining local history with local geography, which has included writing a timeline of our town beginning with the Taungurung people and followed by the settlement of squatters in the 1830s.’
CLASS 5 MICHEAL BRITTON Australian History The students had a wonderful time living into the experience of an 1850s child on the goldfields of Ballarat. The class attended the Ragged School, where they took on the roles of poor orphans, gaining a sense of what life may have been like for children of that time. They began learning skills connected to the kinds of work children might have entered, such as seamstressing or working in a boiler room. The children also watched the AURA light show, which told the story of the creation of gold on Earth, shared an Indigenous creation story, and traced the journey through European settlement, the discovery of gold, and the events leading to the Eureka Stockade. The class walked along the Main Street of Ballarat, learning about the buildings, artwork, and the history they represent.
CLASS 6 Lou Pullar Business Maths As part of our Business Maths Main Lesson, local retailer and past-parent, Kim Henderson visited Class 6 to share how her small business, Snowfox Boutique operates, introducing concepts like capital loans, interest rates and profitability. We recited Banjo Patterson’s famous poem, ‘The Man From Snowy River’ in assembly on Friday and will try to remember it over the holidays, so we can share it with Bindaree residents, early next term. We had a terrific athletics tabloid day last Tuesday, giving our best on the track and in the field. Thanks Liam and Rachel for organising it!This week we’ll finish our Easter baskets, continue felting our eggs, tend to our wheat and then bake Hot Cross Buns for the whole Primary school on Wednesday.
ESPA Ñ OL
The children in classes Prep to six have been learning about different Easter (Semana Santa) celebrations throughout Latinamerica. In the beautiful old town of Antigua, Guatemala surrounded by volcanoes, the people design, create and decorate the cobble stone streets with spectacular ‘alfombras’ or carpets made of painted sawdust. Class 6 had a go at creating their own colourful Alfombra with chalk drawings for the children to enjoy this week.
YEAR 7 Koschitzke & Amy McMahon Arthurian Legends
This Main Lesson cycle, Year 7 have been deep in the theatrical process of bringing ‘Arthur: Boy King of Britain’ to life on the stage. This has been no small undertaking with students not only presenting their skills on the stage, but also taking control of props, costume, set, and sound. Their commitment to learning lines and mastering their stagecraft in this short period has been fantastic and we hope you can come to watch the final product!
YEAR 8 Dion Hall Measurement
In this Main Lesson, the students were gently led into an exploration of the living qualities of water, observing the dance of warm and cool currents as they unfolded before their eyes with streams of red and blue. Drawing thoughtfully on our current work in Measurement, the children engaged in practical calculations of density, bringing number and experience together. From this, they formed their own predictions about whether objects might sink or float, and then tested these ideas through direct experience, strengthening both their thinking and their trust in observation. As we move into our final week, we will lift our gaze outward to the wider world, noticing how these same principles live and breathe in the atmosphere around us and use creativity and perseverance to finish their hydraulic cardboard crane projects, working with purpose and joy through the movement of their hands.
YEAR 9 Bella Moore/Dennis Bainger
The Term 1 Year 9 Outdoor Education Program came to a close with a final 4-day journey traversing Muesli Spur, Mt Speculation, The Cross Cut Saw and Mt Howitt. The physical challenge and remote nature of this trip drew on all the skills and experiences built over the last 9 weeks. Whilst the weather presented amazing sunsets and sun rises it also provided the unique sense of perspective that comes with sitting out a mountain thunderstorm with little more than a thin layer of waterproof material between you and the elements!
Year 10 Nic Koschitzke & Amy McMahon
To wrap up a busy and exciting Term 1, Year 10 have been presented with their most difficult acting challenge yet. In this Main Lesson, they have selected and begun rehearsing their duologues (and in some cases a monologue!), a two person play in which they have more control than ever over their theatrical choices such as blocking, set, costume, and character presentation. Each of the students have selected unique pieces which will come to life early next term. We hope to see you there!
IB DIPLOMA YEAR 11&12
Phoebe Brown + Leith Pierce
This term the Year 11s have been discovering the IB Diploma Program and what it entails, how it leads on from learning in Year 10 and what is specific to the program for each subject. This term specifically, leading on from performing existing duologues in Year 10, we have been writing our own monologues and duologues that respond to The Prophecy and other stories, linking aspects of Drago Jančar’s ideas with our own scripts. As part of this year’s IB Diploma Program, our school has added Literature and Performance as a formal subject option. This means that dramatic performances, and reflections on their development, make up part of the formal assessment for these students. For example, the Literature and Performance students will complete an oral assessment sharing the reasoning for their choices and techniques used to create their monologues.
CHEMISTRY YEAR
12 Our Year 12s have been busy with their heads, hearts and hands these last few weeks in Chemistry land. Each student was given the freedom of designing their own experiment, based on their own interests, and through the lens of chemistry, have now conducted, tabulated, graphed, analysed and evaluated their findings. We have had projects ranging from the electrolysis of copper, Prussian blue pigment synthesis, exploring the limits of buffer capacity, optimising salt bridges in voltaic cells, vitamin C degradation in orange juice, the effect of pasteurisation on the sulphite content of white wine, and determining the levels of toxic oxalates in Rhubarb leaves. Critical thinking skills are the beating heart of this exercise, and there is no escaping this (at times painful) process that ultimately builds our students capacities to be analytical and independent thinkers. Well done Year 12s - 3000 words and one draft down - you have earned a welldeserved break.
SECONDARY ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
On Tuesday 31st March, Mansfield Steiner held its first ever secondary school athletics carnival! It was a beautiful, sunny day and the students approached each of the events with great enthusiasm and a willingness to try. The highlight of the day were the relay races at the end, with all the students coming out to cheer on their team! A big thanks to all the staff for making the day such a success and we look forward to next years edition!
MUSIC Celeste Cleason Strings on the Green
Our school community braved the cold temperature and freezing winds last Friday for the Strings on the Green music picnic. The students took the tricky conditions in their stride, dealing with flapping music, breaking pegs and cold fingers. Each ensemble played beautifully, with a wide array of musical styles. Many thanks to Amber and the P&F who sold 160 delicious baked potatoes on the night and to Eileen for her treasured easter craft table. What delightful treats!
A few weeks ago, Snowgum Strings played at the Mansfield Harmony Festival. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to be part of the celebration of our vibrant wider community. .
SECONDARY ART Charlotte Dayman
Students returned to Bindaree last week to deliver portraits to residents who we had met earlier in the term. Students have been learning grid drawing and tonal rendering techniques which they used to create portraits of the residents. The students created beautiful portraits which were gifted to the residents. We had a lovely visit to Bindaree last Friday afternoon, the residents were very excited to receive their artworks and were very impressed by the student’s drawing skills.
SWIMMING Skye Meek
Our students had a fun filled and successful swim meet at our local District event and 21 of our students qualified to participate in The Ranges Primary Division swimming meet in Benalla on Friday 13th March. After an action-packed day in Benalla, which included many mishaps and outstanding effort in our relay events, 13 students qualified to compete in Huge Region Swimming Event in Shepparton on the 18th March.
Students loved the opportunity to attend a beautiful 50m pool with the novelty of diving blocks and electronic timing. Their support for each other made for a very enjoyable day as students faced nerves and challenged themselves against some very fast swimmers in our region! An extra special congratulations to Matilda Slijkerman (breast stroke), Heidi Setchell (butterfly) and Annabelle Slijkerman (breast stroke) who won their individual events and will attend the State Swimming Championships on 23rd April. Thank you to Daisy Scarborough who was our parent helper at each of the swimming events.
The World is Good, Beautiful & True 0 - 7 years
Early Childhood - Tuesday 21st @7pm
Parents and carers of children in early childhood are warmly invited to join an evening of exploring the first seven years as the foundational place for the future. What are our intentions as parents and what are we working towards is an essential question that we continue to strive and grow towards actively living. In a world of overload of information, stresses and busyness our small but meaningful actions not only support the future growing for our children but can change our lives in positive ways.
Faith, Hope, Love 7-14 years
Primary - Wednesday 22nd @ 7pm
Nourishing the inner life of the 7-14 year old child is an essential gift for their future and a protective factor as they navigate middle childhood. Hand in hand with understanding the child’s experience we also have an opportunity to grow parts of our adult self in order to become a helper of their path and feel equipped to meet their needs with joy and confidence.
Living a Compassionate & Loving Life with Teenagers 14 - 21 years
Secondary - Thursday 23rd @ 5.30pm
Living a compassionate life with teenagers asks us to see where they are and stand beside them as they enter the very significant years of waking up to their Love Filled Light. Even though living with teenagers can be challenging, understanding where they are, we can become a helper of their journey and can turn our tears into a joyous effort. This truly is where the saying ‘the community raises the baby’ turns into loving action, it is a community effort to gather around the group as they seek what will carry them through with strength and clarity into adult years.
Bushfire Recovery Workshops
“healing after trauma does not happen in isolation — it happens in community.”
Following the recent bushfires, these creative, trauma informed workshops offer practical ways for children, young people and adults to reconnect, regulate and rebuild inner steadiness.
“children and young people, who often do not process trauma in the same way as adults” Bernd Ruf
Using movement, rhythm, play and simple arts based events, these sessions support psychosocial stabilisation after overwhelming events.
The workshops are designed for the whole communityfamilies, farmers, teachers, children, grandparents and community members.
Emergency Pedagogy Without Borders is an international humanitarian initiative that works in disaster-affected areas around the world, supporting communities after fires, floods, violence and other traumatic events. The approach focuses on restoring emotional, physical and social stability through practical, creative and group-based activities. The Australian team has recently worked with children, young people and community members directly impacted by the Bondi attack in December 2025, supporting recovery in the days and weeks following the event.
Join us in MANSFIELD Hosted by Mansfield Steiner School - 91 Highett St Mansfield
Wednesday April 8 Talk with Bernd Ruf 7:00pm – 9:00 pm
Thursday April 9 Community Workshop 1 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Thursday April 9 Community Workshop 2 1:45 pm – 4:45 pm
No experience needed. Come for one session or several.
Please register via Humanitix.
Workshops are open to everyone and are free to attend.
Parent Workshops at Mansfield Steiner School. All parent workshops
Bernd Ruf
