Raphaeli School solidifying and consolidating

By the middle of September we had grown to a sudden 16 children, which then stopped until the end of the year when another child joined us. This meant quite an adjustment for all present, most of all the teachers involved. At the same time we were blessed with new talents and gifts these children brought along and a whole new experienced dawned. We put together and performed our play to the public (see previous post) and ended the year with a lovely Christmas festival, enjoying carols by candlelight.

We would start every schoolday with a half hour of music. We said our morning verses together, sang and did speech exercises, as well as play the recorder.
The six younger children were now grouped in one class with a span of class 1,2 and 3 taught by Gabbeh. They covered San creation stories and learnt to count to ten in Hai !um, then enjoyed much form drawing, maths main lesson, stories of various saints and lastly the journey to Bethlehem, during which much foundation work continued on writing, reading and basic number work. Movement, painting, drama, poetry, stories, creative writing and much laughter decorated our daily life. Benches could be ordered that form the basis of the moving classroom according to the Bochumer Modell in Germany, where the younger children sit on firm cushions on the floor for writing on the benches, or sit on top of the benches for recorder, sharing or crafts, or turn the bench upside down to balance on the beam with beanbags on the head.
Sue guided the older group with children in class 4 and 5. They covered African geography, Norse mythology in 2 parts, botany covering mono and dicotyledons, maths and much English. The children created their own main lesson books which were astoundingly beautiful, crafty and neat. Sue, you are a star!
A timetable could be adhered to where the children would have weekly religion lesson, German, Afrikaans, handwork, clay modelling, tennis/dodge ball, gardening. We celebrated Diwali and learnt more about ourselves and how to overcome our weaknesses, we learnt the basic pinch pot technique leading us to impressive sculptures of animals, tiles and pottery. We can greet in German and sing traditional Afrikaans songs, we know about being good sportsmen. We created a most wonderful vegetable garden in the threatening drought our region is suffering. In the new year we would like to study water as a result of this and see what new thoughts we can arrive at.
Parents helped and put in many hours and much energy. Thank you to Tamsyn and Maria for their endless motivation and commitment.
We saw our first family leave the School for a post in New Zealand... and 4 children from Kwanokuthula are waiting to join our class 1 in 2010. A move to bigger premises is pending. The School is growing, the light is burning brightly due to the lovely children at our School and the excellent team work between Gabbeh and Sue. Our aim is to keep up our high working standard and good humour. Gabbeh brings a soulful healing quality, endless ideas and Sue the professionalism and experience, diligence in registers, assessments and all that comes with teaching.

The kindergarten will be starting as an informal playgroup so that we can gather enough children to validate the salary of a trained Waldorf teacher. We hope to have this in place by the Easter holidays in 2010.

Management has been in hands of Sue and Gabbeh, Rose and Maria, towards the end of the year Rain and Claire, and Stephen on permanent stand-by. Thank you for your commitment, may we continue to strive to hold the pillar of truth in our midst.

Money has been terribly low and continues to be so. No funding has yet come in. Thank you to all parents for paying their fees on time. The Receiver of Revenue has lost our application to be registered as a Non Profit Organisation with a legal fund-raising number. The new application is currently being lodged.

The wider anthroposophical movement is supporting our initiative and we have been blessed with yet another meaningful visit by Briar and Michael Grimley of the Anthroposophical Society of the Western Cape (ASWC). It was on their last visit in September 2008 that the Raphaeli Founding Meeting took place. After this year's visit a local ASWC group formed with 5 members at present, meeting on a monthly basis. Helen from the Federation of Waldorf Schools visited us and we are awaiting a report from them. We are still very much looking for Waldorf teachers to replace Gabbeh's teaching post, that would make her available for more administration and fund-raising.

The Department of Education can register us as an Independent School with 20 "warm bodies" present daily at our School. We expect to have this in place by January 2010.

KUBUKA &THE MAGIC CALABASH

After much practice and rewriting of the script as more children joined our School, we performed Kubuka & the Magic Calabash, a play based on the book of the same title by Janet Keegans. The story is about the initiation journey of a vervet monkey (Kubuka) who is excluded by his troop for disrespecting the leader. Drinking water from the hollow Baobab tree, Kubuka finds himself indebted to the water spirit Amanzi (trapped on the inside of the tree) and sets off on a journey to release his friend from an evil spell cast on him by Zaka the Wicked. Unless he manages to do this, the land suffers a most terrible drought and animals are dying. He encounters all kinds of dangers and adventures, he has to overcome his naughtiness and learn to be brave, honourable and selfless. The drama plays in the ancient city of Zimbabwe, enlightening the audience with the rich legend of the goddess Shirichena, who saves Kubuka in the dark cave from the power of Zaka the evil magician. When he eventually retrieves the calabash, Amanzi can be set free and returned to the great Zambezi River.
The performance in September was a huge success, the audience marvelled at the memory of the children, the quality of the singing and confident performances. Well done to all involved!!!

Friends of Raphaeli Fund

Become a Friend of Raphaeli School ...
Three of our pupils: Simanye, Endinako and John Ross, are in need of bursaries. Although our fees are modest at R3000 per term or R1000 per month, it simply is not possible for their families to find this amount. However, each family is committed to contributing R200 per month in fees. These parents have a heartfelt wish to give their child a creative, child-centred education, which will enable them to grow into finely educated, independent and socially responsible adults. We are wishing to build up a bursary fund by asking for monthly contributions from supportive individuals.

Should you wish to learn more about Raphaeli School - or visit us - call

Rose Shearer Tel +27 - 44 535 9724 or Cell +27 - 76 502 7706

Bank Details:
First National Bank Plettenberg Bay: Current Account 621 973 590 47, Branch Code 210514

How to join...
Any amount from R100-00 per month will be accepted with gratitude.Should you decide to become a Friend of Raphaeli, we shall keep you up to date with the progress of the bursary children, inform you as to our development as a school and invite you to our festivals and celebrations.

Raphaeli School
P.O. Box 81
ZA-6603 Wittedrift
South Africa
raphaelischool@telkomsa.net

New home for the school

The third term started with 6 new pupils bringing our total to 16 children. This meant an urgent need for new premises.

We have found a little cottage on Pinecroft Estate situated between Bitou Polo Field and Bitou River closer to Plettenberg Bay. This offers us the opportunity to work in 2 separate classrooms and have a dedicated admin room. The 4ha land is for sale and ideal for our vision.

On the formal front...

A member of the Federation of Waldorf Schools in SA came to visit us recently and was very impressed with our efforts. We look forward to their report.

The next milestone for our School is to register as an independent school with the Department of Education, for which the School needs a minimum of 17 pupils. One admission to go...

The School's business plan and consitution have been checked by a local attorney. Our application to the Receiver of Revenue as a Section 21, Non-Profit-Organisation can now be lodged.

2nd term 2009

This term went fast and was filled with much learning activity, laughter, community spirit, growth and all the stresses that rest on the few shoulders that start a new Waldorf initiative. Gabbeh held the fort in the classroom with the support of Maria, one of our parents for the first 4 weeks doing a mathematics main lesson adapted to the various ages (numberland to measurement, areas, volume, etc). Long awaited Sue Gurney joined the school after her visit overseas on 20 May 2009, her experience enriching all greatly. This enabled us to split the group into 2, giving all ages their due attention and curriculum content: the 3 littlies listening and drawing many letters discovered in fairy tales and learning all about numberland. The older group enjoyed an expansive man and animal main lesson, which ended with a free visit to monkeyland (THANK YOU!). Another parent inspiring children and adults alike, was Tamsyn with her great love and experience with claywork. She came (and will continue to come) once a week to create pots for the market with the children passing on her knowledge. Kurland Brick Factory showed us around their interesting operation, which fascinated all present and sent us home with a bakkie-load full of clay for the classroom. Our studio classroom at the bottom of Jenny's garden is proving a wonderful space and the walls are somehow expanding with the constant growth we are experiencing. May a new venue arise soon to incorporate 3 classrooms, office, kindergarten room, playgroup and playground! If you know of anyone able to assist us in finding and acquiring new premises, please do not hesitate to contact us ASAP!


Maria held the market initiative, which helps in a very steady way to improve our classroom and provides the necessary materials. By the end of term a market group had been established by 4 parents running the stall in turn. Unfortunately the whitsun dinner previously advertised on the blog was not taken up by anyone and no money was raised. Our first and only donation of R5000 arrived at the end of June by Mr Wolf Boemer, grandfather of Kiani and Tila - THANK YOU! St John's festival was celebrated with friends and family in Maria and Rose's home with the fireplace going strong, lantern flames dancing to the singing voices of all present. The children sang their songs in meaningful harmonies, leaving goosebumps on our skins.


By the end of the term we had grown to 9 children and 2 teachers, with more to come in the new term. Our teachers received their first little salary towards their efforts. Furthermore preparations are on their way for the new kindergarten and playgroup due to start in January 2010, gatherings with prospective parents and children have begun. The search for a home for our school is keeping us on our feet.



The holidays were used by Gabbeh to connect with the Windhoek Waldorf School, where all classes of the primary school are held in German: the class 6 performed "Das doppelte Lottchen" by Erich Kaestner, a wellknown author. This was very enjoyable. New friendships were made with founder Christiane on Krumhuk Bio-dynamic farm, who offered much support and encouragement to our initiative. Sue received a visit from Christiane and Martin Wigand exchanging and sharing valuable teaching and eurythmy experience. Friends in these times are invaluable. Now we just need some money .............


We urgently need desks and chairs - PLEASE HELP US WITH A DONATION FOR THIS PURPOSE.
We need 3 sponsorships - if you have a class of your own that would like to act as a godparent for the education of one of our children, PLEASE contact us.


Thank you to all those involved and those supporting us in these times - our families and partners are carrying huge loads with us, at times burdened at times enlightened by our efforts.


Gabriele Wellens

Our Autumn Festival

During the term we studied the Native American culture. Into this theme we wove rainbow sentences, played spelling games and did much creative writing in the form of poems and stories. We compared the 10 Indian commandments to those of Moses', sang and danced their prayers, told their stories and legends and crafted many special things, like dream catchers and leather recorder cases. All the children painted their favourite totem animals... and all agreed with the Indian wisdom: Take care of Mother Earth for future generations. Don't cut down all the trees and plant many seeds in the ground wherever you are.

Our autumn festival was shared in joy with our parents and friends on 3 April 2009. First we had a candle lighting ceremony with blessings and wishes for our School.

We started by singing the Navaho Blessing:

I ask all blessings

I ask them with reverence

Of our Mother the Earth

Peaceful, all is peaceful, all is peaceful

I am old age, the essence of life

I am the source of all happiness

All is peaceful, all in beauty

All in harmony, all in joy.

Gabbeh and the children played some quartet/duet recorder pieces leading into our play "The children of Queen Dora". We concluded our festival with a lovely feast on our little verandah.

Thank you to all those that participated and came to be with us.

Ways in which you can help us

1. Sponsorships for school fees

2. We urgently need wooden school desks and chairs for junior primary and senior primary school

kindergarten chairs and natural toys

3. Be the School's Benefactor by carrying our running cost deficit for 3-7 years

4. Donate 3-5ha of land to the School that we can build our own School with ecological materials and means

5. Sponsor the building of one or more classrooms, hall, admin building, kindergarten, playground equipment, etc. This is only possible once we have obtained land.

6. Sponsor a teacher:
a.) Teacher’s salary for x- amount of months/years
b.) A Bachelor of Education through UNISA for one of our assistants
c.) Travelling, accommodation and entrance fee of the 2 annual national Waldorf teachers’ conferences
d.) Teacher training mentor fee

Please contact the School for more details.