Harvest Festival
The celebration of the seasonal Festival, Harvest, is an enriching part of Orana’s school cultural and community life. Through art, music, story and poetry, students are helped to understand and recognise the changing rhythms of the earth and the seasons.
At harvest time we reap the fruits of summer and prepare them for winter. It is a time to give thanks to Nature, for all that is provided and to remember that as human beings we have to keep finding the inner strength to care not just for each other, but for everything in our world. This is what makes our Harvest Festival.
As a gesture of our gratitude to Nature and the seasonal harvest — and our goodwill for our fellow people — the school has collected donations of food from each class to give to people who have little or none and who are not as fortunate as us. As we head into the colder months this can become a more difficult time for some people.
Thank you to all our families who contributed. It can really make a difference to other people’s lives. Shannon Wood from the Little Pantry was extremely thankful to the students, staff and families for our monumental donation efforts. The staff at Little Pantry counted over 1000 items! It was such a relief to the organisation as there winter appeal hadn’t really kicked off yet and they were running low on items.
I would also like to thank Michael and Gemma Rose from Wild Flour for donating bread to our School for the Harvest celebration. It was certainly a lovely treat to have freshly baked bread together and to join as a community.
It was a huge community event led by Class 3, our Senior College students and our Music accompanists. Thank you to all the staff who were involved to make this event such a successful day. Lots of work occurred in the background to make the day run seamlessly. Thank you to the parents and families who were able to join us for this special seasonal celebration.
Staff Changes
It is with some sadness that I inform you of three staff changes occurring at the completion of this Term.
Tracy Lewis our current Kindergarten teacher has decided to retire after taking Long Service Leave for Term 1. Although a loss for the school, we know that she will enjoy her time with her family and grandchild. We are very fortunate to have Annette Melia continuing in the kindergarten teacher role for the remainder of the year. Annette is delighted to be taking on this position.
Fumiko Page has made the decision not to return to Orana after her maternity leave as she and her family have moved interstate to Queensland. Fumi is delighted to be moving to warmer weather, although has acknowledged that Orana will always have a special place in her heart. We are very fortunate to have Taeko Tamatsukuri continuing on in Fumi’s role for the remainder of the year.
Petra Cristofaro is also moving interstate to begin exciting new adventures. No doubt many parents will have appreciated all that Petra has offered to their children in Early Childhood and their parents. Petra will be replaced by Gillian Davis who is well known as a long-standing and experienced teacher at Orana. Gillian will work with the class from Monday to Thursday. Georgia Carmichael will be taking the class on Friday’s. Georgia has taught at Aetaomah Steiner School and was a Preservice teacher here at Orana.
We wish Tracy, Fumi and Petra all the best on their future endeavours and thank them for their long-standing service to Orana.
Holidays
Enjoy the upcoming school break with your family. May the spirit of renewal and new life that the Easter Story gives us be present in your relationships with others and the world.
We look forward to seeing you all next Term.
Kelly Armstrong — Acting Principal
