Join Rose McCathie, Anni Gemell and Vanessa Snaith in an introduction to our new Lilly Pilly class and the Steiner Early Learning Journey.

Please join us and like minded families on Wednesday 6 October at 7:30pm via Zoom to join in an open discussion about starting your child's education journey at Kamaroi.

This event will cover topics including:

• What is the new Lilly Pilly offering
• The Kamaroi Kindergarten
• How play is the child's work
• The importance of rhythm for the day, week, season and year
• Connection to Nature's rhythms
• Use of natural resources and open-ended toys in the classroom
• Freedom to explore
• Activity with purpose, rather than product

Your hosts for the event will be Steiner Early Learning educators Anni Gemell and Rose McCathie and facilitated by Vanessa Snaith

I feel a strong connection to Kamaroi as I have known the early childhood teachers and some Kamaroi families for many years. I was a teacher at Rainbow Cottage preschool in Frenchs Forest for over ten years. It is wonderful to see many children at Kamaroi that I knew as young preschoolers. Prior to working at Kamaroi I was at Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School School for four years, firstly in little kindy and then at the preschool. My first experience of Steiner education was as a student at Glenaeon for thirteen years.

I have very fond memories of the joy of learning and the strong relationships that are a vital part of Steiner education. The richness and warmth of Steiner education supports me in my work with children in the early years. This is a time when children begin to move out from their home into a place of warmth, laughter and learning. I love to see the confidence and connection that unfolds in the child as they come into their first year of school. These early years of schooling are all about building a foundation for a child’s learning. Kindergarten days are full of moments of activity, breathing out, and moments of calm, breathing in. I have worked with this type of rhythm for years as a Steiner Teacher with young children. I believe it creates a life-long love of learning and a real freedom in education. - Rose McCathie

I have been closely connected to Kamaroi Rudolf Steiner School for 26 years, as a teacher, play group leader, parent and now grandparent.

For the past 10 years I have been an adult educator to early childhood teachers at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College.

Early childhood development is my passion and the Steiner environment and curriculum offers a very nurturing and holistic approach. The children I see who have had this early start are happy, grounded children with empathy for others, love of nature, a true sense of belonging and a strong sense of their ability to make and create and contribute to their world. In a Steiner preschool the children are immersed in a rich language experience of story and song, rhymes and verse and this becomes evident in their own language expression.

A Steiner Kindergarten nurtures the development of the senses and promotes an atmosphere of gratitude, reverence and wonder for the natural world around them. Festivals which celebrate the seasons enrich this experience. The kindergarten provides a space for imaginative play, as young children learn through doing and imitating. The teachers aim to be worthy of imitation and create meaningful activities which enable the children to contribute to all that is happening around them and thus develop a healthy sense of self.

Over the years I have watched children experience an early childhood from birth to age seven in an environment inspired by Steiner’s understanding of child development. Such an environment nurtures their play, imagination and learning through doing, at a pace that recognises each child’s developmental stage. I have seen the fruits of this education in the children’s health, happiness, imagination, creativity and confidence.

I watch this unfolding with such joy and wish this for every child. It fills me with confidence for the future. - Annie Gemell