Annual Report 2008–2009

An Introduction

For further information please contact:Jean FerriesCentral OfficeCamphill School AberdeenMurtle EstateBieldsideAberdeen AB15 9EP

tel: (01224) 867 935fax: (01224) 868 420email: office@crss.org.ukwww.camphillschools.org.uk

Camphill School is an inde-pendent vo luntar y school situated on three estates beside the River Dee on the outskirts of Aberdeen. The location enables the pupils to benefit from both the beautiful countryside and the hustle and bustle of town life with all its cultural possibilities. The school offers residential places for full term or weekly boarders as well as day places for local pupils.

Camphill offers an inclusive, comprehensive holistic education programme known as Curative Education for 85 pupils with complex special needs ranging from deprivation to autism from the age of 3 to 19 years.

For children

aged 2½ to 6 years there is a

separate Nursery which is registered as a Partner Provider with Aberdeen

City Council.For pupils aged 16–19 years

there is an Extended Schooling Programme which offers a more individualised programme geared towards graduation and prepa-ration for the future. This may include attending a ‘Links Course’ at Aberdeen College and/or work experience outside Camphill.

Cairnlee House offers further training for 12 young adults from 16–25 years.

All pupils whether day or residential, belong to a House Community which is made up of groups of one to three pupils cared for by a co-worker who guides the pupils in his/her per-sonal care. Within the house community, life is shared with

houseparents, teachers, therapists and student co-workers, most of whom live in, some with their families.

In School the classes are gen-erally grouped according to age, using the Waldorf Curriculum based on guidelines formulated by Rudolf Steiner. In addition indi-vidual therapies are given to meet the specific needs of the pupils.

Therapies offered include speech formation, physiotherapy, eurythmy therapy, therapeutic art, equine assisted therapy, thera-peutic baths, play therapy and counselling.

Older pupils participate in a variety of craft workshops: pottery, willow-work, felt, candle, weaving, metal work, woodwork and in a Tools for Self-Reliance Workshop.

As part of its commitment to training the School offers co-workers a Foundation Year and, to successful applicants, a chance to participate in the five year BA (Hons) Programme in Curative Education run in partnership with Aberdeen University.

Camphill School Aberdeen is accredited with the National Autistic Society, registered with The Scottish Care Commission and Aberdeen City Council Social Work Department, is a member of Camphill Scotland, and is a registered charity no.: SCO15588.

� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Welcome to the 2008/9 Council Report under our rebranded name, Camphill School Aberdeen.This year we have seen changes, not only in the trading name but also in Camphill’s outlook for the future. To broaden the services provided by the school we have new initiatives in the St An-drew’s Project, Nature Nurture and the Forest School Projects. We have seen the completion of our grant aided projects in the opening of the Sculpture Workshop and the start of the next phase of development in the Therapy Building.

The St Andrew’s Project, School-Home Support, has been introduced to meet the needs of children and their families when extra help and support are re-quired through the provision of day or residential care. Linked to this has been outreach work being carried out in the child’s local authority school. Based in St Andrew’s House the project welcomed its first children over the Christmas period and has been used continuously since then.

The Nature Nurture project is being offered to all children un-der 5 years of age in Aberdeen City who come from challenging backgrounds and live in areas of poverty. The structured pro-gramme of play and interaction with the outdoors helps these children to develop physically and emotionally. Aberdeen City Council are supporting the project with ring-fenced funds set aside for early intervention and nurturing projects. New links have been established with City Primary schools through outreach working thus raising the profile of the projects carried out by Camphill. This pioneering work with vulner-able young children has been the subject of articles in the Times Educational Supplement. Following a vocational visit to the school, Aberdeen St. Fit-tick Rotary Club has provided a

generous donation to assist with the running of additional groups at the project.

The Therapy Building on Camphill Estate has now re-ceived planning permission. It is hoped to start the construction work in the autumn. The building cost is £305K of which £100K is to be raised by the school. The therapy building will house seven therapies which will al-low additional people to benefit from the specialist therapeutic activities offered by the school and in addition, will also offer therapies to the wider com-munity. The fund raising has been launched by the Society of Friends of Camphill. Further details and how to donate can be obtained on the website www.crss.org.uk.

Both Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council have shown a keen interest in sup-porting our new projects.

The Development Plan and Guiding Vision have been pre-pared by the Development Plan Reference Group under the guidance of Paul Henderson. The plan covers the period to 2014 and is the result of exten-sive discussions and the involve-ment of co-workers, pupils and parents through consultations and community meetings. The resultant action plan identifies the way forward to create a thriving Camphill School. Thanks to all those involved especially Paul who has now moved on from Camphill after seven years of providing training and support for the school.

This year saw the first edi-tion of Network, a new bi-an-nual publication aimed to inform professionals and decision mak-ers of the work and depth of services available from Camphill School. This has helped to raise awareness at government level and a visit is planned by

Jonathan Shaw, UK Minister for the Disabled, during November. My thanks to Robin Jackson for producing the newsletter and his guidance in contacting the relevant decision makers in government. Thanks also go to Robin for his skill at digesting Local Authority and Govern-ment papers and strategies and producing summaries for the Strategy Group.

Meaningful links have been established with our host au-thority, Aberdeen City and the School has been liaising closely with other voluntary sector pro-viders in planning the provision of care for children and young adults in Scotland. With the ap-pointment of new directors and staff at Aberdeen City Council, it has sometimes been challeng-ing to maintain a dialogue with the correct personnel.

Following extensive discus-sions and negotiations with Aberdeen City, we have agreed an individual assessed fee ba-sis for each pupil. This fee structure allows more flex-ibility for both the School and the local authority to match the fees to the assessed pupil requirements, with reviews and re-assessments held at six monthly intervals. This gives transparency regarding a pupil’s progress through the school. The new fee structure has been rolled out to all the local authorities referring pupils to the school.

The fee structure provides an income based on the previ-ous year’s fees plus a modest increase. As the fee units have changed, the new system requires additional monitoring throughout the year and will be re-assessed next year. Income depends on a predetermined mix of day and residential pupils, although the trend is now towards additional day pupils attending the school.

2 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Closer links have also been established with the second largest referrer of pupils, Ab-erdeenshire Council.

Laurence Alfred has raised the profile of Camphill School through his involvement with the voluntary sector and in particular his chairmanship of the Aberdeen Children & Young People’s Voluntary Sector Pro-viders’ Forum.

Regular inspection visits by the Care Commission and the Autistic Society continued throughout the year with excel-lent results. A welcome visit by Jacqui Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of the Care Commission, assisted in the development of the registration requirements in regard to the new projects introduced this year. Jacqui was very impressed by the ini-tiatives shown by Camphill and praised those involved in their introduction.

Camphill has been involved in a number of conferences and workshops this year with input from staff, parents and pupils. The HMIe sponsored confer-ence “Going Boldly” and the “Transitions Conference” were a couple where Camphill had considerable input thus raising the profile of the School.

Further conferences planned for the near future are the “Social Pedagogy Conference” and a “Trauma Conference” to be held in association with Children 1st. Camphill also at-tended the “Voluntary Sector Showcase—Partnership Work-ing with Aberdeen City” and the “Social Work Exhibition”, both arranged in conjunction with Aberdeen City Council.

Council members Norma Hart and Bernhard Menzinger have also been promoting Camphill to the wider community. Norma presented on the BACE and Social Pedagogy at a “Children in Scotland” conference” and Bernhard has been in South Africa presenting and training on Autism.

The impact of the new immi-gration procedures are now be-ing felt with a lower number of non EU co-worker applications and applications to the BACE. It is uncertain how this will impact on the BACE in the longer term. The course structure may have to alter and the course opened to non Camphill applicants. This poses difficulties in completion of the practical elements of the course. Thanks to Angelika Monteux who has now handed over the role, after many years, of Joint Programme Director to Vincent D’Agostino.

During November, the Korean Broadcasting Corporation vis-ited and filmed aspects of the education, care and therapy offered in Camphill School. Further to filming the class-room work and therapies they interviewed pupils, parents and co-workers to gain a wide per-spective. KBC selected Camphill to showcase a model community where disabled people can live and work together. Support for such work is lacking in South Korea. ITN recently visited Camphill to create a short video for the Scottish Learning Con-ference. The video will be made available to the School for pro-motional purposes. Thanks to all those who took the time to make the visitors welcome and were involved with interviews.

The Pupils’ Council continues to be very active with input to many internal and external aspects of Camphill. The Pu-pils’ Council has been actively working with Paul Henderson on the school’s Development Plan, providing interviews to the visiting TV companies, at-tending conferences and show-cases and re-designing the new school clothing to reflect the new logo.

Following intense activity ear-lier in the year when negotia-tions continued with Transport Scotland regarding the impact of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route on the com-

munity in Camphill Estate, there followed the Local Public In-quiry. Stefan Geider and Aileen Falconer, along with expert wit-nesses presented the School’s case at the Inquiry. The Inquiry Reporter also visited Camphill Estate to assess the impact first hand. The results of the Inquiry are due during the next few months. Depending on the result, a great deal of further work has to be done on any necessary mitigation measures required to make the intrusion of the AWPR tolerable for the Camphill residents.

Throughout the year the social and cultural events were well attended and enjoyed by all. The Open day, Advent Fair and Spring Fair were particu-larly successful in establishing further links with the local community. Class 7’s Robin Hood and Class 11’s Beowulf exceeded the usual high standards of production.

Thanks to all those involved, the supporters and sponsors of the events.

Thanks also to Shell for their hands-on assistance with the maintenance of the playground and St Fittick Rotary Club for their generous donation.

This year has seen closer links with parents via meetings when the school and parents can discuss their role in the devel-opment and success of Camphill School. Thanks to all those sup-porting this initiative.

Without the dedication and hard work of all at Camphill and the support of the parents and local community, Camphill would not be the centre of excellence it is today.

As we enter the 70th anni-versary year of the movement locating to Camphill Estate, I look forward to your continued support and involvement in Camphill School Aberdeen.

Tony CrabbeChairman, Council of Managment

� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Over the last year you may have spotted me and Beth at the bus stop or sailing along the railway line on our bikes. We don’t mind if it’s raining—that’s why waterproofs were invented! We just have too many things we need to do to stay indoors.

Rain is definitely no excuse for not returning our library books to the Cults library! The librarian gets a little bit grumpy if we bring our books or DVDs back late so we always try to bring them back every week. At the library we can read about all sorts of things, like hearts and lungs, and wild animals. But if we want to talk

about them we have to whisper (or the librarian will tell us to shush).

While we’re in Cults we can also do a bit of shopping. It’s nice to buy a drink in the supermarket, especially after a long bike ride.

Sometimes we enjoy going into town. Lucy the doll likes to come with us. We have to keep an eye on Lucy—she can be a bit cheeky and likes to chase pigeons (but she usually manages to be sensible). In town we can see all sorts of interesting things—like Build-A-Bear Workshop, and a giant dinosaur that could move and tried to eat Beth’s hand! And

of course town is always a good place to have a hot chocolate or some ice-cream...

Ceri EnglefieldSt. Ternan’s House

Out and About in Aberdeen

And from our termly letters to parents and friends…

Although the Michaelmas term was short, it was very full with many different activities. High on the list was the opening of the sculpture workshop on Murtle. For many a year Albertino worked with his hammer and chisel in his open tent outside Coracle inspiring and engaging co-workers and several youngsters in the art of stone sculpting, so to now have a proper workshop where they can work, thanks to a develop-ment grant from the Scottish Executive is a real boon to one and all. It is wonderful to have this artistic work properly recognised with a building fit for purpose.A few days before the opening we celebrated Fried-wart Bock’s 80th birthday to-gether with his family and were treated to a beautiful cello and piano concert in the evening. Friedwart has been a co-worker here in the School for nearly 60 years and has been central to all the devel-opments as Camphill moved from its Aberdeen base to an international community.The term also saw an in-crease in the number of refer-rals and admissions of children

and young people, particularly from Aberdeen, and we are hopeful that we have now re-established a partnership with Aberdeen City Council. We are continuing to have high level meetings with City officials in an effort to see how best we can support each other and hence the children of the locality. To this end, the St. Andrew’s project interviewed its first child and the Culter Satellite group, now known as ‘Bringing Us Together’, received funding to continue its early years work with local children.Three meetings took place specifically for parents: the first session of an ongoing course introducing parents to different aspects of life in Camphill School Aberdeen, the first session on Waldorf Education facilitated by our teachers and the first par-ents/Camphill liaison meet-ing.

A large number of parents attended a parents’ evening on Camphill Estate heard a talk about the Waldorf Cur-riculum and had the opportu-nity to participate in pottery, painting, eurythmy or felting before meeting with their child’s teacher.

The Open Day on Camphill Estate was a great success with hundreds of visitors pass-ing through. A new activity this year was group drumming and for the last hour the drums reverberated throughout the estate. We are grateful again to the Culter Pipe Band for the entertainment they provided and to Ernst and Young who sponsored the climbing wall for a second year. With help from some parents and friends we were able to offer nourish-ing activities to many young families and our impression was that there were many new people among them.There was a new intake of international co-workers with 14 beginning the BA and 31 the Foundation Year. The BA Honours in Curative Educa-tion became more established with Stages 1 and 2 of the new programme up and running and Stage 3 coming on board at Easter 2009.

We received an invitation to run a workshop and share our good practice in working with parents, at the HMIe sponsored conference ‘Going boldly’ which is aimed at cel-ebrating good and improving practice in special schools. Laurence Alfred

Michaelmas 2008

� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

What will you discover as a mature student on the BACE? From my experience you will find out more about yourself than you deemed imaginable.

For example, I used to think of myself as a fairly organised house-co-ordinator, until I ex-perienced deadlines for assign-ments. And then, to my horror, I uncovered a deep-seated addic-tion—to adrenaline. Despite my best attempts, I never felt more alive than when “time’s winged chariot” became more like the four apocalyptic horsemen thun-dering at my back and driving me toward a due date at what felt like unholy speed.

This, of course, acted like a magnet for all sorts of previously unimaginable catastrophes, just when time was at a premium—a house flood, an oil leakage of some 700 litres, hospitalisation—and the one I’m most proud of: an IT expert’s opinion that I can make a computer do something that is “absolutely impossible.” (I still quake when I recall the major part of a lengthy paper disappearing forever into the ether.)

“Man, Know Thyself” becomes alive, then, on the journey through the BACE—and this is fostered by the brilliantly taught course con-tent, designed to bring conscious-ness to every aspect of one’s work. But—a word of advice: do read the guidelines carefully and well in advance of writing. You do not, as I did in the beginning, need to know about yourself that you find guidelines are things that tell you after your paper is finished what you should have done.

You will discover, too, that your personal tutor becomes your new and much more accessible guardian angel. You can experience first-hand the importance of someone reaching out to you “where you’re at.” This person’s ability to nurture me through typing assignments in a soggy, freezing, post-flood environ-ment, or one where I (choking on oil fumes) and my computer were surrounded by diggers, tankers and SEPA officials, became a lifeline in an ocean of chaos. This connection between student and tutor is one I shall treasure for ever, and has brought a new awareness of the im-portance of in-house relationships.

In the third year of the BACE, when study material veers more in the direction of one’s own in-terests, new doors open to self-knowledge. I gained comfort from the fact that flying by the seat of my pants was in fact helpful with “creative arts and intuitive practice,” but had not considered how much more there was to learn about these subjects—or indeed how exciting, up-to-date and in-novative was the teaching.

I had looked forward to learn-ing on the course, certainly, but had not anticipated having my mind opened to material that served to change my world view. As a (very) mature student, and one who has spent many years consolidating a philosophical outlook, this was an unexpected gift from the academ-ic process—and one which does not expire on receiving a degree.

Can I recommend the BACE as a worthwhile adventure for the mature individual? Wholeheartedly and without reserve. And take com-fort—if you are thinking about it, you will be a much more efficient, organised student than I was. Won’t you?

A Mature Student’s-Eye-View of the BACE

The International Training Circle is a free association of centres providing training in Curative Edu-cation and Social Therapy from some 25 countries world wide. It is an organ of the Medical Section of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Swit-zerland and meets on a yearly basis. The process of recognition, based on peer evaluation is an essential

ingredient for mutual awareness, support and further development. This year Dr. Angelika Gäch from the R. Steiner Seminar Bad Boll, Germany came to Aberdeen to evaluate the BACE (Honours) Programme. She spent three days meeting tutors and lecturers in Camphill as well as at Aberdeen University, talked with students and also observed some lessons. She

was especially i m p r e s s e d by the close working rela-tionship be-tween Camphill and Aberdeen

University and by the open and positive support the School of Edu-cation at the University is prepared to give. Based on her impressions she recommended that Camphill School Aberdeen and Aberdeen University should be recognized as a professional training centre for Curative Education and Social Therapy.At the last Training Conference in Kassel, Germany, in 2009, we were part of a group of train-ings receiving the Certificate of Recognition. The people in the photo are: Dr. Berhard Kalwitz, Fachschule Nord, Germany; Vera Simakova, Seminar Sophia, Russia;

The BACE (Hons) Programme gains recognition from the International Training Circle

Angelika Monteux

Rachael Fairholm

Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 � Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Angelika Monteux

For the last ten years I have been centrally involved with the BACE as the Camphill Programme Direc-tor, working closely together with Norma Hart, who is the BACE Pro-gramme Director at the University of Aberdeen. It has been a very rich and exciting time from many points of view.

Part of my role was to be aware of, communicate and work with not only Norma and others at the University, but also with lots of other people: the Co-ordinators of all four Stages of the Programme, Course Co-ordinators, Practice and Personal Tutors, lecturers, and of course the students.

This has involved teaching, tu-toring, attending many meetings, planning, writing and re-writing courses, guidelines and general doc-umentation. It seems that as soon as we have improved and changed something, we already begin to see the need to make new changes, and so the BACE has gone through two re-validations and some major

changes in structure, content and delivery. This work could never be limited to the actual BACE team, but had to be done in consultation with the rest of the Community: House Co-ordinators, Teachers, Therapists, Craft Instructors, because any change in the BACE delivery or content has of course a direct effect on the life of eve-ryone in the Community.

This is not limited to Camphill School, because there are many students from other communities UK wide, so my ability to be aware, communicate at the right time and collaborate with so many people was challenged time and again.

I was also regularly involved with the international movement of curative education and social therapy, participating in confer-ences and working groups and also in supporting and encouraging other Anthroposophic institutions to collaborate with Universities to gain academic recognition. I found this part of my work very inspir-

ing. I enjoyed sharing and passing on what I had learned here to others—especially about the very special collaboration and partner-ship with the University.

I am grateful for all these expe-riences and learning opportunities, but my greatest thank you has to go to the students. It is a privilege to meet so many young people, to find ways to help them to learn and develop and to be witness to their hard work, dedication, their struggles and victories and to see how many of them are inspired to carry on their work here or in other parts of the world and also in very different circumstances and professions.

I will miss much of what I have done and experienced in my role as Programme Director, but I am also glad that after ten years I will now have time to follow some other interests. I have handed ‘my hat’ to Vincent D’Agostino, but I am still around and involved, although in a different way from now on.

My years as Camphill Director of the BA (Honours) Programme in Curative Education (BACE)

Angelika Monteux

A student from AfricaI am almost tempted to say that I stumbled on Anthroposophy by ac-cident. Indeed, I would be forgiven to think that was the case. I do not recall knowing anything about Anthro-posophy until I applied for the BA in Curative Education. My interest in the course was a result of what appeared to be a chance happening. Someone from Camphill had come to where I work. We got talking. She mentioned the course she had done. That got me interested in the BA in Curative Education. I am glad that I have been able to do the course. It has been one of the most enlightening experiences

I have encountered. For example, it was fascinating to be taught that human beings have twelve senses. It gave me a deeper understanding of human nature. I also spent one week in Camphill itself as part of my assessed practice. I discovered the true meaning and value of the idea of community. Of course, what I saw was by no means perfect. However, to me it represented the model that any decent human society should emulate. To me, it was a powerful expression of how man is meant to live: in a com-munity. Lukengo Y. Diansangu

Penny Roberts, Camphill Village Copake; Dr. Angelika Gäch, Bad Boll, Germany; Edeline Lefevre, Camphill Glencraig and Chris Walter, Camphill Aberdeen.It is very exciting and im-portant to us to be part of this international network of trainings; we learn from each other, support each other and together work on constantly improving our work and the practice of Curative Education and Social Therapy.

� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

We had a full and exciting year together in Class 5. Our two main themes of the year were botany and mythology. In botany we started to explore the living world of plants and we had opportuni-ties to spend a great deal of time learning outdoors. We searched the estate for specimens of fun-gus, lichen, moss and ferns and then we went to the beach and discovered seaweed with remark-able forms, colours and sizes. We made models and paintings of our discoveries. Later in botany we explored trees. We made an outdoor classroom area in the woods and each day had projects or ‘challenges’, which helped us to investigate the varieties, lifecy-cles and ecology of trees as well as help us think about how useful trees are to human beings. We also went to visit Murtle farm when they were sawing trees that had been felled on our estate into planks. Then we went to Newton Dee to see the planks drying in preparation for being used to make furniture in the wood work-shop. We enjoyed seeing all the machinery in the workshop and also having the chance to see the wonderful furniture the villagers make in Newton Dee.

The third block of botany gave the opportunity to investigate the life cycle of plants and we

germinated seeds. We watched in detail the germination of broad beans and sweet corn and we sowed flower and vegetable seeds for our own gardens. Class 5 took on the responsibility of caring for the flowerbeds in the school courtyard and each of us had our own patch of land to care for. Each day we tended our gardens and planted out the seedlings we had grown. Some pupils even did a bit of landscape gardening and built a small pond!

The other main theme of the year was mythology. We have gradually stepped from the wonderful and magical worlds of mythology to history, following a journey through ancient India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece. We have heard about mighty gods, great heroes and fearsome monsters. We heard creation stories from countries and cultures, met gods who were kind and benevolent as well as gods who were angry and venge-ful. This gave us the opportunity to explore drama and we really enjoyed re-enacting the stories through role-play. We also en-joyed dressing up and making props and costumes.

Apart from all the hard work we have done in maths and Eng-lish, craft and painting, we have also had the opportunity to prac-

tise many new sports this year. We had two types of gym lessons each week. Once a week we have continued with our sports lesson with Daniel practising ball games, trampoline and races. Twice each week we also had ‘bothmer gym’ with Gil. He showed us the five basic Greek athletics used in ancient times: running, jumping, wrestling, discus and javelin. We really enjoyed practising these sports and all of us became re-ally accomplished at each one, so much so that we decided to hold our own Olympic games at the end of May. This was a lovely occasion, watched by some of our fellow pupils in Carnelian schoolhouse. We even had a torch that we car-ried proudly to the sports field! When we had completed all the sporting events, each pupil was presented with a certificate and a ‘gold’ medal for the enormous effort everyone had put into the games.

This year we were very sad to say goodbye to Kyle in the autumn term. But in the winter term we were delighted to welcome Mat-thew to Class 5. We were also very pleased when our dear friend Peter came back to the class after a year away in a different school. Now we are very proud to be nine pupils.

Class teacher Terri Harrison

Class 5

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Knock, knock, can we come in?…When the Clowndoctors knock on a door, we never know how to open it! We get stuck, we forget our bags outside…what a mess!! Fortunately the children always know how to help us… Thank you!When we visit the Camphill Community with our red noses, everything becomes playful. It’s very special for us to visit the children. We love to discover their interests and share our specialities with them through play, music, pup-pets, hide in their cupboards, find magic balls, have a laugh or share silence…until suddenly an unex-pected noise or action takes our play forward again.

It’s wonderful when the children take the initiative and we always respect their space and feelings. We enjoy going around the houses in Camphill; they are all warm environments full of great colours, delicious smells and

lovely people! I love the biscuits in the Bungalow and the food in Camphill House, Witiko House, the Cottage…Oh I am getting hungry! We have also enjoyed spending time with you after our visits too! The Halloween party

was really scary!!After a year of visiting you, we feel very “comfy” and welcomed in your homes. Can we move to your community? We are just 15 Clown-

doctors, we don’t need more than a big mansion with 200 bedrooms and lots of food and chocolate pizzas for Dr. Poco!Thanks for such a wonderful and precious time, with love and laughter.

This term was marked by the death of Gisela Schlegel. She had lived and worked in Camphill since 1949, mostly here in the School where she was central to the Camphill Nurses’ work. She would have been 85 years old in January. She moved to Simeon, a Camphill Community for the elderly, in September 2004 where she continued to support the work of Camphill in her quiet and sure way, maintaining links with a wide circle of friends spread all over the world through letters and phone calls.

Advent was as usual very busy and the celebrations came thick and fast. We held the Advent Fairs where the pupils could do their Christ-mas shopping without the rush and bustle in Aberdeen and with the tempting smell of freshly cooked waff les swirl-ing around. We also saw the Paradise Play, enjoyed School Festivals, then the Nativity Play and finally the Christmas Eve celebrations!

Prior to this we had Class 7 perform their very own exciting production of Robin Hood. It had everything: dancing, sword

fighting and romance and had the audience engaged until the last moment.

On 11 December the Youth Club in Camphill Estate held their annual St. Nicholas Café and raised £125 for the Congo Appeal and the Witch Children in Nigeria Charity. It was great fun and offered us all an opportunity to meet and relax before the hectic activities described above.

The Pupils’ Council continue to be active and have conducted research into what colour the reprint of the Camphill cloth-ing should be. For this they had to learn how to consult in a meaningful way and how to represent other people’s views, something I guess we could all do better! Anyway the result was ‘burgundy’ and so now we have both blue and burgundy clothes for sale. The Pupils’ Council also worked with Paul Henderson to help create the School’s Development Plan as did the local parents’ group

The term saw the conclusion of the hearing stage of the Lo-cal Public Inquiry regarding the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route. We believe our pres-entation was well received and that through the visit by the Reporter to Camphill Estate he got a real impression of the

impact on the Estate should the road be built.

More prominent is the de-veloping partnership with the City around the provision of Nature/Nurture groups and Forest Schools both across the City and within Camphill on our grounds.

The St. Andrew’s Project is now up and running and offering a variety of flexible packages to Aberdeen City and Aberdeen-shire Councils.

This term also saw the visit by the Korean Broadcasting Corporation who spent a day here filming ‘good practice’ as an example of how to live and work with children with addi-tional support needs. As their correspondent said, “When we heard about Camphill’s work we felt it was a really good model of a community where disabled people can live and work to-gether”.

Later in the term we were visited on two occasions by a team from Shell as part of their annual community event. They stripped and repainted a fence around a central playground and also erected a covered sandpit. Their leader said, “We hope we have contributed to the won-derful work Camphill do here.”

Laurence Alfred

Advent 2008

Dr.Poco :O)

8

THE CRYSTAL PALACE

Saturday 27 September 2008 witnessed the formal opening of the Sculpture Workshop on the Murtle Estate. The most obvious and exciting feature of the building is that it is made entirely of glass so that the passer-by can observe the artist and students at work and over time see the progress in the evolution of the various sculpted objects set out on the workshop floor. The building makes a clear and unequivocal statement which is that art is not a private and privileged activity but one that should be accessible and visible.

The building also highlights the important fact that art is a process. There’s almost a sense in which the finished product is perhaps less important than the activity which precedes its completion. That’s not to say that the completed object may not possess great aesthetic appeal but the excitement for the artist and for those who observe it is in witnessing the act of creation.

Whilst it is presumptuous on my part to suggest a name for this unique building, I am drawn to describe it as The Crystal Palace—not least because it shines like a multi-faceted gem—a natural and beautiful object to which magical and healing qualities are attributed.

It is worth noting that during the planning application stages, there were objections from ‘neighbours’ who saw the proposed building as an unwanted and intrusive blot on the landscape. And yet local people who now regularly take a stroll along the public footpath that skirts the Murtle Estate seem magnetically drawn to the

building. They are fascinated, not simply by the building itself, but by its contents. A further value of The Crystal Palace is that it provides an opportunity for those external to Camphill to learn something about Camphill and its philosophy and in an immediate, informal and appealing way.

It is interesting to reflect upon the fact that the marble that Albertino Costa is currently sculpting in the workshop comes from the Carrara quarry in Tuscany; for it was from this quarry that Michelangelo obtained the marble to sculpt the iconic Renaissance masterpiece—the statue of David!

Albertino has pointed out that the excitement of working with natural materials—whether marble, granite, limestone or sandstone—is that although one may have some idea of what one wants to create, it is often the material itself which guides the chisel. In other words, there is a sense in which there is an object residing in the block of unworked stone that the artist has to discover. Thus the relationship between sculptor and stone is as much a metaphysical as a physical one.

The point needs to be stressed that participation in the artistic process is not confined to one person, it extends to the children and young people with special needs in the School—all of whom have the opportunity to engage in the act of creation.

Quite by chance the opening of the workshop on 27 September coincided with the publication of a biography of Hermann Gross, who from

1963 to 1988, had been artist-in-residence at the School.* Gross had been invited to Aberdeen by Karl König who wanted someone to construct a number of metal sculptures for Camphill Hall—seen as the spiritual home of the Camphill Movement. König imposed one condition which was that the work had to be undertaken by someone living in Camphill, for, in his opinion, if it were carried out elsewhere, it would lack meaning and authenticity.

Working in Camphill became a source of inspiration to Gross. As the community gave to his work new life, so he offered the community a new way of looking at life. It had always been one of the aims of the founders of Camphill to foster social art. Gross began a process whereby people were challenged to look at their surroundings in a new way. Many of the paintings and sculptures which were subsequently produced by Gross can be interpreted as meditation pieces, for they were hung in different houses and meeting rooms in different communities and many would have been the focal point in a room or hall or garden. In other words, they were positioned in such a way to challenge people to contemplate their meaning.

Gross made a significant contribution to the community’s understanding of the purpose and value of art, not simply by making his work available to the community, but by ensuring that the art-making process itself was accessible and visible and not some precious and exclusive activity. In essence, he was engaged in the demystification

9

of the process—but not of the product.

Gross indicated that he did not want to be like other artists who just played at being artists and sat in their ivory towers imitating others: “I felt the whole conception of artists in the Western world was wrong—that doing must replace philosophising about art”. Gross would almost certainly have applauded the creation of The Crystal Palace, where the work of artist and student is firmly grounded in the real world and is responding in an imaginative and challenging way to relevant and current needs.

Gross’s artist-in-residentship at Camphill was unlike the often short-term, high profile, media conscious and externally funded projects of today. These arrangements frequently mean that the artist has a limited opportunity to get to know the population with whom s/he resides, to identify the issues that need to be addressed and to find the right language and medium in which to communicate. It was only with the passage of time that Gross gained the confidence and insights necessary to communicate with those with whom he lived and worked.

König had seen the role of community-oriented art as a way of heightening the social consciousness of those living in Camphill. Holistic educators, too, recognise that ‘healthy’ organisations tend to evolve where an environment has been created which facilitates the development of the ‘reflective practitioner’: someone who, at regular intervals, looks back at the work they do, and the work process, and considers how they can improve. Gross’s art was directed to that end: it is the

antithesis of propagandist art that celebrates and demands conformity and uniformity. Gross, like König, was aware that the kind of social renewal they sought could only be achieved by creating a world that was more responsive to the needs of the child. Many of Gross’s paintings at this time featured unsentimental and striking portraits of children, all of which presented a challenge to the viewer to seek their deeper meaning. This can be construed as social art, where the medium is being used to convey a message, not simply about how one should care for and protect children but how societies, in general, should treat all vulnerable groups.

The construction of the sculpture workshop is an especially important event because it signals the School’s continuing commitment to the critical role of the creative arts, not just within the narrow confines of the curriculum,

but more broadly in the life and work of the community. Regardless of the level of ability of the child or young person, engagement in creative activities confers priceless and lasting educational, social, psychological and spiritual benefits.

At twilight The Crystal Palace shines forth like a beacon—a powerful, illuminating and enduring visual metaphor for the life and work of Camphill in the 21st century.

Robin Jackson

*Hermann Gross: Art and Soul. Robin Jackson. [2008] Edinburgh: Floris Books. (Obtainable from Camphill Bookshop)

�0 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Last school year was a busy one for all in class 10. I would like to take this opportunity to look back on some high-lights and things we have achieved.

During the Autumn Term we have been looking back in history to study about early human civilisation in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Here we explored ancient ways of writing in Cunei Form or Egyptian Hieroglyphs. The story of Alexander the Great was an in-teresting one to follow - even though he lived thousands of years ago, his achievements and legacy can be felt to this day.

We then studied human biol-ogy, where we looked at the internal organs - particularly the lungs and breathing and the heart and blood circulation. In our next main lesson we learned about physics; in particular the use of natural resources to create electricity.

During the Christmas Term we travelled across to Murtle Sci-ence Lab almost every day, where we learned about acids and alkaline substances, their qualities, their reaction together and their use in every-day-life.

We then went on a journey with the Ancient Greek hero ‘Odysseus’ and through drama, painting and draw-ing followed some of the adventures and challenges he met. We also made a very large map to keep track of his Odyssey. Staying with Ancient Greece and the impact their scientific studies

still have to this very day, we explored geometry and some rules established by the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid.

The Spring Term was a long one! We managed to look at four differ-ent subjects. First up was our second Biology lesson for this school year. This time we remembered ‘health and nutrition’ that we had already studied last year, but this time the lesson was combined with a very practical aspect of cooking, frying and baking. For two weeks we had delicious and interesting food including boiled egg on toast, pancakes, falafel, sushi and pizza. We then had some lessons on basic first aid and what to do in cer-tain emergency situations.

During our next Chemistry main lesson we tried to produce electricity from lemons and thanks to an extra small LED light bulb, we eventually proved that this is possible. We also studied electrolysis and finally the properties of different metals. For the latter we had fireworks and sparklers.

The next main lesson was geo-graphy. Here we explored ‘the atmos-phere’. We particularly looked at the impact the climate or geographical position of a place can have on the atmosphere. In this lesson we also learned about the wind and, to find out just how powerful wind can be, we went to Balmedie Beach and let fly a bunch of 16 helium-filled balloons. That day the wind carried the balloons

in a north-westerly direction, so, as they went higher and higher and fur-ther out above the sea, we eventually lost track of them. I wonder if they ever came back to earth...

Finally, during the spring term, we learned about early human history in Scotland. We learned how people lived comparatively simple, but hard lives, having to hunt and gather their food and cook it over an open fire. We tried to make a fire in the style of a Stone-age person, but never really got any more than a few sparks or the smell of burning wood.

Continuing on the track of the Stone-age people in Scotland we vis-ited two local stone circles and the brilliant outdoor historic museum ‘Archeolink’.

With the start of summer term, we continued with another Physics main lesson. Here we learned about the sound, radio waves and how a radio works. We built crystal radios, which was not an easy thing to do, and eventually we managed to have reception on two of them: with one we could hear someone speak; the other one played heavy metal music. The highlight of those three weeks, however, was surely the visit to the local NORTH SOUND radio station, where we got to see the actual LIVE studios and even enjoyed about ten seconds live ‘on air’.

To conclude this School year it was time to focus on the play, ‘Peer Gynt’ by Henrick Ibsen, that we were going to perform during the Summer School Festival. This is the story of a young man in search for romance and adventure, but he is not careful to follow advice or to face consequences. Peer Gynt meets several challenges on his search, including the encounter with a troll princess and her father the troll king. He eventually realizes that he must return home to his own mother, who has been waiting for him for weeks and weeks.

During last school year all the young people from class 10 attended craft workshops and some participat-ed in a horticultural awards scheme, which was successfully concluded by one young man.

Class teacher Susie Körting

Class 10 Highlights of the School Year 2008-2009

Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 �� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

St John’s 2009

As always this term a highlight is

the activities week and this year

we were blessed with the best

weather of the summer, and able

to swim in rivers and lochs, camp

and eat BBQ’s with little concern

for rain. Having said that at

least one group packed up under

grey skies and snow flakes! (No

wonder we spend so much time

talking about the weather here in

Scotland!)This time of the year always

brings changes; of particular note

Piet Hogenboom laid down his task

as administrator which he carried

faithfully for some years. We

are currently sharing the work of

administrator between the senior

co-worker group; Jeannie Durno

who supported house community

life in Witiko for 15 years moved

on to ‘Grand-parenting’; Paul

Henderson, who has worked with

us for just under seven years and

pioneered our current relationship

with various regulatory bodies

as well as leading our work in developing our new School

Development Plan and vision,

has moved on to pastures new;

Angelika Monteux, who retired

from the joint directorship of

the BA in Curative Education and

who oversaw the new partnership

with Aberdeen University and

the development of the Honours

Course; Dick Hogg, Murtle Workshop manager for many,

many years who oversaw many

building developments and was

always available for those sudden

emergencies of which there were

many, has retired. To these must

be added BACE graduates and

students, the many Foundation

Year co-workers on who so much

depends, class-assistants and

others. To all of you our heart-

felt thanks for what you have

offered to us. This summer has been difficult

for us, as it has been with most

Camphill Communities, to recruit

sufficient co-workers for the new

school year. At present we are

not clear about why this is but

no doubt it has not been helped

by the change in immigration

regulations which make it far

more difficult to recruit non EEC

people. This has also impacted on

the BA which has fewer Stage 1

students than normal.On Saturday 20 June seven

young people from Class 12 graduated. Some will join the Post

School Transition Year while most

of the others have found places

in Camphill Communities. We wish

them and their families all the

best for the future. Pupil Council work continues

un-abated with representatives

meeting with the Director of

the Scottish Commission for

the Regulation of Care when she

visited earlier in the term. The School Festival marked the

public launch of our fund raising

campaign for the Therapy Centre

to be built on our Camphill campus.

We are aiming to raise at least

£100,000 towards the total cost

of just over £300,000. One way

of looking at this is that if 4000

people each give £25 we will do it!

You can donate on line by going to

www.camphillschools.org.uk/support

We participated with ITN

in preparing an hour long DVD

to be shown at the Scottish

Learning Conference at the end

of September; we will have a 3-

minute slot in the film which will

be shown to the 2000 participants

and sent to another 3000 ‘need

to know’ people. One immediate

result will be that we will have

a short high quality DVD about

Camphill School Aberdeen to help

us promote ourselves. Camphill

School Aberdeen has also been

featured three times in the Times

Educational Supplement, twice

in regard to the Nature Nurture

work we do in partnership with

Aberdeen City Council and once in

relation to the training Bernhard

offers on autism in partnership

with Target Training. We will

also be providing training for

Aberdeen City Council staff in

Nature Nurture work, beginning in

the autumn. The end of year brought

strongly into focus the Community

aspect of our School as we experienced a wealth of emotions:

we said “good bye” to Jamie Henderson, a pupil who died at

home on 20 June; to his family and

friends we send our condolences;

before and afterwards we celebrated the wedding of Marieke

and Jakob, celebrated the 70th

Birthday of Marga and the 80th

of Muriel and enjoyed the many

contributions performed by our

Classes at and around the School

Festival. Earlier in the term Lorraine gave birth to a wee boy,

Isaac. There was also the birth

of Samuel Lucas to Hana and

Christian and Janosch Noah to

Jessica and Simon.Finally, it was 70 years ago on

30 March 1939 that the founders

of Camphill arrived at Kirkton

House (North of Aberdeen) and

in May 1939 took in the first

children with special needs, thus

laying the foundations for what

would become the international

Camphill movement. It was only

a year later in June 1940 that

the move to Camphill House took

place.Laurence Alfred

Candle makingCandles are made of beeswax. The beeswax smells good. To make a candle you need: Wick, a pair of pliers, bits of lead and wax 1. First you need to cut the wick to the length you need.2. Then you need to put lead bit at the end of the wick to weigh it down (to get straight candles).3. The last step is to dip the wick in the wax again and again to make the candles.I really enjoyed making candles.

An article by Laura Crawford, class 10

�2 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

On Saturday, 20 June in the afternoon, the graduation cere-mony for class 12 took place. Ben, Finbar, Fiona, Hayley, Isabel, Kenny, Lily, Rebekah, Robert and Rossman were present, together with their parents, friends, and many people who had worked with them. For each of them, the class had been a setting full of friend-ship, growth and learning. Now came a ceremony that marked the end of their life as a ‘pupil’, and a move into a future full of uncer-tainties. I, too, felt many differ-ent emotions. Sadness that the class was coming to an end, and gratitude for what the class had taught me, and for our journey together. It has been a privilege to work with the class, and to be part of the circle of people who stand around them and have made it possible. Parents, who have en-trusted their children to us, of-ten overcoming many difficulties to do so; co-workers who worked so faithfully and with such enthu-siasm and skill; therapists, doc-tors and many others who helped and shared their insights; house coordinators with whom it was a

pleasure to work together, and without whose support nothing would have worked.

The life of a class is too full of events to recall them all—the plays and pageants, the excur-sions, the performances at school festivals based on the varied and colourful subjects of the cur-riculum, the lessons surveying the grounds or in the Science Labora-tory, the visitors and guests from Lebanon to Australia, and all the artistic activities—each had its own special joys and added to the fabric that bound the class together. But most of all, the daily working together has built up a sense of togetherness and cooperation that has been tangi-ble to our many guests, and also to the guest teachers who took the class for special subjects in the upper school.

Each pupil came out to be acknowledged and thanked, and was given a certificate and a book containing contributions from those who had worked with them as a memento of their time in the school. Some had something to say in return. A proud moment for

all concerned. Pupils who had been part of the class for part of its history were also remembered. Some had left; some had been ‘guests’ in the class for a year; some had moved to another class in order to meet a specific need. All have a place in our hearts.

One grandparent said after-wards, “I have been a vicar for seventy years, and I know grace when I see it.” Our young people provided that grace. Now they are facing the challenging move to other settings. Of the ten pupils, two will go to Cairnlee, and one has recently moved there. One goes to a care home in Ab-erdeen, where she will join a pupil who is already there. One is in Beannachar. Four pupils are stay-ing for a ‘transition programme,’ where they will experience adult work settings as well as continu-ing to learn a craft—but more as an apprentice than as a pupil—as well as attending College part time and having placements in new settings to prepare them for leaving. Our best wishes go with them, and also our love and our trust in them. Richard Keys

Class 12: A Sad and Joyous Moment

A college: an organized group of pro-fessional people with particular aims, duties and privileges (from the Oxford Dictionary).

Like the teachers’ college and the house co-ordinators’ meeting, the therapy college meets every week in term time. We are a group of 12 people. For some years the group has included some BACE students, who have chosen to work with formal therapeutic ac-tivities, bringing new energy and fresh approaches to the work.

The College’s AIM is to be a source of learning, inspiration and support

for the members who mainly work on their own with the pupils on a one to one basis.

To enhance our work, we choose a theme to work on at the beginning of the school year. Last year it was the different metals, their qualities and therapeutic possibilities, both directly and more metaphorically. We manage to have two workshops a year which give us the chance sometimes to invite a doctor and generally to go more in depth.

At times the college can be experi-enced as somewhat fragmented. This is

understandable as each of us work very differently therapeutically: horses, mu-sical instruments, dolls’ houses, swords and sandpits, paints and clay, sooth-ing/invigorating massage oils, vowels and words, acting, movement to sound and music, climbing and balancing.

In order to tune in, understand and support each other in all this richness we use every opportunity to share from our individual disciplines, personal work and experiences. We also make regular efforts to have experiences together, be it singing, observation, speech, draw-ing, etc.

A bit about the therapy college

Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 �� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Jamie Alexander Henderson (* 28 September 1993, † 20 June 2009)

James the Younger went West. He made SantiagoWith the aid of the staff, a heart-shell for a sign.Brave ones today still brave the Camino,Parched miles of steep thirst, their souls to reign.Alexander went East, spreading consciousness-light,Who had mastered the wild, shade-shying steed.Old wisdom cultures conceived, not by fight,But in awe thinking´s passion of which they felt need.Now Jamie the Brave has journeyed beyondHis body´s ravine and pained pangs of his friendsTo open the way for pilgrims to follow.He wasn´t called Alex for nothing, as fondHe proved pushing—past limits—the endsEven now he is filling core spaces past hollow.

It was a great sadness that one of our pupils Jamie Alexander Henderson who lived

in the Cottage for seven years, passed away.

Jamie brought lots of joy to many of our co-work-ers and pupils. He was a happy, cheerful, mischie-vous, clever boy.

Jamie was always willing to be adventurous and had lots of creative ideas in his mind. Due to his fragile body he often found it frustrating to carry out all his adventures.

During his time here he learned communicating using sign language and picture symbols. He was able to choose an activity and show his needs out of more than 100 symbols.

Jamie learned to ride his bike and loved racing down the hill on his scooter (supported by a co-worker). He enjoyed being in the minibus, swimming pool, gym hall and Camphill Hall (looking at the big windows and curtains). He was very much an ex-plorer and got especially excited when we went for outings or celebrated our seasonal festivals.

One of his favourite special tricks usually involved water and a co-worker getting wet (es-pecially new co-workers). At night time we had to be especially aware of Jamie turning his bathroom into a wet room (that included the passage and other bedrooms).

He loved looking at photos, books and magazines. He was also very good at taking them apart and putting them together again.

Jamie was a very social person. He enjoyed visits to other houses to meet his friends.

After conducting the funeral and listening to many stories, Jens-Peter Linde wrote a poem es-pecially for Jamie. It describes him beautifully…

Jamie, you brought lots of happiness and laugh-ter into our lives and we will never forget you.

Alison & Anja (Camphill Cottage)

Additional to the individual support and supervision, which we all have, each member of the group has a personal an-nual review within the meeting. Here it is possible to reflect on one’s present situation in a supportive and sensitive setting. We are almost ready for a third round and find it helpful to have feed-back from the group.

It is our DUTY to be aware of, sup-port and develop all the formal thera-peutic work throughout the school. We were glad to become involved in the new format of the parents’ evenings, which was established this past year.

We continued discussions about how to improve communication with parents also in reports, reviews, child studies and personal contact.

The college was and is involved in the planning of and fundraising for the new therapy building on Camphill Estate.

It is the college’s duty to be aware of and encourage personal and profes-sional development of each member, and to see that our practice is up to date and in line with best practice and the school’s policies.

It is our PRIVILEGE to work with the pupils in creative, peaceful indi-

vidual ways; to meet them where they are at and gently support them in tak-ing whatever steps they can in a heal-ing, building-up process. In awareness of that we arrange two child studies per term within the college, trying to deepen our understanding by sharing from each therapeutic activity the child has.

In these times of financial pressure it is a privilege to still be able to work as individually as we can do and as a college to support this worthwhile and rewarding part of our life.

Anni D’Agostino

�� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

This year the team at the Riding School has been very busy continu-ing to provide its therapeutic pro-gramme to a large number of chil-dren, approximately twenty ses-sions per week. Some children have continued the traditional riding therapy while others progressed to more developed therapy and the learning of riding skills. Some pupils have also begun to come for extra sessions, participating in or learning about horse care.

Last summer the stables were refurbished and this has provided a much better stabling arrange-ment for the horses and has facil-itated a smoother preparation of the horses for the therapies. The additional work there is nearly completed, allowing pupils to be involved in and around the stables for horse care activities.

During the course of the year additional fundraising was done to

help the Riding School with £4000 being given by BAA towards the cost of a horse and equip-ment. Since then additional fundraising is un-derway as we are urgently in need of replacing old saddles which no longer fit the horses as well as they should due to their growth and maturation, and further equipment for the pupils such as riding hats and chaps. Any contri-butions are welcomed!

The staff team at the riding school has worked well under Kat’s careful and caring management eye. During this year, two mem-bers of the team, Roxanne and Elizabeth, left for personal rea-

sons, and Jill and Nathalie joined the team. Now in August Jill has decided to stop her full-time work and return to a vol-unteering position. Subsequently, Tracy Duncan has luckily returned after 1½ years and been re-em-ployed for the beginning of the new school year to fill the vacancy.

The horses have had great suc-cess this year in managing all their therapies. The new young horse, Vincent, has begun his social and practical schooling. He has been

MURTLE RIDING SCHOOL

Annual Report 2008-2009 for Amber KindergartenThis has been a year full of changes! We started the Autumn Term with the team formed by: Amalia, Claudia, Paulette, Seungji and Sophia.

At Christmas Sophia moved to work in the Larchfield Community and Line started to work in Am-ber. After the Easter Holidays Paulette became fully involved in Cherrywood and Isabel started to help in Amber.

By Christmas four children left and five new children started; two of them were already familiar with our setting as their siblings had attended Amber the year before. In the Spring Term a new girl arrived and in the Summer Term we admitted two boys. Anya

started to come and help on Mon-days and Jerus on Wednesdays. We also started to have ‘Music Man’ Jakob every Friday for a music lesson that is much appreci-ated by both adults and children; this will continue next year.

In this last term we also or-ganized a visit of Michael from Cairnlee, he came and made a basket in front of the children. It was a beautiful experience that kept the children spellbound for 25 minutes, observing the basket growing as if by magic under the skilful fingers of the craft mas-ter. This inspired us to continue in the future to invite craft masters to show their skills to the young children in Amber.

In the last two months we have had many enquiries and visits, our waiting list has grown and we have heard that Amber has started to have the fame of an ‘international’ kindergarten. This is a reality, with children coming originally from Germany, Hungary, Poland, Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia, and staff from South America, Korea, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belarus and the Philippines!

For the next school year we have a full kindergarten and we are considering the possibility of also having an afternoon session. We looked at our diary and we felt that we wanted to be open on special days such as Michael-mas and Ascension and for the

Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 �� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

My name is Scott McWilliamI am in class 11. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I go to the metal workshop on Murtle estate. I do lots of different jobs in the metalwork.I have a folder with all the symbols for the tools and items that I will be working on, they are on the strip so I know what I am going to be doing on that day.Most of the time I am making copper bowls. I start off by cutting a circle on a sheet of copper. I then choose a small metal hammer with a round tip. With this I hammer lots of dents on the copper circle. I enjoy this job the most. Then I find one of the wooden blocks carved out in a bowl shape; I find one that best suits the size of my bowl. I then choose a round wooden hammer and start hammering the copper circle into a carved out shape till the metal looks like a bowl. This takes a long time.After this is done I have to make the bottom of the bowl flat. This is done by putting the bowl upside down on the end of a metal tube and using the metal hammer to flatten it. Then I need to get some “Brasso” and a cloth and make my bowl nice, clean and shiny.It is hard work but I really enjoy all the hammering and I am very proud when I see my bowl all finished, knowing I have done all of the work myself.

Scott (with help from Laura R.)

learning dressage, jumping and cross-country work and recently won his first rosette of 4th place in a competition at Tertowie Livery Yard. He has successfully integrated with the other horses and the school life in Murtle. He has had intensive schooling and is beginning to learn how

to be a responsive therapy horse. Kat’s young two-year-

old horse, MJ (Monty Jay), will be coming at the end of the summer together with his friend and companion, one-year-old Ba-balo (Tracy’s horse). They want to learn about life and work at Murtle Riding School and see if it is for them!

We have been very happy of the support given to the Riding School from its official Support Group and everyone else in the Commu-nity too. We are looking forward to another good year ahead.

Kahren Ehlen and Kat Gibb

Outdoor Activity Week in June. It will be possible for Amber to be open and have special days too, thanks to the collaboration and support of class assistants and teachers.

Last but not least, this year we had the accreditation of the ‘I Can Talk’ Programme which promotes communication in Early Years’ Settings. We also had a very positive Care Commission Inspection in March.

As noted by both the ‘I Can Talk’ staff and the Care Commis-sion Inspector, one of the major strengths of Amber Kindergarten is the full support and involve-ment of the parents. This year they organized a wonderful ‘Fun

Day’ outing to Balmedie Beach. It was great to spend the day together with all the families, with a barbeque, flying kites and blowing soap bubbles! We also had a fundraising event, the ‘Big Toddle’, raising funds for Bernar-do’s. It was a lovely day with all the families walking down to the

farm in Murtle Estate and we had a great picnic in the kindergarten at the end.

We look forward with enthu-siasm to the next school year, to the new children and their fami-lies and the new co-workers who will join Amber Kindergarten.

Amber Team

�� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

offers outdoor learning and play op-portunities to children from deprived areas of Aberdeen who are disadvan-taged because of poverty or because their parents struggle with substance misuse, domestic violence or home-lessness. We work in partnership with Aberdeen City Council and work with nurseries, schools and family centres to give the children nurturing experi-ences outside in specially resourced woodland areas. We run weekly af-ternoon programmes encouraging play, creativity, exploration, experiential learning, problem solving and col-laboration to help build children’s self esteem, confidence and resilience. We aim to give each child inspiring and challenging experiences that allow them to learn and develop at their own pace. We help them relax and enjoy natural surroundings, developing appreciation for the environment and also building up their stamina, physical strength and well being.

Our staff are trained teachers, a play therapist and experts in behav-iour, child trauma and attachment dis-orders. High staff to children ratios allow us to help children build trusting relationships and feel safe and secure whilst challenging themselves and daring to ‘have a go’ or persevere. We celebrate every child’s every success and find opportunities for the children to have a real experience of achieve-ment and of being valued.

The children are aged between 16 months and 5 years. Many have been, or are, on the child protec-tion register. They display delays in vital areas of development such as communication. Many of the children who join us can barely walk on uneven

surfaces when they first arrive, and some are so withdrawn we hardly hear them speak for the first few sessions. Yet after a few sessions all of the children so far have learnt to walk, then run through the woods, climb and balance and make things, sing or play imaginatively with others.

Most of the children who come to Nature Nurture suffer from lack of confidence and self esteem. Many of these children have attachment dis-orders and we often see children who are hyper-vigilant and traumatised. For some, the anxiety they experi-ence becomes a permanent state of mind until they can learn to relax and trust again.

Each session is clearly structured and punctuated by songs and rhymes that mark transitions. The walk to the woods is a time for collecting, inves-tigating and exploring nature. Snack time is outdoors and we use this op-portunity to relax and chat together, reflect on what we have been doing and to develop social awareness and understanding. After snack we sing songs and play action games together before the walk back.

We are hoping to develop a pro-gramme for primary aged children which will follow a similar structure in a larger, more challenging area of woodland. Their investigations and ex-ploration of the natural environment will be curriculum linked and craft opportunities will help to extend skills and self-expression.

In both groups we aim to develop resilience through enhancing a sense of wellbeing and a sense of achieve-ment. The children also benefit from close engagement with trained staff

and the therapeutic quality of outdoor experiences.

This development is dependent on us

securing a separate funding source and

we are confident of achieving this

very soon.Although

the sessions are highly

structured and there is a necessity for

routine and repetition,

the sessions also have to be flexible

and child led. Through careful obser-vation of the younger children we can see and hear where their interests and motivations lie and we use these as learning opportunities. Family Centre or Nursery Staff and parents also give us feedback on what the children talk about after each session and what they look forward to before coming each week.

The older children will be involved fully in the planning of each session. This will be done through a period of reflection at the end of each session. In this group discussion we will en-courage the children to acknowledge their achievements in the session and ask them how they would like to develop their skills and extend their experiences further. Self assessment and evaluation will provide the impetus for the project.

Aberdeen City presently funds the Nature Nurture Project as one of the strategies to meet their Early Years/Early Intervention targets. They funded our organisation to run the project for 70 children under five years of age. The City is interested in the ‘nurturing’ aspect of the project and in the Forest School approach to nurturing that we adopt.

In addition to the City funding, we are also exploring other potential sources of finance. In April this year we successfully secured a grant to run an additional ten-session block for another group of pre-school children. We are close to securing regular funding for a primary age group and we are implementing plans aimed at securing all the funding we will need from 2010-2013. We will provide updates as and when these plans come to fruition.

Our wish to now extend this work with older children is based on a large body of research into the thera-peutic value of forest schools for disadvantaged youngsters and the beneficial effect of Nurture Groups run for under achieving children with attachment disorder. As some may already be aware, there will be an independent research project run by Aberdeen University this year, looking into the long-term benefits of the Nature Nurture project. The Nature Nurture team has met with Karen McArdle from the University and a research proposal has been outlined and agreed. The research project will begin in September 2009 and run until December 2010.

The Nature Nurture Project

Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 �� Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009 Camphill School Aberdeen Annual Report 2008–2009

Office BearersMANAGEMENT COUNCIL

ExternalTony Crabbe Chair Norma Hart Vice-chairNigel Wood SecretaryGeorge Morgan Rainer ReinardyIvan BousfieldDorothy Miles

InternalLaurence AlfredFriedwart BockVincent D’AgostinoBirgit HansenPiet HogenboomBernhard Menzinger

CO-ORDINATORS

Piet Hogenboom AdministratorVincent D’Agostino Laurence AlfredEvgueni ChepelinManuela CostaJennifer GordonBirgit HansenTerri HarrisonBernhard Menzinger

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF CAMPHILLKaren Johnston ChairNatacha Seger Vice-ChairNigel Wood SecretaryAgnes Gray Treasurer

Pupil Statistics 2008–2009 (the school year)

11 new pupils over the year:Aberdeen City = 8Aberdeenshire = 2Angus = 1

12 left: (1 Ridge Park, 1 Beannachar, 2 Home and Mainstream School, 1 Glasgow area, 1 Aberdeen area, 1 Garvald Farm, 4 moved to Cairnlee 1 pupil died)

as at 29 June 200974 pupils48 boarders26 day pupils10 Cairnlee students

This June three students from Class 11 and one student from the tran-sitional year were presented with Individual Achievement in Horticul-ture Awards. A further five students achieved an interim award. They aim to complete the award this academic year along with two new students from Class 11, one from Class 12, and one from the transitional year. This follows eight awards from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society in 2008. These were the first such awards made by the society, and Camphill School Aberdeen students have gained more awards than any other centre in Scotland.

The Royal Caledonian Horticulture Society (the Caley) was founded in 1809 and is the leading gardening so-ciety in Scotland. Through their work with Oatridge College and the Suntrap Garden they became aware of a gap in the provision of qualifications for special needs’ students working in the field of horticulture. Either qualifica-tions have too high an academic con-tent for many students or entry level qualifications are so basic that they do not provide adequate recognition for what can be substantial achieve-ment. Many centres have students with a wide range of abilities and there is a danger when introducing qualifications of a large proportion of staff time being devoted to quali-fications appropriate to only a small proportion of students, meaning the majority could suffer.

The Recognition of Individual Achievement in Horticulture Award, whilst not a qualification, is designed to address these issues by recognis-ing sustained attendance, the range of activities participated in, and particularly the achievement of indi-vidual goals. As these are related to an individual student’s own abilities and learning needs the award can in-clude a wide range of students. The Caley have approached the relevant bodies with the aim of getting the award accepted as a qualification but it is exactly this individualisation that makes it difficult to fit into existing qualification structures.

To achieve the award the student must have: • Attended the garden project

for at least eighty hours (usually over the course of a year).

• Partaken to the best of their ability in at least twenty dif-ferent horticultural or related activities for at least two hours. These must include the seven core activities of composting, cultivating, sowing, propagating, potting on and planting out, plant care, and harvesting.

• Achieved at least three indi-vidual goals.

Here these personal goals have in-cluded selecting, purchasing and grow-ing plants in their own garden plots, managing to grow specific plants which interest them, managing to come on time (and in one case not too early), taking responsibility for a particular task, learning to drive the garden tractor, and learning to cope with getting hands dirty.

Evidence in the form of written records such as registers, photo-graphs and videos are assembled in a portfolio and submitted to the Caley before the presentation of the award. If all criteria have not yet quite been met then an interim award will be made indicating what still needs to be achieved.

I believe joining the award scheme has been beneficial to the participat-ing students. It has given structure to sessions. It has provided motivation to try new things and to persevere at other less exciting tasks. They have appreciated being presented with awards by a representative of the Caley. Hopefully these experiences and the evidence of achievement will help them in the future.

We are very grateful to the Caley and in particular to Margaret Teale who co-ordinates the scheme and has verified the students’ portfolios, to Ivor Santer who presented last year’s awards, and to David Sinclair who presented this year’s awards and was instrumental in establishing the scheme.

Ian Futter

Recognition of Individual Achievement in Horticulture Award

Help us build a new therapy centre

The New Therapy CentreIn 2010 it will be 70 years since the very first Camphill communi-ty was established in Aberdeen. Over the past seven decades, Camphill has helped thousands of children with special needs to reach their potential. Recently Camphill School Aber-deen has been recognised for pro-viding ‘sector leading’ standards with its integrated programme of education, care and support. The therapies behind this success are currently delivered in shared fa-cilities within the school house.To provide an even higher level of excellence for both school pu-pils and the wider community, a therapy centre is to be built in the autumn of 2009.

The CentreThe new timber-frame building will house seven different thera-pies which do not currently have their own space.With your help we can turn this plan into reality, providing a much improved support environment for our children and those in the wider community.TherapiesTherapies are an integral part of our school life. They are con-stantly developing and benefiting more children.

Our plan is to improve facilities for the following therapeutic ac-tivities:

Play ArtRhythmical MassageTherapeutic BathSpeechDramaCounselling

The AppealThe total cost of the project is £305,000 of which we aim to raise £100,000 with the balance coming from the School’s holding company, Camphill Rudolf Steiner Estates, a registered charity.To reach this target we are launching this appeal to raise £100,000.The new Therapy Centre will al-low us to continue to expand our out-reach education and therapy work to children, young people and adults in the locality. With this in mind, the new Centre has its own entrance, waiting and kitchen area.

A Fitting TributeThe new Therapy Centre will stand on the Camphill campus of Camphill School Aberdeen. This is where the Camphill pioneers started their first community

for children with special needs in June 1940. Their work inspired the Camphill Movement which now encompass-es more than 100 centres in 23 countries, making it one of the world’s largest voluntary organi-sations helping individuals with special needs around the world.The completion of this new Ther-apy Centre will be a tribute to this pioneering work.

If you would like to support this project please go to the Camphill School Aberdeen website www.crss.org.ukand click on the support button or go directly to www.camphillschools.org.uk/sup-portShould you wish to receive more information about the Therapy Centre, please contact us:Karen Johnston, Camphill SchoolMurtle House, BieldsideAberdeen, AB15 9EP

email support@crss.org.uk or phone 01224 867935.As an indication of our thanks to you we propose to design a mu-ral in the hall way of the Centre which will include your name, un-less you indicate otherwise.