Class 2 News

Class 2 would like to start the year by thanking a few kind and clever people. Firstly, Hannah for the successful Beekeeping Grant, which she submitted last year. The school now has a lovely Kenyan top bar beehive built by John Birmingham stocked with friendly and productive bees which we caught in the Olive Pink Gardens. 

Also, several parents who generously gave their time to construct a shelter for the hive. Thank you, Andy, Monty and Wade.

Soon we will be able to purchase protective gear, pay for the hive and set up a bee friendly flower garden. Stand by for news of free beekeeping information sessions at the school in the Spring.

Rudolf Steiner gave a series of nine lectures to Beekeepers and workers at the Waldorf Cigarette factory in 1923. Most interesting are several references he made in lectures two and six to the advances Beekeepers were making into mass production and the subsequent consequences that we have witnessed in the past few years.

“ …. modern beekeeping methods seem at first very attractive, for certainly, it makes things much easier. But the strong holding together – I should like to say – of one bee generation of one bee family will be impaired in the long run.”

Some Beekeepers in the audience disagreed with this line of thought.

Rudolf Steiner replied:

“But we must wait and see how things will be in fifty to eighty years' time, for by then certain forces which have hitherto been organic in the hive will be mechanized, will become mechanical.”

I believe he was referring here to the artificial insemination of Queens, the subsequent replacement of the Queen every three years, the production of foundation and the introduction of Queen excluders. Which he tactfully admires as clever modern advances, however, with a quiet caveat.  

In 2020/21 American Beekeepers experienced what has become known as colony collapse disorder and lost 51% of their hives. In 2022/23 a further 48% of hives were lost.

So, the children in our school are enjoying the gentle art of beekeeping and developing a deeper appreciation for these most wonderful insects.

Class Two have begun the year with Animal Fables, which will continue through the term, and this week have started the study of Saints. 

We are receiving tremendous support and have harnessed a massive amount of productive energy towards our learning journey.