Friday 25th March

Introduction

Describing his cartoon, Leunig says, “A man kneels before a duck in a sincere attempt to talk with it. This is a clear depiction of irrational behaviour and an important aspect of prayer. Let us put this aside for the moment and move onto the particulars.The act of kneeling in the picture symbolizes humility. The upright stance has been abandoned because of the human attitudes and qualities it represents: power, stature, control, rationality, worldliness, pride and ego. The kneeling man knows, as everybody does, that a proud and upright man does not and cannot talk with a duck. So the upright stance is rejected. The man kneels. He humbles himself. He comes closer to the duck. He becomes more like the duck. He does these things because it improves his chances of communicating with it.” (Michael Leunig, A Common Prayer)

The duck is a symbol of the man’s spirit, of his soul. He sees its fragility and honours its unique qualities. His recognition of spirit leads to love and improves the world around him. His personal act is in addition, social and generous.

When we teach, stop for a chat in the playground, shake hands, conduct a meeting, it’s an opportunity to acknowledge each other, to gently affirm and strengthen something vital and sustaining.

Leunig spoke about the response to his duck, “I thought everybody would understand what a duck is about, and it’s just there is the duck. And suddenly the whole nation seems perplexed about what does a duck mean? I think a nation is in trouble that cannot accept a duck.”

Louisa (Taya, nursery and Manu, year 5)

NOTICES

Have you seen this gorgeous work that the children in the nursery and Reception created with Alinah? They journeyed to an island and in the centre of the island was a gift that they wanted to give themselves. People would pay a small fortune for work like this..

The sun is out, and that time of year is rolling round fast…..I’m talking ’bout the annual music festival and cake-scoff that people come from miles around to attend, preferably with hippy costumes on, yes, NewStock!! (that’s the Lewes New School Summer Fair).

Please come to a meeting in The Quiet Room this Wednesday morning to express any interest you have in being part of the fun, and indeed in basically running the whole thing (with help and support from last year’s organisers of course!). New ideas/themes/energy welcome…………..

Dancing in Circles

Come along to the school’s performance ‘Dancing in Circles’ on Thursday.  Tickets are available in the school office for both the 2pm and 6.30pm performances. Your child’s key teacher will let you know about costumes which are pretty simple so please don’t feel the need to go and buy something, just beg, steal or borrow. Please remind your child to take their costume to school on Monday. Thanks.

Ethos Meeting

The 2nd Ethos Meeting (The Return of the Ethai) will be held at the school, on Wednesday 4th May at 7.30pm.
Check the googlegroup for further explanation about the process, some notes have been e-mailed. Please contact Dahlan for further details or with any questions. Thank you.

Getting to know you

We felt sun-kissed and well fed at the nursery this morning.  Thank you to our Nursery Reps; Lucy (Dylan, nursery and Sophia, reception) and Sarah (Luca, nursery and Isobel, year one)  and to the year six girls for the fabulous face painting.  (To raise money for our Patina parade).

Louisa

Diary

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