Rooted in an ancient Bavarian tradition where farmers adorned tables with moss, twigs, and candlelit apples to create enchanting illuminated gardens, the Advent spiral emerged in the 1920s as a symbolic celebration. Over the years, this meaningful festival has been embraced by Waldorf schools around the world, offering a deeply reflective and heartwarming experience.

In the stillness of a darkened room, evergreen boughs, symbols of life’s enduring spirit, are carefully arranged into a spiral on the floor, with a single large candle glowing at its heart. One by one, each child enters the spiral, holding an apple with an unlit candle. Guided gently by teachers or parents, depending on their needs, the children journey inward along the spiral’s path, moving toward the radiant center. There, they light their candles from the central flame, a gesture rich with meaning, symbolising the light we carry within ourselves. On their way back, they place their lit lanterns along the spiral, slowly illuminating the room with a growing, gentle light, before quietly returning to their seats.

The Advent spiral reflects the soul’s journey during this season, as we move through the darkness of shorter days and longer nights, carrying the light of hope within us toward the return of the sun’s brilliance after the winter solstice.

For our own Apple Tree celebration, small groups gathered in the serene setting of the hall at All Saints to partake in this beautiful and magical ritual. We were especially fortunate to have talented musicians among our parent community, who filled the evening with a serene and uplifting soundscape, enriching the atmosphere and deepening the shared experience of the spiral’s quiet wonder.

The Apple Tree and their families came together to join The Hawthorns and children from Bristol Waldorf School to celebrate the festival of Martinmas. A time that, while rooted in Christian tradition, speaks to the universal light within each of us, a light we carry forward as the natural world’s brightness fades into winter. This celebration of inner light resonates with other traditions, such as Diwali, which is observed during the same season and similarly honors the triumph of light over darkness.

The celebration unfolded with a magical candlelit walk through the woods. The children, their lanterns glowing gently in the evening air, sang songs as they followed the winding path. The walk led them to one of their beloved play areas, where they gathered in harmony to sing together once more, their voices mingling with the stillness of nature. The evening concluded with a warm and nourishing treat, hot chocolate and ginger biscuits enjoyed amidst the woods, a moment of comfort and connection to end a truly heartfelt celebration.

On the last day of term, the Apple Tree gathered together for the Celebration of Work, a sharing of each group’s learning to the community.

After a rousing rendition of People Look East from parents, teachers and children, the youngest group, the Oakens started off the presentations with songs and poems that they had been learning. Their gleeful exuberance charmed the whole audience and it was a joy to see their confidence, feeling undaunted and welcomed by the community.

The Voyagers, who had been recently focusing on the measurement of time in their Main Lesson maths block, recited a poem about the seasons. They then performed a quodlibet piece Don’t Put Your Trash In My Backyard with their Choroi flutes and sang The Twinkling Stars, a translation of the German lullaby Weißt du, wie viel Sternlein stehen.

The Discoveries’ Main Lesson has been focused on Ancient Rome. They recited the poem Romulus and Remus by Rudyard Kipling, which was dramatically enhanced by incorporating acrobalancing. They also performed the play Romulus and Remus by Pelham Moffat and sang a beautiful rendition of Dona Nobis Pacem as a round.

The Pippins performed a poem and sang the round Sure as the Wind as a whole group, and then a few students shared a report of some of the individual projects they had been working on. Two were focused on a particular artist they had chosen to study – Van Gogh and Hokusai respectively, talking about fascinating elements of their life and distinguishing features of their artwork. The students also showed a copy of a painting they had done from their chosen artist. Two other students talked about their chemistry projects and enthralled the whole gathering with their demonstration of mixing different elements together.

Singing together is a central part of Steiner-Waldorf education, as well as strengthening community bonds.

The Pippins, Discoveries and Voyagers sang a song If The People, and the Discoveries together with the Voyagers sang a pairing of the songs Shalom Chaverim and What a Goodly Thing, two Hebrew-based songs.

After the formal presentations, refreshments were served.

The Voyagers, who have been working on building a pizza oven since September as part of their homebuilding block, cooked dough balls and pizza to share with everyone. Other groups distributed the abundance of mince pies and mulled apple juice.

Parents had the chance to view bookwork and projects displayed from all the groups, admiring and appreciating the broad variety of subjects throughout the ages, as well as the effort put in by both students and teachers.

Oakens Work

Voyagers Work

Discoveries Work

Pippins Work

Celebration of Work is a massive highlight for the Apple Tree community, with mutual appreciation of each other’s work. It’s a chance for younger ones to watch older ones’ and aspire to be where they are in their learning journey – comments could be heard to the tune of “I can’t wait when we do that!”

What a brilliant way to finish the end of 2023!

The Voyagers and the Discoveries have been enjoying Eurythmy lessons this term from a specialist Eurythmy teacher. Unique to Steiner-Waldorf education, it is a form of expressive movement art, originated by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Marie von Sivers in the early 20th century.

Alongside an accompanying musician, the children are guided through specific movements that correspond to particular musical notes or spoken sounds. In addition, storytelling and poems are also used, enhancing the class’ Main Lesson content, helping to bring alive the stories and experience them in a different way. For example, with the Voyagers learning about Norse mythology, music pieces include Scandinavian folk songs as well as part of the Kalevala, epic poetry from Finland.

Benefits include improving coordination, spacial awareness and sense of rhythm, and together with the emphasis on group movement, can help stimulate a child’s social and emotional development. Steiner described eurythmy as an “art of the soul” and the children experience movement, music, poetry and stories in an age-appropriate joyful way.

This is how one of the Apple Tree teachers feels about Eurythmy:
“I like that in a time when there is so much noise, Eurythmy teaches the children to listen deeply. As we know, plants will grow in the direction of beautiful music – I hope that Eurythmy helps the child’s growth forces, guiding them into the space around them and encouraging positive growth.”

Inspired by an age-old Bavarian custom, where farmers adorned tables with moss and twigs, creating illuminated gardens with candles nestled in apples, the tradition of the Advent spiral traces back to the 1920s. Over time, this heartfelt festival found its way into Waldorf Schools across the globe.

In the serene ambiance of a darkened room, evergreen boughs, symbolizing life everlasting, are arranged in a spiral on the floor, centered around a large candle. The Advent spiral unfolds with each child, one by one, walking into the spiral holding a lantern with an unlit candle. Guided by teachers or parents, based on individual needs, they navigate the spiral’s path to reach the illuminated center. There, they light their own candles from the central flame, carefully placing their lanterns along the spiral’s course before returning to their seats.

The Advent spiral mirrors the human journey during this season—a transition into darkness, shorter days, and longer nights, all while carrying hope forward to welcome the sun’s light after the winter solstice.

For our own Apple Tree celebration each group gathered in the hall at All Saints in small numbers for a beautiful and magical spiral. We are lucky to have some talented musicians in our parent group who led the music and provided a serene soundscape to the evening.

Into Film Festival is a free, annual, UK-wide celebration of film and education for 5-19 year olds. Supporting a vision of putting film at the heart of children and young people’s education, the Into Film Festival is the largest youth-focused film festival in the world. You can read more about it here.

This year between the 7th and 24th November there was the opportunity to sign up to go to a local cinema to see a wide range of films including ‘Strange World’, ‘Trolls 3’ and ‘A Crack in the Mountain’. Each film comes with age appropriate educational resources looking at different themes to discuss with the children.

The screening of Lyle Lyle Crocodile attracted Children from the Oakens, Voyagers, Discoveries and Pippins. It was certainly very enjoyable for the grown ups too!

Into Film is a great education package with films available o stream, all supported with activities and resources online. What a great excuse to heat up some popcorn and get cosy over the darker months ahead.

Autumn comes alive with the beat of a drum. Emerging from the shadows is a fearsome dragon, slowly moving towards the gathered community. But what happens next is that a fearsome warrior, robbed in white, draws their sword. Seeing the sword, the dragon halts, then is subdued into kneeling down as the crowd cheer.

The dragon procession is a highlight of the Michaelmas autumn festival, with the Voyagers this year playing the dragon and a Pippins student as Michael. The Apple Tree community assembled to celebrate together, with each group contributing to a shared lunch – Discoveries baked dragon shaped bread, Oakens brought the butter and freshly pressed apple juice, Voyagers cooked soup, Pippins provided crumble and the Hawthorns contributed custard to accompany the dessert.

After a hearty meal, the dishes were cleared and everyone gathered to watch performances. The Pippins recited a poem by Robert Frost and some also showcased their Capoeira skills. The Discoveries sang a song called “Earth in Common.” The Voyagers performed a play and led the song “Maggon the Dragon.” Oakens sang “Yellow the Bracken” and our newest affiliate group Hawthorns shared the first verse of “Tom Bombadil.”

To round off the day all raised their voices to sing the St Michael Harvest song. It was stirring to hear everyone singing together and a good time was had by all.

We are thrilled to share our heartwarming adventure when the whole Apple Tree, embarked on a soulful and wet camping expedition in the tranquil embrace of the Mendips.

Picture this: a group of free-spirited families gathered under the open sky, their laughter mingling with the crackle of the campfire. Our journey unfolded with joy and wonder, as we immersed ourselves in a delightful concoction of activities, stories, and togetherness.

Partner Yoga and the Art of Connection with Sheena

As the sun dipped below the horizon on our first day, we gathered in a circle, each holding hands and hearts in unison. Partner yoga became a beautiful tapestry of trust and support, where we leaned on one another, figuratively and literally, to find balance and harmony. The experience reminded us of the strength in collaboration and how every bond in our circle, like branches of an apple tree, played an essential role in holding us together.

Storytelling Rattlebox Theatre

Dave brough lively stories that found their way into the hearts of all listeners. With humour, wit and energy he entertained everyone present. We discovered that, like the rings of an ancient apple tree, stories carry the wisdom of our past and connect us to the essence of our shared humanity.

Embracing Our Inner Vikings

With a sense of adventure, we delved into the world of Vikings! We were transported back in time as we played Viking battling games.

Consensus-Based Decision Making Workshop

One of the highlights of our gathering was the consensus-based decision-making workshop. We gathered in a circle once more, acknowledging that like the roots of an apple tree, our collective decisions influenced the strength and growth of our community. With empathy and respect, we listened to each other’s perspectives, fostering an environment where everyone’s voice was heard and valued.

Culinary Delights: Communal Curry Night and BBQ Extravaganza

As we embraced the simplicity of camping life, we reveled in delicious meals that brought us all together. Friday night was a feast of flavors with our communal curry night, where we collectively cooked and savored the culinary delights. And on Saturday night, the tantalizing aroma of BBQ filled the air, a reminder that like an apple tree’s bounty, our shared meals nourished both body and soul.

In the midst of the Mendip’s serenity, we were reminded that the Apple Tree is not just a community; it is a sanctuary—a place where roots intertwine and branches reach for the sky.

The Discoveries hosted this years Midsummer celebration at the Old Library. The rest of the Apple Tree along with The Orange Grove gathered for some games, a story and songs round the fire.

The Apple Tree held its first Pride Picnic, organised by the Pippins Pride group. They ran a stall at the recent Apple Tree Summer Fair to raise funds for the picnic and artwork. It was a fun and colourful afternoon in the park enjoyed by families.