This article is from page 30 of the 2008-09-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
THE Mountshannon based Irish Steiner Kindergarten Association will host it’s annual national con- ference later this month. The theme of this years conference is Working With the Very Young and will take place on September 27 in Dunshane, County Kildare.
The keynote speaker for the con- ference will be Danish expert Helle Heckmann, who has been a teacher for more than 20 years. Heckmann founded the Nokken Kindergarten in Copenhagen and was also a founding
member of the Worldwide Initiative for the Early Childhood Care.
Currently she travels the world giv- ing lectures and workshops on the subject of Steiner education and will give two talks; entitled ‘Balancing the needs of Young and Olde Children in the Kindergarten’ and “Working with the very young child’.
The conference will also be ad- dressed by Ulrike Farnleitner, head of the Irish Steiner Kindergarten As- sociation, who will give the opening address and welcome to the confer- Neen
Principal of Raheen Wood National
School in east Clare, which has re- cently been granted official state recognition by the Department of Education and Science, Marguerite Devane will also play a role in the eK Neer
Marguerite is a member of the ISKA council and is the Irish rep- resentative on the International As- sociation Council. She will perform Cearca Friompa a Puppet Play in Irish for the council delegated.
Earlier this year Raheen Wood Na- tional School an Mol An Ojge Na- tional became the first two steiner national school in the country to be
granted official state recognition.
Indeed the Clare schools are two of only four Steiner primary school currently operating in the island of Ireland. Other school are located in Gormanstown in County Kildare and Holywood in County Down.
The Irish Steiner Kindergarten As- sociation is the representative body of Steiner Early Childhood Carers and Educators in Ireland and was founded in 1992.
The association was formed out of a common wish to support and learn from other and will continue to de- velop in that spirit.