.History of the Waldorf School
Philosophy of Willunga Waldorf School
Children with additional learning needs
"Our
highest endeavour must be to develop free human beings, who
are able out of their own initiative to impart purpose and direction to their
lives.
Unless otherwise noted all quotes on this page are by Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was an Austrian scientist, philosopher and educator. In 1919 he was approached by the owner of the Waldorf Astoria company in Stuttgart, Germany to design a school for the children of his employees. The curriculum and teaching methodology were to be based on Steiner's extensive research into child development and the nature of the human being which included the dimensions of soul and spirit. The body of Steiner's teachings are comprised in the world view called Anthroposophy, which means ‘the wisdom of humanity’.
His original insights still guide the 800 Steiner schools which have spread to every continent, while many of his beliefs and practices have since been supported by research in education and child psychology.
The Willunga Waldorf school was opened as a playgroup in 1988, as a kindergarten in 1989 and a primary school in 1991.
Beginning on a small block leased from the local council, the school was able to buy the neighbouring orchard in 1994 and the Primary school's development was secured.
Now after much hard work the school has finally gained Registration approval for K-12 and we are able to provide the comprehensive Waldorf curriculum as an option for families and their children.
The school is fully registered with the Department of Education and receives a significant portion of its funding from the State and Federal Governments.
Philosophy of Willunga Waldorf School
Steiner education fosters a deep regard
for human values by encouraging imagination, empathy and a rich emotional
appreciation of the natural and social worlds as well as educating the
intellect. In our school the inner life of the child is paramount. The head,
heart and hand all learn in harmony within an environment that is aesthetically
pleasing. Buildings and equipment utilise natural materials wherever possible.
"Social and emotional skills are the strongest predictors of literacy, numeracy and academic performance in primary school and high school."
Professor Paula Barrett
Director of Pathways Health and Research Centre and Adjunct Professor of the School of Education at the University of Queensland
Read a personal history by Katrina Kytka, a teacher and former parent of Willunga Waldorf School.
A Steiner education introduces students to all the key learning areas or branches of knowledge. Subjects are introduced and developed in a sequence that mirrors the inner developmental changes of the growing child. By using a rich curriculum and innovative teaching methods, teachers nurture the whole child, developing clarity of thought, balance and depth of feeling and initiative in action. Teaching methods engage a wide variety of senses, allowing children to learn by listening, seeing and doing. In this way, academic learning is supported by artistic and hands-on experiences that deepen understanding and generate enthusiasm for learning.
"Learning
needs to be warm and vital,
stirring children into an experience of beauty."
The theme of the kindergarten years is The World is Good. Children of this age are acquiring and learning to develop their own initiative. So the natural play materials and homely environment offer a play-based curriculum that nurtures the development of children’s senses and imagination, and allows them to learn by imitation and discovery. Children develop their skills and capacities at a natural pace, as their development unfolds, resulting in a deeper understanding than they could gain through formal instruction.
Kindergarten sessions are filled with music, verse, singing, art work, cooking, gardening, dancing and creative play. The routine and order provide harmony and security, while free play helps the children to experience fantasy and life deeply. Solid foundations for language skills are laid in the daily storytelling, songs, rhymes, puppet shows and personal interaction with each child. Numeracy skills are embedded in their play as the children stack, measure, sort, collect, gather and count, and sing number rhymes. Problem solving and communication skills are fostered through interaction with the teacher and peers.
Although many of this age will naturally acquire some reading and maths skills, these are not instructed formally until the school years. This is because we believe that obliging children to focus on abstract thought at too early an age stifles their imagination and narrows their enjoyment of learning which, in turn, can limit their learning capacity.
"If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want your children to be even more brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales." Albert Einstein
The theme of the primary years is
The World is Beautiful. Children begin
primary school in the year that th
ey
turn seven. Now that their minds and bodies are primed, formal instruction in
reading and writing begins. As a result of waiting until the children are ready,
they feel empowered to conquer this complex task, and we find that mastery
requires less time.
Throughout Steiner schooling, subject matter and teaching methods are specific to the children’s ages. Between the ages of 7 and 14, it is distinguished by its multi-sensory style of teaching and incorporation of the arts into all subjects so that they come alive for the children We uphold that learning in the early primary years is based on feeling, with children’s intellectual skills and capacity to make independent judgments unfolding throughout. Children are offered stories rich with metaphors, morals and images in a curriculum augmented by high-quality arts and crafts.
The school day is divided into three sessions, beginning with Main Lesson which is the academic focus, After a warm-up period of speech exercises, poetry, songs and rhythmical activities to develop sensorimotor learning skills, the Main Lesson uses stories to introduce topics at a time when these will answer the children’s present developmental needs. Three to four weeks are devoted to each theme, resulting in day by day continuity that fosters student enthusiasm and allows an in-depth treatment of each topic.
The second session between recess and
lunch is given over to follow up and practice of skills developed in previous
Main Lessons, artistic and craft activities, foreign language lessons, dance
and movement sessions (eurythmy). The afternoon session generally involves
active or outside activities such as gardening and woodwork. Although these
activities involve the body and hand directly, they also engage the intellect
as children plan, measure, calculate, and solve problems inherent in the tasks.
"Education
is an art:
it
must speak to the child’s experience.
To
educate the whole child,
the
heart and the will must be reached
as
well as the mind."
The theme of the high school is The World is True. By their high school years, young people are developing flexible, independent, logical and critical thinking skills that permit a healthy power of judgment. Throughout these years, the balance of intellectual, artistic and practical pursuits is maintained. In keeping with the students’ growing capacities, the high school curricula are grasped through listening, thinking, discussion, reflection, and, as always, through artistic expression.
In the early years of high school, students want to be citizens of the modern world so their learning is woven around this drive. They want to understand what the world is about and are fascinated with power and strengths. So in history and physics, for example, power and energy are addressed. At this time in their lives when some find it difficult to focus, students are supported to direct their energies.
By the middle high school years, the students are interested in how things came to be in the form we see them today: governments, the physical world, cultural understandings. The question ‘Why?’ figures in their thinking as they challenge conventional practices in the process of developing existential wisdom to guide their life paths. So this is the key theme of teaching in these years.
By the final year of high school, students bring their honed analytical and synthetic skills to the question of ‘Who?’: who is behind a particular world view?; who is the author of a given doctrine? Awareness of culture is heightened at the same time as is appreciation of the universality of humanity’s core questions. At the completion of their high school education, the students can understand the paradoxes of life without losing sight of their ideals.
"In
the head the power of faith;
in
the heart the might of love;
in
the full human being, all-sustaining hope."
The curriculum strives to integrate subjects so that learning is meaningful to the children and enriches their relationship with the world and humanity. An integrated curriculum is one where traditional content areas are incorporated naturally into all activities; and where the whole child is the focus – that is, the curriculum is sensitive to children’s intellectual, physical, emotional and social needs, rather than their intellectual skills alone.
English is a central subject in the curriculum. Language is supported by extensive work with verses, plays and singing. Story telling deepens the children’s memory and imagination. Grammar, spelling, writing and reading are taught as children are guided to write and illustrate their own books for each main lesson. This leads to a long-lasting and thorough knowledge and engenders a love of learning.
Mental practice of arithmetic and appreciation of the patterns found in number are a feature of the early years’ mathematics curriculum. This is supported with drawing of shape, design and form. By the end of the primary years, children develop their abilities to solve problems, calculate, estimate and extrapolate, with their high school curriculum extending and expanding on these skills.
The foundation for Science is in the “Home Surroundings” Main Lessons taught in the early primary, covering the elements, weather, the natural environment and resources in an imaginative, experiential way. In middle primary more objectivity begins with Main Lessons in zoology, botany, geography and astronomy, yielding an appreciation of the natural world. Late Primary is a time for the emergence of more objectivity and independent judgement, so the children are ready for physics, chemistry and physiology as a preparation for high school years. The method of scientific enquiry is to ask ‘What is being expressed here?’ in physical phenomena; science taught with this openness empowers students to be receptive to advances in scientific thinking.
In an appreciation of history, the children are exposed to the traditional stories of all the major religions and civilisations that have shaped their moment in history. The curriculum recognises that the children are citizens of the world and yet are also part of something that we might describe as an Australian folk spirit. So, while we encourage a breadth of cultural vision in our teaching, we also honour the contributions of Australians. Bringing a richness and diversity to the curriculum through study of the geography, history and literature of Australia, we aim for a sympathetic and balanced picture of the origins and ‘discovery’ of our land. We provide a non-sexist curriculum that studies and honours the creative work of both men and women in ancient and modern history.
Teaching of a foreign language helps towards a deep appreciation of other cultures. In our school we teach Japanese (primary) and Spanish (high school), using methods that allow children to gain an appreciation of the character and spirit of the language.
Art is integral to each subject, developing an inner sensitivity. Craft activities allow the children to bring an aesthetic sense to the practical world and include knitting, crochet, embroidery, woodwork and clay and beeswax modelling, with an emphasis on the creation of items that are both useful and beautiful. So that the children can take pride in their work, we provide high-quality materials that allow vivid and meaningful expression.
Music, both vocal and instrumental, permeates the life of our school. It begins with song, and moves into learning the pentatonic recorder and lyre, instruments which allow children to produce beautiful sound without discordant notes. All children later learn to play the descant recorder. Tuition in stringed and woodwind instruments is available in the school from visiting music teachers. Ensembles, both mixed and sectional, enhance and extend the musical life of the school and further social cohesion.
The physical education program emphasises the development of coordination, agility, grace and skill through exercise, dance, gardening, play, ball skills, games and gymnastics. Eurythmy is a key means of teaching movement, calling on sensitivity to speech and music and cooperation within a social group.
Children with additional learning needs
Our school recognises and honours diversity. As children learn at varying rates, individual students might require some short- or long-term remedial assistance. A special education teacher works holistically with the child, supporting each individually, or in small groups, or by providing assistance to the class teacher in the form of advice, materials or in-class support teaching. A classroom inclusion assistant supports the teacher when children have significant additional needs.
Teachers stimulate intellectually and academically gifted learners by providing for the class differentiated tasks that require varying levels of sophistication. Meanwhile, creatively gifted thinkers and emotionally, musically and artistically gifted children are offered continued challenge and creative outlets through the multi-modal teaching and expressive endeavours that are the core content of the curriculum.
"Every
time we teach children something
we
prevent them from inventing it themselves.
Jean Piaget
Children need the security of strong connections between their homes and the school. It is only through these links that we can truly support each other, so working in harmony with parents is a bedrock principle of our school. The school values a two-way exchange of information between parents and teachers, recognising that parents know their aspirations for their children and can share with teachers their knowledge of their children’s characteristics and needs.
Our school offers parents an opportunity to become part of a community that has both a heart and a purpose.
Further development of the parent-teacher partnership is available through involvement in the classroom through assisting with tasks of reading, craft , cooking and gardening. The Parent Association supports the work of the school, organising parent information events, social events and the keynote social – fundraising event of the year, the Autumn Fair.
The main rationale for a Steiner education is that, by developing all aspects of the children’s humanity, they have a broad base from which to grow. The pyramid is a stronger structure than the skyscraper with its narrow foundations; so too the child with narrow interests and skills and an emphasis only on the intellect may founder. We find that, despite a later start with a formal academic curriculum, by their middle primary years, the children not only achieve the same reading levels as those taught from a younger age, but are able to maintain joy and enthusiasm in their learning.
By the end of our high school, students will produce an in-depth project or thesis, demonstrating wide ranging abilities and the confidence to take personal responsibility for their ongoing self education. They will be equipped with the skills, faculties and qualities that they need as human beings to meet the demands of the 21st century, both academically and emotionally. The richness of the artistic work and depth of academic endeavour experienced by our students continue as renewing forces for the rest of their lives.
Year 12 students are given a tertiary entrance ranking (TER score) on the basis of their performance in continuous assessment and their final project. On this recommendation, graduating students can be admitted to all of the universities in Adelaide, each of which has determined that the skills the students bring from their Steiner education more than prepare them for university study. This has been amply demonstrated by the 179 students graduating from our sister school at Mount Barker between 1991 and 2001, 78 (43.6%) of whom have attended university. Of these, 84% achieved credit grades and above, compared with 47% of non-Waldorf students completing Science degrees and 60% enrolled in Humanities (Wood, University of Adelaide 2003).
"We should not be asking: 'What does a person need to know or be able to do in order to fit into the existing social conditions?' Instead we should be asking: 'What lives in each human being and what can be developed in him or her?' Only then will it be possible for the qualities of each emerging generation to flow into society. Society will then become, what young people, as true human beings, create out of the existing social conditions.
The new generation should not just be made to conform to what present social conditions require".
All teachers in the school have formal teacher qualifications and are registered to teach in South Australia. In addition, they have undertaken various additional training to acquire the necessary skills and capacities to practice teaching according to the Waldorf methodology. Insight in Steiner's anthroposophy provides the basis and understanding for the Waldorf curriculum.
Primary teachers remain with their class for most of the primary school years, drawing on specialists for music, second language, movement (eurythmy), physical education, craft, woodwork and gardening classes. This ongoing relationship means that teachers become the childrens' guide, philosopher, authority figure and friend, allowing children to feel secure within the social group of their classroom. Teachers are responsible for forming a close bond with each child and family in their class. The continuity of teacher brings unity to the curriculum, linking the various disciplines and gives teachers a long-term perspective on how each child responds to the curriculum.
In high school, the class guardian is responsible for pastoral care of students, with expert teachers supplementing and extending the students’ education in specialist subject areas.
Educational policy is developed by the whole College of teachers working together on a weekly basis. The Educational Facilitator ensures that policy implementation is consistent and meets internal as well as the regulatory standards . The administrative and legal aspects of the school are managed by the School Council which comprises teachers and parent representatives with the support of specialist committees.