What is Waldorf Education?

“It is important that we discover an educational method where people learn to learn, and go on learning throughout their whole lives.” Rudolf Steiner

Educating the whole Child towards creative Responsibility

Education is a burning issue today. The well-being of our children and the health of our societies are greatly influenced by our schools. A child‘s development must be carefully and lovingly guided if he or she is to have a firm foundation for becoming socially balanced and productive. We cannot know the demands which the future will place upon our children, but it is clear that inner strength, intellectual flexibility, empathy and sound independent judgement will be qualities vital to their future.

Rudolf Steiner‘s insight into child development enabled him to indicate ways in which Waldorf Schools can methodically work to develop these qualities. To the Waldorf teacher the child is a divine creation and as such is entitled to an education, which nurtures and nourishes every part of the child’s being.

To read about the admissions procedure at Raphaeli Waldorf School; follow this link

The Curriculum

Waldorf Measurment lesson

The curriculum is designed with the growing child in mind. Year by year, following the developmental stages of childhood, the curriculum mirrors the inner development of the child and seeks to give the children experiences for which they are unconsciously yearning. This makes the lessons naturally relevant and satisfying. All the important areas offered in conventional schools are taught, with an approach carefully developed for each age, but the timing for each might be different.

The breadth of the curriculum is a unique aspect of Waldorf Education and the material covered is used as an integrated whole with each part always enhancing the other. This means bringing movement, story, speech, music, drama, drawing, painting and modeling into the lessons, so that learning not only becomes enjoyable, but also reaches children at a deeper level than would a learning style of memorising, learning by rote and copying facts.