Steiner Waldorf Education
The impulses at work in a Steiner school arise from an attempt to see the
spiritual qualities within the child, whose existence and destiny
reach beyond the limits of birth and death. Hence the task of education is
to assist the gradual unfolding and development of the child's potential.
Such a wide perspective calls for an art of education distinct from
anything that has gone before.
We endeavour:
- To recognise the inner development of the child and seek to nourish it with appropriate experiences at each stage, through a wide-ranging curriculum.
- To foster the child's experience of rhythm through a balance of artistic, practical and intellectual work in the day, and the celebration of the seasons during the year.
- To allow social learning in the classroom where sensitivity and tolerance are recognised as truly human values
- To treat all subjects as inter-dependent, so that languages, science, art and craft weave a meaningful whole, with the human being as the focus
- To emphasise the human relationships of the child and teacher in unstreamed, mixed classes of diverse backgrounds and abilities.
- To nurture all the faculties of the child - artistic and practical as well as intellectual - as complementary aspects of a spiritual whole.
Early Years
(age 3 - 6)
The
Nursery and Kindergarten groups have their own strong rhythm and order.
Each day has times of contrasting activities. For example, after creative
play inside, the group may come together for a time of songs and poems,
singing games or eurythmy. After creative play outside, there may be a
quiet story told to end the morning. The week also has its rhythm, with a
domestic or artistic activity taking place such as baking, painting,
beeswax modelling, seasonal crafts or a walk.The seasonal and birthday
festivals are the highlights of the year in the Kindergarten, being
prepared with great care and celebrated with reverence and joy.
Afternoon and After School Care
Elmfield is able to offer afternoon care for
nursery and kindergarten children of working parents who are unable to
have them at home on the free afternoons. Similarly, after school child
care is offered to working parents of children aged three to nine.
Family Afternoons
The aim of the family
afternoons is to allow parents to come to school once a week with a pre-5
year old child to play in the kindergarten, share a meal and sing and play
games together. This makes it possible for parents to find out more about
Steiner education, and Elmfield in particular; to meet each other
socially; and to 'ease in' 3 year olds to the nursery.
The
Lower School
(age 6 - 14)
Children normally enter the Lower School in
the September following their 6th birthday. There they are entrusted to
their class teacher, who should accompany them for the next eight years
until they move on to the Senior School.
Every
morning begins with a main lesson lasting two hours. A single subject is
studied consecutively for a number of weeks to encourage concentration and
involvement in depth; it also enables many related activities such as
drawing, drama and poetry, to be brought into every lesson.
After a break come lessons in which rhythm
plays a leading part and which require constant practice: English,
mathematics, languages (French and German), singing, recorder-playing,
gymnastics and eurythmy. As far as possible, the afternoon is devoted to
art, crafts and sport.
The Senior School
(age 14-17)
A class guardian is appointed for each
class to lend encouragement and guidance to the students. The class
guardian will also have specific parent and careers liaison tasks. Senior
school classes are taught by a group of specialist teachers who work
closely together.
Pupils
are encouraged to think with vitality and energy and not to narrow down
their field of interest too early. Artistic activities, which have played
such an important part in the child's development, are not now suddenly
dropped or handed to the less academically gifted. The exploration of
colour, tone, speech and form gives the pupils a deeper relationship with
the world and will encourage creativity in whatever walk of life they
enter. Afternoons of community service are often included for Class 9 to
awaken an awareness of others and encourage a caring attitude towards the
wider community.
GCSE Examinations
Preparation for GCSE examinations begins when
the children join the Senior School. Pupils are all entered for a number
of core subjects, whilst a range of further subjects are individually
chosen. In each of the past eight years around 70% of all pupils leaving
the School after class 11 achieved 5 or more grades A*-C. Though taken
very seriously by the School, examinations are not allowed to overwhelm
all other activities. In the long run, what matters most is whether the
pupils go on to fulfil their potential as mature human beings, themselves
able to impart purpose and direction to their lives. Success in these
terms cannot be measured by way of examination grades.