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Waldorf Education

Waldorf/Steiner education is an international movement, founded in 1919, working out of the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Over 3,000 schools and kindergartens exist worldwide. There are 10 schools and 24 kindergartens currently operating in New Zealand.

Rudolf Steiner education addresses the whole child as a threefold being – thinking, feeling and willing and also spirit, soul and body. It stimulates the mind with the full spectrum of traditional academic subjects; it nurtures healthy emotional and social development through experiential and child-centered learning and guides the limbs to become fully integrated into the child’s being through a broad range of artistic, movement, handwork and craft activities.

The purpose of Rudolf Steiner education is to strengthen the child to meet not only the challenges of school, but those of life.

The Rudolf Steiner curriculum recognises that children pass through developmental stages at which times specific capacities develop. The curriculum is designed to deliver the right stimulus at the right time, thus allowing each of these developmental stages to unfold fully. Rudolf Steiner education emphasises respect, reverence and wonder for nature and for human existence. Learning becomes much more than the acquisition of information; rather, learning becomes an engaging voyage of discovery, both of the world and of oneself.

This is a comprehensive academic, artistic, cultural and physical education presented in a supportive, structured and non- competitive environment allowing the child to become balanced in feeling, to have initiative in action and clarity in thought.

Why Waldorf Education?