Steiner Education

Steiner/Waldorf education is an international movement, founded in 1919, working out of the philosophy and indications given by Rudolf Steiner. Over 1,000 schools and kindergartens exist worldwide. There are 11 schools with attached kindergartens and 12 stand-alone kindergartens and early childhood centres currently operating in New Zealand.  Five of our schools are K-12, and one is K-10.

Steiner/Waldorf education addresses the whole child in the areas of 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 and craft activities.

The Steiner/Waldorf curriculum recognises that children pass through distinct developmental stages at which times specific forces are at work and 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.

Steiner/Waldorf education emphasises respect, reverence and wonder for nature and for human existence. Learning becomes much more than the acquisition of vast amounts of information; rather, becomes an engaging voyage of discovery of the world, other people and oneself.

This is a comprehensive academic, artistic, cultural and physical education programme 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. The purpose of Steiner/Waldorf education is to strengthen the child to meet, not only the challenges of school, but those of life.