The Armidale Waldorf School and Boongaiai Preschool

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Primary and Early Secondary Years

Children begin Class 1 in the year they turn 7, which in our case means coming 'down the hill' from the Kindergarten to the primary school to begin that wonderful journey. A fundamental principle of Steiner education is the importance of the class teacher and ideally the class teacher accompanies the same group of students from Class 1 through to Class 7 or 8. The continuity of these important relationships brings a strong sense of security and trust at an impressionable time in the child’s life, and it also makes possible a wholeness and depth of education that would not otherwise be possible. At The Armidale Waldorf School we currently aim for the class teacher to stay with their class to the end of Class 6 when the students pass on to Class 7 and 8 teachers. This allows us to work as closely to this ideal as we can and still retain specialist staff for the Class 7 and 8 years.

In each year, all key learning areas are covered, unified with the needs of the stage reached by the children. The simple aim of this approach is to present specific learning, not only when it will be most readily accepted, but also when it will lead most easily to the next level of intellectual and emotional awareness. The effect of this style of delivery is cumulative.

Each day in a Steiner school is an ‘organic whole’. Just as the unfolding of the child goes through different phases, so does their day go through a similar process. As well as having content, the curriculum itself has a rhythmic pattern and balance to enhance learning. Rhythm is a strong component within the curriculum - it is present in the world with night and day, the changing of the seasons etcetera as well as at school - with the school day allowing for periods of deep concentration, artistic expression and physical activity.

The school day is divided into three 'lessons': the 'Main Lesson' in the morning; a practical or artistic activity in the 'Middle Lesson' which may be a music, languages, painting or drama lesson; and a craft or practical 'Afternoon Lesson' which may include handwork, bushwalks or games for example. The three aspects of thinking, feeling and will are thus nurtured in equal measure, with the result that students' days are often less taxing but much more productive.

Main Lesson

The Main Lesson incorporates the academic focus of an area of study and occurs during the first 2 hours of the day when the student’s mind is most receptive. Each area is studied thematically over a 3-4 week period to allow an in-depth focus whether it be Mathematics, English, History, Geography, the Sciences or Humanities subjects.

Music

Music, in a variety of voice, instrumental and ensemble contexts, is a vital and joyous part of the curriculum for all students and is a very important form of expression. Exercises to develop the musical ear are practised to provide a solid base for subsequent musical accomplishment. From Class 1 to Class 6 students play the recorder and in Class 3 all students begin to learn violin. Ensembles bring another level to the experience from Class 4 onwards. Singing and choral work and a variety of instrumentation are experienced throughout the school years.

Art and Craft

Art and craft are integral to the curriculum and complement and enhance the intellectual aspects of the lesson work. Practical art develops multiple skills and abilities and nurtures cognitive, social and personal competencies.

Recitation and drama, wet-on-wet painting, form drawing, beeswax and clay modelling, and handcrafts such as sewing, knitting, weaving, woodwork and carving are all experienced, educating the feelings and calling on skill, judgement, invention form and style. Handwork develops a connection between the child's inner world and the outer world bringing balance to the child's whole being.

"It awakens feelings in the child who is one-sidedly intellectual, stimulates activity in the weak-willed child, and awakens the thinking in the dreamy child. Children who lean to make practical things in an artistic way, for the benefit of others as well as themselves, will be able to form their lives and their relationships in a social and artistic way when they are older, thereby enriching their lives. The training through art in school is not for the purpose of producing artists but in order to educate young people for the art of living, based on disciplined exercise. The type of exercise and the time it is introduced are the important factors. Joy and happiness in living, love for all existence, a power and energy for work, such are among the lifelong results of a right cultivation of the feeling for beauty and art." Rudolf Steiner

Language

Students study another language in order to both come to grips with the intricacies of language itself and also to be able to understand other cultures. Our students study another language from Kindergarten to Class 8 in a spiralling continuum of songs, verses, stories and games in the early years to the complexity of grammatical structures in the higher classes.

Eurythmy

Eurythmy is a dance-like artform, which involves the expression of music and sound through movement, corresponding specific movements to particular notes and sounds. Eurythmy enhances coordination, strengthens the ability to listen and reinforces social connections.

Celebration of the seasons and festivals

Celebration of the rhythms of the seasons and the winter and summer solstices, as well as the traditional Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter, provide an opportunity for the children, parents and friends of the whole school community to come together. As well as being highlights of the child's year, these deepen their sense of purpose and place in the world connecting humanity to the rhythms of nature and the cosmos.

Class Camps

All students participate in class camps of increasing length as they rise through the classes from 1 to 8. The camps are integral to the curriculum: they are challenging, extending and provide an opportunity for students to be immersed in nature whilst enhancing social and survival skills. Armidale, being located near spectacular gorge country and World Heritage areas, also allows opportunities for regular bushwalking day trips.

Outline of the Curriculum

• Fairy tales provide the door by which children enter the world of moral realities.
• Aboriginal culture.
• Nature stories.
• English involves the pictorial introduction to the alphabet, writing, simple spelling and introduction to reading.
• Maths introduces addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (the 4 processes) and Roman Numerals.
• Form Drawing.
• Watercolour painting, knitting, beeswax modelling.
• Descant recorder (continuing until Class 4/5), singing, eurythmy and circle games.
• Chores to strengthen the will (continue to Class 8).

• Through Animal Fables, Legends of the Saints, Folk Tales (Celtic) and nature stories children experience the qualities of our human existence, our human frailties as well as our potential.
• English includes spelling, reading and writing simple stories. The written word takes on more reality for children leaving behind an earlier pictorial consciousness. Many children begin to read in a formal manner.
• Maths continues the practice of the 4 processes, introduces maths facts and tables.
• Cooking, crochet, modelling beeswax, eurythmy, recorder.

• Tales from the Old Testament is the theme of this year when the children become more aware of themselves, their strengths and weaknesses, their responsibility toward themselves and others.
• English includes basic elements of grammar, spelling, reading and beginning composition.
• Maths continues the practice of the 4 processes, maths facts and tables.
• Cursive writing is introduced.
• Housebuilding and farming are Main Lessons in Class 3.
• Crocheting a larger item in craft.
• Eurythmy.
• Violin is a compulsory lesson in Class 3.

• The Norse Myths is the theme as the children become aware of their own emerging individuality.
• The advancement of spelling, reading, grammar and composition.
• In maths fractions are introduced, practice of all operations continues and geometric drawing begins. Form Drawings are more challenging.
• Local Geography including mapmaking is a Main Lesson.
• Man and Animal study Main Lesson.
• Cross stitch, embroidery, modelling with clay, choir/ensemble, eurythmy.

• Ancient Myths of India, Persia, Egypt and Greece and Greek history are explored as the children now meet other cultures and come to realise that they are part of the present and the past.
• English continues as above.
• In maths decimals are introduced.
• Local History.
• Botany.

• Roman and Medieval History studies covers the 'human story' - the children are more conscious and their thinking becoming more intellectual.
• In maths percentages are introduced.
• English involves vocabulary, grammar and composition, reading and poetry.
• Geometry.
• Physics of sound, light and heat.
• Astronomy.
• Geography.

• Renaissance and Reformation history continuing with the theme of the 'human story'. The children move away from artistic and imaginative work towards the conscious awakening of intellectual capacities.
• English includes vocabulary, grammar and composition, reading and poetry, history of language, the short story.
• Powers and roots, signed numbers and practice of all operations in maths.
• Algebra.
• Geometry.
• Physics (mechanics, electricity and magnetism).
• Physiology (the organs and systems, the skeleton, brain and nervous sytem).
• Chemistry (acids, bases and salts, study of foods).
• Geography.
• Modern History.

"Educational psychologist Jennifer Gidley, in her 1997 Australian study of Steiner educated adolescents, 'Visions of the Future', confirms that submersion in the creative arts promotes intrinsic motivation and positive self-esteem. Jennifer credits the Steiner methodology as providing 'an integrated, holistic balance of intellectual/cognitive, artistic/imaginative and practical/life skills education grounded in a comprehensive theory of human development'.

Jennifer's study concludes that Steiner education provides the input to 'potentially facilitate a positive, prospective outlook, thereby empowering students for their future lives'.