Steiner Education…
- Is based on the stages child development, following the European model of learning
- Sees art, creativity and and imagination as essential to learning
- Creates a love of learning and an enthusiasm for school
- Is built around the whole child, as an individual
How we teach
Calder Valley Steiner School is one of more than 1000 schools worldwide teaching children through the educational principles first established by Rudolf Steiner.
Steiner Education (also known as Waldorf Education) and the Steiner Waldorf Curriculum aims to establish good balance between all the important aspects of any child’s development – emotional, physical and educational.
Our curriculum provides each child with educational challenges at the developmentally appropriate time, so they can meet them to keep them consistently interested and engaged with learning.
Steiner Waldorf teachers work to foster this positive relationship to learning across all subjects, laying the foundations for a life-long love of learning, and good independent study skills.
In Kindergarten, children learn mainly through play and imitation. We know that play is vital to children’s development, and these early years are a key time for developing social, physical and play skills before more formal learning can begin.
Our Kindergarten activities are full of wonder, alongside trust, creativity and co-operation. Instead of school bells and timetables, we work to a rhythm – throughout the day, week and year, which allows young children to feel safe and secure in familiar routines. Children quickly grow familiar with “soup day”, “bread-making day” and “Swan Bank day”, as well as the songs and stories that are cycled throughout the year.
There’s lots of repetition to help children learn through their natural skills of imitation, and to help build familiarity. And we also include time for what Steiner calls ‘reverence’ – candles lit before a meal, joining hands and singing with the rest of the class, as well as beautiful celebrations of the season throughout the year.
Our school-age classes are characterised by whole-class teaching and learning together. Small, mixed-ability classes gives opportunities for all our children to improve their attention and social skills through group discussions. Extra help for individual pupils in specific subjects is always an option, but new material is always presented to the class as a whole, before diving children into any necessary groups. Children are then re-integrated into the whole together again at the end of the lesson, meaning nobody feels left behind or singled out.