Waldorf School

OUR MISSION, VISION & VALUES

Through Waldorf Education, we are dedicated to balance the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of each of our students in a way that gives them confidence, resilience, and knowledge that will serve their community and surroundings throughout their lives. Our aim is for them to develop a strong will to become lifelong learners and foster in them the ability to think clearly, feel compassionately, and act purposefully in the world.

- Educate and prepare students, teachers, and parents to meet the needs and

  challenges of the 21st century.

- Deepen understanding of the Waldorf curriculum.

- Participate actively in the permanent development of education in our country.

- Create a truly human world through education, which is a source of social change.

- Work from Anthroposophy and Rudolf Steiner’s image of man.

- Allow students to develop their full potential and fulfill their destiny as free and

  responsible people.

- Form conscious, creative and independent thinkers.

- Promote reverence, respect and responsibility for the community and the

  natural world.

- Establish a strong and self-sufficient school.

- Create a brighter future for all by instilling an appreciation for the past, encouraging active participation in the present, and creating an understanding of the part each individual can play in shaping the future.

- Ethical and moral responsibility.

- Integrity.

- Respect for the individual and for all humanity.

- Independence, freedom of thought, self-esteem and pride in one’s own and

  others’ achievements.

- Social conscience.

- Service to the community and society. - Respect for all life.

- Reverence for the natural world

- Healthy bodies and minds.

BILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

We start from the basis that the vehicular languages of our school are English and Spanish. In the Infant stage, the teaching of these two languages is carried out respecting the individual development of each child, approaching them in a natural way, through rhythm, play and repetition. Children are given freedom in the use of one language or another in moments of free play and artistic activities.

In Primary, children learn in both languages. Half of the curriculum is taught in English and the other half in Spanish, and children acquire both languages as they progress through their schooling.

STAGE OF PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION

In our School we have a garden immersed in nature. We have two Early Childhood Education classrooms with mixed age groups between three and six years old.

In each class and corner of the School, an environment of care and involvement is created for the child. Providing warmth and a very familiar environment, promoting a healthy place where boys and girls can develop all their cognitive, physical and emotional abilities, surrounded by handmade and natural materials with which they get to experience, discover and observe the world around them.

Thus, rhythm, routine and repetition mark the days, the weeks, the months and the year.

Learning at this stage is based on constant activity and the adult figure, the teacher, is the example to follow. The child at this stage is maturationally in a phase of imitation and perception, so the example we show must be true, giving the child healthy tools, letting be, to achieve free, independent, balanced and happy future children.

STAGE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

In elementary classes, the classroom teacher brings lessons to life through realistic descriptions and engaging activities that increase students’ curiosity and engage them both intellectually and emotionally. In two-hour core classes over three to four weeks, children create their own subject books that reflect the diversity and breadth of the curriculum through summaries, scientific observations, illustrations, paintings, hand-drawn maps, line drawings and shapes.

Math and language arts practice are woven into core lessons that focus on everything from botany to local geography. At the start of the First Grade, the class teacher usually accompanies the class as it passes through the Primary, developing a deep relationship between teacher and student. The security of these relationships enhances learning, confidence, social and emotional skills, while ensuring that the child’s individual needs are met

FEEDING

Eating is an act that accompanies us throughout our lives. Thanks to it we obtain the necessary nutrients to meet our needs and achieve proper physical and emotional development. Our school promotes a healthy, sustainable and respectful diet for the children. For instance, when the children are together seated at the same table it create a healthy ritual that they will integrate while growing up.

The kindergarten children have a snack at 10:30 a.m. and all eat the same food. In these lunches, children are involved in age appropriate tasks that promote the values of responsibility and autonomy.

Primary students bring a snack and lunch from home following the instructions set by the Teaching Staff at the beginning of 15 the year. Some examples of the foods that can form these intakes are: vegetables, whole grains, fresh fruit, nuts, legumes, tubers, eggs... Prioritizing unprocessed or minimally processed foods with a more interesting nutritional value than processed or ultra- processed foods such as pastries, cookies, juices, jams, sugar, chocolate, sugary breakfast cereals, sugary dairy products, fast food, etc.

PARENT AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

To build a healthy culture and a good environment within the School that honors the values and objectives of this pedagogy, parents and teachers are asked to commit to creating a climate of respect, and to thrive to develop a deeper understanding of the principles of Waldorf Education. For parents, this will translate into participation in classroom meetings, workshops, talks, quarterly parties, and school activities in general.

This may also mean adjusting some family lifestyle choices to align with the values of the school and ensure that the student has a successful experience at our school.