Newcastle Waldorf School

“The prime need of a teacher is not knowledge but the understanding of man.” - Rudolf Steiner

Steiner education and teaching is based on the understanding of the human being comprised of body, soul and spirit. The whole of the human being is taken into consideration and education is thus viewed as an ‘art’. The spiritual should not be neglected for the physical nor the physical neglected for the spiritual. The practices are based on reality and life: the whole child (thinking, feeling, and willing) discovers truth, beauty and goodness by making use of everything that is pictorial and tangible. This transpires naturally through the child’s innate devotion and reverence of nature and the cosmos and comes into expression through art, music, language, fairy tales, poems and games.

The kindergarten years correspond to the period of intense physical growth, muscle and organ development. This is supported through imitation and ‘good’ will activities in a rhythmically structured day. The class teacher is able to nurture the primary years, where the child’s emotions, imagination and feelings are emerging, through focusing on ‘beauty’ in artistic learning. In the high school, the students’ minds are sensitively opening to their world and their lessons involve greater thinking responsibilities and discoveries of the ‘truth’.

The curriculum based on Steiner’s indications is responsive to the needs of the developmental phases of a child’s life, giving particular emphasis to creating healthy foundations which support all the aspects of the growing child. The curriculum strives to develop individuals who are able to feel, think and act out of their own initiative so that they fulfil their potential in whatever purpose and direction they choose in life.