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A Place Where Your Child will be Truly Known
In this uncertain time, we know one thing that will never change: parents want their children in a warm and nurturing environment where their child is truly known.
One of the underlying values of Waldorf Education is that our humanity is built on and dependent upon relationships. Waldorf schools are uniquely positioned to continue to provide sustained connection and learning.
Strengths of the Waldorf Pedagogy for Our Time
Experiential Learning
Project-based learning. This is a tenant of Waldorf Education. Teachers are employing this approach to a greater degree while our students are engaged in distance learning from home. Cornerstones of the Waldorf approach include: teaching through the arts; working from experience to concept; use of rhythm and repetition; teaching from the whole to parts. Teachers are creating lessons to meet and support student engagement from home.
Teacher-Student Relationship
Multi-year relationships. Our teachers develop multi-year relationships with our students and their parents. Our teachers know every student in our school. In our mixed-aged Toddler Program and Pre-Schools, our students may be with the same teacher for two or three years. In our mixed-age Kindergartens, a student might work with the same teacher for up to three years. In the grade school, class teachers work closely together, and teachers often teach blocks in other classes with expertise, guaranteeing that each child learns from both a core group of teachers and from all our Faculty over the years through Grades 1-8. For the teachers, this means time to really get to know the children and help their gifts unfold. For the students, this relationship offers safety, stability and guidance. Waldorf pedagogy is integrated: the arc of learning is considered in addition to specific academic skills. Since the teachers know their students deeply, this arc can continue seamlessly.
Small class size. Our smaller class size lends itself to more personal attention from teachers, and teachers have the opportunity to truly know your child.
Learning without formal Testing
Our students are eager to learn for the sake of learning - rather than focusing on test scores. Our teachers rely on observation and their relationship to the student as the foundation for assessment. At a time filled with uncertainty and anxiety for many, we do not have to burden students with tests for testing sake. Our Middle School students engage in practice testing, whereby they are given more than one chance to fill in their test, for example. This practice also prepares our students for their respective High School experience.
Why Choose WIWS?
When deciding which school will provide the best educational fit for your child, we suggest you start by imagining the characteristics you hope your child will possess as an adult.
What types of skills will help them best succeed? What moral characteristics are most important to you?
Do you want your child to:
be flexible and adapt to a changing world
recognize the value in all persons and the natural world
treat all with respect
be comfortable in their body and move with strength, coordination, and confidence
have a creative and discerning mind
be able to solve problems and explain the process
become a citizen of the world with a strong moral compass
The families in our supportive, vibrant community all share a desire to provide their children with an education that will make a lasting difference in their lives. From our Toddler program through our Preschools, Kindergartens and up through Elementary and Middle School, our students travel from fairy tales to Shakespeare, from dreamy watercolor painting to the precision and exactness of geometry, from the wonder of nature to botany, chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology and astronomy. Academic achievements are entwined with an ever-increasing self and social awareness as our students’ capacities unfold and are encouraged in a developmentally appropriate manner, in a safe and reverent environment.