waldorf is ...
Inspired Learning
At Calgary Waldorf
we want our students to be good at life.
Our global educational landscape is undergoing a radical transformation; emotional, physical, and social well-being are just as important as academic success. Calgary Waldorf School's style of education is more prescient than ever, as it focuses on teaching students how to love learning, and about the importance of being adaptable — which are skills that will always set them apart. Adaptability starts with inner confidence, the ability to change, and the flexibility to learn something new: prioritizing thinking, collaborating, communicating. At our school, we encourage the kids to grow as people, because being socially engaged and self-aware prepares them for real life.
Our curriculum and teaching methods are developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous. We encourage our students to immerse themselves in the adventures of childhood while finding solutions to real-world challenges through creative problem solving. Our whole-child approach to education is rooted in the Waldorf concepts of "thinking, feeling, willing," and "head, heart, hands." We strive to honour, nurture, and protect the childhood of our students; to guide them into healthy adolescence; and to help them mature in ways that go beyond the simply material aspects of our nature and our world.
Waldorf class teachers build strong relationships with their students.
Calgary Waldorf School's teachers play to every element of learning with a hands-on, minds-on approach that is tailored to cultivate functional, fulfilled, self-sufficient humans. Our methodology is rooted in rhythm and routine and supported by having a Class Teacher. This means the teacher stays with their class for several consecutive years, acting as mentor, role model, and guardian. A Class Teacher is better able to assess each individual's developmental needs and fosters shared experience and a strong bond between the teacher and the students and their families.
The Main Lesson: there is no limit to creative expression.
At the heart of our curriculum is an academic learning block we call the Main Lesson: a structure that ensures the students have the time they need to study one topic deeply and richly. The Main Lesson is a multi-sensory and multi-activity approach that is integral to Waldorf education. For a set time every morning, from elementary through middle school, the teachers and students explore a big-picture topic together in great depth. This focused, processed-based engagement gives the children the time and space they need to acquire knowledge, and for that seed of knowledge to take root and grow.
Our Main Lessons explore concepts and ideas across a wide range of modalities — humanities, mathematics, history, science, and more — via a multitude of media in true Waldorf style. This means drawing, dancing, singing, writing, painting, and modelling.
Our students emerge from their classroom journeys as resilient, socially-aware humans who find true joy in learning — and with their spark of curiosity intact.
Fostering empathy and understanding.
The Waldorf Buddy program builds relationships across the grades between students. The pairings are both formal and informal, nurture community, and provide the opportunity for older students to mentor younger students with learning and socialization.
Balanced family life.
The use of electronic media, particularly television and screen-time, by young children is discouraged in Waldorf schools. So too is the over-emphasis of commercialism and busy extra-curricular schedules. The importance of a balanced and strong family life is emphasized, encouraged and supported at our school.
The Calgary Waldorf School will provide an exceptional experience for the whole family.
. . . but don't just take our word for it, schedule a visit and come experience the full potential of a Waldorf education for yourself. We look forward to meeting you, and helping you and your family decide if the Calgary Waldorf School is right for you.
Calgary Waldorf School is an accredited Full Member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America.
Their website offers more detailed information on Waldorf pedagogy, anthroposophy, and the connection
to the teachings and philosophies of Rudolf Steiner.
