SUNRISE WALDORF SCHOOL, COWICHAN VALLEY, BC

"Demographically, you shouldn’t exist!" We were told this by a visiting Head of Teacher Training from New York, and it is quite true. With a small valley population in a rather economically depressed area with a plethora of public and private schools around us, how is it that our school’s enrollment grows from year to year?

Waldorf education is indeed one of North America’s best kept secrets. If you are a ‘searching ‘ parent you may find us, and like many of our ‘Waldorf families’, uproot from far away places to make a new life in ‘the valley’.

Why do people make these enormous life changes in order to bring their children to a Waldorf School?

Why do educational authorities experiment with endless new ideas and still cannot combat the flowing tide of semi-illiterate graduates?

Waldorf education is based on the developmental needs of the growing child, and this has proved successful for 80 years – particularly in Europe where it is so well known.

Let us begin with the Waldorf kindergarten, which is so very different from its mainstream counterparts. A few hours observing and asking questions is the best way of discovering the differences, but first impressions reveal a lack of cold, plastic and vividly coloured equipment. Instead there is a pastel, draped space with the warmth of natural materials and the smell of freshly baked bread. Everything is designed to serve the young child’s tender senses which absorb everything so deeply, and where every word and gesture of the adult has to be worthy of imitation. Rhythm, Ritual and Reverence are 3 R’s in a Waldorf school.

Waldorf grade school classes have specific age-appropriate curriculums that excite the children and the teacher, who many only teach that grade once in 8 years. A teacher’s class is his or her ‘family’ from grades 1 through 8; to be nurtured, challenged, and taught in the most imaginative and mobile way possible. Main lesson blocks are taught for 3 or 4 weeks by the class teacher, and supplemented by teachers who are specialists in their field - French, P.E., Eurythmy, and for the older grades, handwork, woodworking and music, including orchestra. To see the workbooks created by the children is, by itself, a reason to visit the school!

We find that children do best in school when they have been protected from the influences of television, videos and computer games in their formative years. Our school has a Values policy regarding these in order to help support the best learning environment possible for our children.

However, Waldorf education is not for everyone. Our school is small (a government accredited class one school with B.C. certified teachers) which is one of the reasons our students do so well. But we do not have all the resources to meet the needs of some children who have had unfortunate experiences elsewhere, and are looking as a "last resort", or who have difficulties that prohibit them from thriving in a disciplined and social atmosphere.

We are not an elite school. The first Waldorf school was opened in Germany to educate the children of factory workers. The founder of Waldorf education, Rudolf Steiner, had insights that will serve children well into the millennium.

Just as we all pass through various stages of babyhood until we are walking and talking, Steiner realized that we pass through the ages of history in our developmental consciousness. The curriculum thus passes from the land of fairy tale in grade one when mankind sat around the storyteller to learn about the world, through the ancient Indian, Greek, Roman and Medieval times, and so on until contemporary society is reached in high school. This ‘classical’ background provides the foundation for teaching all the concepts in Language Arts, Math and the Sciences.

Our focus is to educate in such a way that students will have a desire and motivation to learn, and a moral uprightness. We strive to complement the values of a caring home, respecting each other and all the gifts of nature. We do not teach religion, but we are generally a spiritual community of varied beliefs and races, who are accepting of the Christian calendar and who acknowledge the great creative force we call God.

The school community shares in a full agenda of festivals and celebrations, and parent interest and help is vital to the health of the students and the school.

We often hold classroom tours, when visitors and parents can see classes in action. Please call Sunrise Waldorf School, (250) 743-7253, or visit www.sunrisewaldorfschool.org for further information.