Frequently Asked Questions

Many schools place emphasis on academic pursuits which focus solely on intellect, and a sports culture which focuses on physicality. However, between these polarities lies the realms of feeling (emotions and social sensitivity), will (the drive to do something) and morality (sense of what is right and wrong). Waldorf teaching truly endeavours to educate across these realms.

Through our unique curriculum that offers age-specific content, we meet the growing child in each of their developmental phases. We strive to develop capacities for meaningful social skills and enlivened imagination that can later become innovative thinking. In this way, Waldorf graduates are guided into becoming well-rounded individuals who are prepared for life as they can act with initiative, insight, and moral intention.

The young child is viewed with great respect and reverence in both philosophies, however there are some key contrasting aspects. For instance, the Montessori philosophy feels that fantasy should be postponed until the child is firmly grounded in reality, and therefore tasks and activities should focus on a conceptual learning.

The Waldorf approach encourages a lot more open-ended, imaginative play, incorporating fantasy and storytelling into their days. In a Montessori classroom, the child works independently, each child doing a different task at one time and only the teacher may intervene on request; whereas in a Waldorf classroom the social realm is deemed very important, and the children join together in movement, activities, singing or games. A Montessori environment allows the children to choose their own activities in the classroom, the child’s choice being key.

In contrast, Waldorf sees the child thriving in a predictable weekly rhythm alternating between a daily directed group activity such as crafting/baking/painting and times for creative play. Montessori sees the young child as ready to receive challenging intellectual tasks from an early age, whereas Waldorf teachers seek to nourish and enliven a healthy imagination as the foundation for creative thinking powers; intellectual potential lies within and unfolds slowly.

Read about it in the article titled: Montessori and Steiner: A Pattern of Reverse Symmetries, by Dee Joy Coulter in the folder About Waldorf Education, in our Resource Library.

The reasons for this have as much to do with the physical effects of the medium on the developing child, as with the often-questionable content, which has a powerful effect on young children. It is important that children’s exposure to digital content is limited, carefully considered, and monitored. In Waldorf schools, the teaching relies very much on the children taking in the content of a lesson, going home and sleeping, and then coming back the next day to recall and work with it.

During the night, the lesson will have been digested, together with the mental pictures made by the children, and they are able to relate to and understand it better than they could the previous day. If children are consuming digital media after school or especially just before bed, the strong images and sounds overwhelm the subtle pictures they have formed within themselves with their own imagination and shut them out, so that when you say ‘princess’, or ‘frog’, they will only be able to picture Disney’s Sleeping Beauty or Kermit from Sesame Street.

The opportunity to use their own imagination is then denied. Young children need real human beings to imitate in order to develop in a healthy way, and if they are exposed to these images, sounds, and actions on a daily basis they will imitate them instead, while their senses gradually become numbed to more subtle human qualities.

Technology is part of the modern world and wholly applicable at the correct age. We introduce and make use of technology in the upper grades, and we offer both Information Technology (IT) and Computer Applications Technology (CAT) as IEB matric subjects.

However, in the lower grades where we work with beauty and imagination, and where we endeavour to preserve the children’s sense of wonder for as long as possible, technology overwhelms these subtle senses and replaces rich imaginative qualities with stuck images that stifle creativity. We wish to provide the children with a truly human education and empower them so that technology may become a tool that they master responsibility.

The Waldorf curriculum unfolds with conscious intent to mirror the children in their various developmental phases. It is very age-specific and age-appropriate. We are cautious in the Primary School about introducing abstract concepts too soon as we work with beauty and imagination.

All new concepts are imbued with images. Through the vehicle of story, we create a feeling-understanding to new concepts. This speaks to the young child, and a rich imagination is the seed for innovative thinking later in life. An example of how the curriculum mirrors the children in their developmental phase is the 9-year-old change which teachers witness in the third grade.

The children no longer imitate, and find themselves quite separate and alone in the world. The adults aim to give the children a sense of belonging and responsibility for the world; therefore, we have ongoing activities such as farming, gardening, shelter-building, cooking and crafting themes that run the course of the year. For a more detailed answer to this question, listen to our podcasts.

Disparity in ability is a global reality in any classroom. Our curriculum does not place emphasis on only one kind of learning or one kind of intelligence. The practical arts balance the academic work, allowing other areas of success to be discovered.

Elements such as drama, drawing, painting, speech, movement, sport, sculpting and music are interwoven throughout the week and are used as a means to explore content on various levels. Our curriculum is designed to meet the various temperaments and interests, and encourages the children to question, engage and discover the ‘why’ behind phenomena and not only the ‘what’.

In the first seven years of formal learning, the children undergo little-to-no formal assessment. This allows the child to develop a passion for learning, without the added pressure of testing. That being said, because the class teacher develops such a close bond with their class, they take great care to observe each child, ensuring that they are developing the necessary skills. In-depth, individual observational reports are issued by the class teacher at the end of each year in Primary School.

Teachers from the Federation of Waldorf Schools in Southern Africa perform class assessments up to Class 7 on an annual basis to ensure consistent standards across the various Waldorf schools. In higher grades, the students are gradually introduced to testing to assess their comprehension and progress and to prepare them for their final examinations. Detailed academic reports are issued twice annually from Class 8 onwards, and the Matric students write the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) National Senior Certificate examinations.

Literacy in a Waldorf school begins in the kindergarten where the children actively listen to fairy tales told each day. This creates an appreciation of beautiful language, a love of story, and a foundation for reading comprehension before decoding.

The Waldorf approach is to wait to teach reading until children reach the age of 7 so that they can complete key aspects of their physical development without this being taxed by intellectual demands. Developing healthy movement patterns is crucial for literacy learning. The approach is purposefully patient and thoughtfully builds a foundation for a life-long love of literacy. The early grades are rich in phonological awareness and emphasize holistic literacy skills.

Children joining us from other schools integrate very well, and the class community is warm and welcoming. Each situation is quite unique, but mostly the new children thrive as they come to enjoy their new-found freedom with regards to the spirit of conversation, of co-creation and co-discovery with their teachers and peers.

Every Waldorf school, although independent and part of its local community, shares an approach to education underscored by Rudolf Steiner’s ‘image of man’: a deep understanding of the human being in body, soul, and spirit. Steiner wrote and spoke about it in several hundred books and lectures during his lifetime. He called this knowledge “Anthroposophy” – literally ‘wisdom of the human being’.

It speaks to the deepest questions of humanity and describes and characterises the different stages of human development that can be observed in the journey through childhood and adulthood. While the philosophy is not directly imparted to students, anthroposophy forms the basis of the curriculum and school ethos.