High School

Preparing well-rounded, confident individuals for life

High School

14 — 18 years | Class 8 — 12

In the High School, Michael Mount seeks to address the unique needs of young adults in the 21st Century by providing them with the space to discover who they truly are.

The Main Lesson

As they enter High School, Waldorf students continue to start each day with a morning Main Lesson, where they spend time concentrating on one subject for 3-4 weeks. The subject matter varies across all academic subjects, from history and literature, to science and mathematics. Having a main lesson allows students the opportunity to become thoroughly immersed in a specific topic, creating a space for holistic learning.

During Main Lesson, students make their own workbooks, personally compiling the knowledge imparted by their teacher. This instils within each student a sense of purpose, responsibility, and satisfaction and allows them to comprehend the information in a format that suits them the best. This form of notetaking is a skill that gives Waldorf students the edge after school when they move on to tertiary education.

A Path to Independence

The content taught gradually becomes more complex, and is directly connected to the subject matter required to prepare our students for writing the IEB Matric examinations. In this period of preparation, imaginative learning gives way to rational, complex, and independent thinking.

Our students are given increasing autonomy over their learning, practising discernment and critical thinking. They are introduced to formal assessment, and are placed under the guardianship of teachers who are specialists in their fields and who are well-equipped to guide their students on their path to independence.

A Multidisciplinary Approach

High school education at Michael Mount is distinctive in that the focus continues to be practical. The sciences are taught using active methods of experimenting, discovering, and observing. These are then applied in context with the necessary theory. Concepts are explained first as a whole and are then broken down into the parts that make up the full picture. To ensure that education does not produce one-sided individuals, Michael Mount uses a multidisciplinary approach to learning and continues to use the arts and practical skills in order to educate the mind and to nourish and guide our students into becoming healthy, self-reliant individuals.

Each year of High School meets the developmental needs of the students, and is a time for profound self-discovery where they are able to gain direction in their lives while being challenged physically, intellectually, and mentally.

Apply for High School

~ A rite of passage, the Class 11 Parzival Camp

A look at our curriculum

Alongside the developmentally specific Main Lesson content discussed below, our students also have running lessons for their chosen First Additional Language (Afrikaans or isiZulu), Mathematics, English, the Sciences, History, Geography, Computer Science, Life Orientation, Sport, Music, Drama, Art, Handwork, and Eurythmy (a form of rhythmic movement).

Class — 8

Where do I belong in the world?

Class 8 is a transitionary year into High School. The Primary School class teacher begins to cut ties with the children and in the middle of the year, they are welcomed formally into the High School. The children are gradually introduced to the High School teachers and subjects. Part of this year is also the social experience of producing a class play which is presented to community. This is an important step which allows the children to truly bond as a family while their teacher begins to step away.

At this age, the students are searching for a sense of individual identity, and are becoming increasingly aware of the challenges of their times. The lessons reflect these experiences both in subject matter and style of teaching.

Main lesson topics

English: Biographies of others, Class 8 play
Mathematics: Platonic solids, Pythagoras
History: Renaissance
Life Science: Human Anatomy and Physiology
Chemistry: Nutrition
Geography: Anatomy of the Earth

Class — 9

What can I do in the world?

The students begin to search for independence, balance, and logic in their lives. It is an age of polarity, which is mirrored by the world of contrasts to which they are introduced in each subject over the course of the year. The students often find themselves feeling uncertain, seeking clarity of explanation and higher ideals in the world. The Class 9 students spend 5 days on a working farm in the fields and mills, learning about agriculture and food security, and gaining an appreciation of what it is to labour.

Main lesson topics

English: Personal biography and biography of others
Mathematics: Conic sections
History: Revolutions
Life Science: Major organs of the body
Science: Electricity and magnetism
Geography: Internal structure of the earth
Art: Black and white drawings

Class — 10

How do I relate to the world?

The Class 10 year is one of community service. The students spend a week on a camp in which they support a disadvantaged community, and much of the year’s activities involve serving the Michael Mount community too. This provides the students with the opportunity to gain a wider social perspective and develop a sense of social responsibility by working with and for others. This is a year of self-discovery and evaluation of the world. The curriculum meets the students at this point by engaging them in subject matter that requires insight as well as intellect, allowing them to begin to position themselves within the world.

Main lesson topics

English: History of poetry
Mathematics: Trigonometry
History: Ancient history
Life Science: Human reproduction
Science: Mechanics
Geography: Climatology / Oceanography

Class — 11

Who am I as an individual? How do I contribute to the world?

The Class 11 year is the culmination year of the Waldorf curriculum at Michael Mount Waldorf School, and the students form a true sense of personal identity and begin to balance their inner and outer worlds. It is at this point that they select their three electives, while continuing with Main Lessons, their 4 compulsory subjects, as well as Eurythmy, Handwork, Music, and Sport. Providing the students with continued exposure to a broad range of subjects until the end of the Class 10 year allows them to confidently select their subjects for the final two years of school.

The Class 11 project

The students are mentored by their respective teachers on a one-on-one level as they carry out their Class 11 Projects. Each student chooses a topic which interests them deeply and spends time both researching and experiencing their subject matter first-hand. Ultimately, they are required to write a mini-thesis (6-8 thousand words), create a hand-made, leather-bound book recording their experiences and findings, and publicly present their project to the community. This project encourages our students to gain self-discipline and equips them with the skills they will need for tertiary education, setting them apart. Additionally, it is a time for profound self-discovery, as many of our Grade 11s gain direction in their lives and all of them are challenged physically, intellectually, and mentally.

Parzival main lesson and camp

The Parzival Main Lesson is one of the last Main Lessons the students participate in prior to commencing their final year and their Matric examinations. The students journey with Parzival through the metaphors and symbolism embedded in the medieval legend, culminating in their final school camp. They are required to self-reflect and come to the realization that they themselves are responsible for establishing and achieving the goals they set for themselves.

The class play

The students are given a lot of freedom in putting together a performance to present to the community, and each individual’s strengths and personalities truly shine through in the roles they choose to embody. Many of the students are filled with a new, mature sense of confidence, which shines through while they are on stage.

Main Lesson Topics

English: Parzival (legendary quest) and Emerson’s essays on nature
Mathematics: Projective Geometry / Calculus
History: Modern times
Life Science: Botany
Science: Nature of matter
Geography: Water as a critical resource

Class — 12

Preparing for & writing the IEB National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations

Our students benefit from experiencing the full range of subjects in their Main Lessons until the last term of Class 11. In their twelfth year, they follow the IEB Matric syllabus and find that they have been more than sufficiently prepared for the task of excelling in the final examinations, due to their well-rounded education.