Primary School
8 good reasons to join us
1 - SMALL CLASS SIZE -
Students learn faster and perform better in smaller classes. A class size of fewer than 18 students often results in more individual one-on-one time, increased participation, and better communication between the teacher and students. Students not only receive more feedback from their peers and teacher, they also tend to encounter more opportunities for hands-on learning than those in large classes.
2 - NO SCREENS -
Increasingly, Steiner education is recognised as a leader in the integration of education and technology. We offer an intentional and highly considered approach that incorporates the right technology at the right time. We create a creative learning environment based on human interaction rather than react to the latest products in the marketplace.
Childhood is a time for learning through activity - a time for playing, for interacting with others, for experiencing the wonders of nature, for using the imagination to create all kinds of wonderful worlds, and for using bodies to become strong and adept. When these activities are replaced by the passive act of watching, the child's ability for creativity and imagination is markedly diminished.
In the early years, children learn through imitation and imagination. Our teachers tell beautiful stories with complex vocabulary and sentence structure. Children develop the capacity to form mental pictures that support future reading comprehension and creative thinking. They are unencumbered by the passive consumption of fixed media images, which scientific research confirms are difficult for children to process and can hinder learning. In our classrooms, young children move, play, create, solve problems, and explore nature.
Primary school students learn best through engaging, experiential, creative lessons. A media-free classroom environment supports exploration, imagination, self-confidence in intellectual skills, and the development of strong social connections. Our classrooms are places of creativity and human interaction, teachers and students in the community.
Through the years, a Steiner education gives children space and time to develop into free and independent young adults with initiative to become the next writers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and innovators of the tech world.
3 - unhurried -
Childhood is not a race! We believe our children will take in more in the long term if we slow things down. Like in Finland our children start formal learning when they are 6 years old, young children don’t have homework and we work in small classes. The curriculum takes the child development into account. By age 11, numeracy, literacy and language skills often outpace those of mainstream children.
4 - INSPIRING TEACHING -
Fossil Bay teachers help students to become resilient and creative young people who are engaged in learning and community, each reaching their individual potential. Subjects are taught using the outdoors, songs, movement and art. We aim to inspire a curiosity about the world around us. If you haven’t seen Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted talk on the subject, we highly recommend it.
5 - LINK TO NATURE -
Located in a beautiful semi-rural environment close to the beach, our children are given plenty of opportunities to experience the natural world around them. The benefits of giving children ample outdoor time have been well documented, including better physical and mental health, better cognition and even better test scores. A deeper aim within Waldorf education is to foster and encourage feelings of love towards nature and fellow human beings. (3 See Steiner, Rudolf. (1996).
6 - TEAMWORK
- Fossil Bay Kindergarten & School is all about connections—with classmates, teachers, learning, and community. Students are challenged to think creatively and work together in an atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation.
7 - LOCATION -
We get it why Waiheke island got voted one of the best islands in the world. The proximity to the city, but yet the distance from its hustle and bustle, makes it a great location to raise children. Children get to be children here much like in the olden days.
8 - MINIMAL TESTING -
An integrated part of our teachers´ daily life is to monitor progress closely and assess where appropriate but quantitative testing is minimal. In general we don’t think regular testing contributes to a love of learning or self-esteem. At our school we cultivate cooperation instead of competition and inclusiveness instead of selection.
CURRICULUM
The Steiner curriculum aims to support and enhance the healthiest possible development for each student.
The curriculum aims to nurture the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects of the child, requiring specific learning experiences to be brought to students at particular times and in certain ways. Steiner/Waldorf Education aims to support the development of the whole child and this principle guides teaching and learning in every class. The active study and observation of children is at the heart of teacher development and is, therefore, at the heart of curriculum development and delivery.
Our school:
Embraces the whole child through educating the head, the heart and the hands.
Embeds a culture of collaboration, while honouring the child’s autonomy and individuality.
Encourages children to be resilient, imagine new ideas, solve problems in creative ways and see the world in a fresh light.
Values the cultural and artistic expression of music, art, drama, literature, creativity and innovation.
Embodies Waiheke Island’s special character and embraces te reo and tikanga Māori.
Utilises Waiheke’s unique environment as a stimulating and rich outdoor classroom experience, and a place to learn about kaitiakitanga/guardianship.
Cultivates learning from real experiences and integrates learning from the many talented people on Waiheke.
Supports children to develop into well-balanced young adults, who have a strong sense of who they are and their place within the community, as well as the wider world.
Our purpose is to create and sustain a nurturing environment of inspired children, teachers and parents in order to provide a modern anthroposophical based education in a physical and emotional environment that facilitates the unfolding of each child's full potential. The community will be built on strong values, clear communication and respectful partnership.
“Our highest endeavour must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives” - Rudolf Steiner
All subjects are seen to have equal importance within the curriculum, and all contribute to a complete and balanced education. Content in each subject is tailored to meet the developmental stages of the children at each year level. High value is placed on teaching and learning through the arts and movement, not only as stand-alone subjects but also as an integral part of all learning experiences. These activities activate the will and feeling life of the child and support the development of flexible and creative thinking. All subjects, as far as possible, are brought in an artistic way, or through practical experience where doing precedes understanding. Wherever possible, practical activity paves the way for discovery and enquiry, which in turn leads to the formation of concepts. An essential aspect of our Special Character is the use of ICT. There is no digital technology at Waiheke Island Steiner School.
Teachers in a Steiner School strive to recognise and work with the unique individuality of each child, to foster their abilities and to help them overcome their difficulties. In a mixed ability class, children learn from each others’ contributions, and the curriculum subjects offer great scope for extension of the individual child’s abilities.
Steiner schools recognise three broad phases of development in childhood, 0-7 years, 7-14 years and 14-21 years. The curriculum and teaching methods are designed accordingly. The themes that underlie these phases are ‘Goodness’ (0-7 years), ‘Beauty’ (7-14 years), and ‘Truth” (14-21 years). We carry a loving respect for the individuality of each child and a recognition of each child as a being of intellect, feeling and will. These three soul faculties manifest in different degrees in the different phases of child development and the Steiner curriculum is designed to address this process.
Steiner Education on Waiheke Island
The Fossil Bay School Curriculum is based on the Te Rā Curriculum. The curriculum is not, nor ever was intended to be, fixed and unalterable. Instead it relies on each teacher’s curriculum knowledge, teaching skills, creative faculties, and love and understanding of the children. For the teacher, the curriculum is a vehicle for an unfolding of capacities in a timely way so that each child develops harmoniously to her or his fullest potential capacities.
Accompanying the Steiner Curriculum is He Reo Puawai, a Te Reo Maori Curriculum that gives guidelines with suggested approaches and tools for application of te reo and kaupapa Maori teaching in Rudolf Steiner schools in Aotearoa. The school follows a traditional Steiner School structure to the day which may look something like this:
Mornings - Morning Circle and Main Lesson
Mid Session – Practice lesson - literacy and numeracy, music, languages and arts lessons.
Afternoons - Handwork, Games, Physical education, Gardening, Instrumental Music, Art.
The education of the whole child through daily intellectual, artistic and physical activities is the aim of the school curriculum. The indications of Rudolf Steiner for each year are used as the basis of the teachers’ planning.