Middle School Classes 6 to 9
Galileo said,
“You cannot teach anybody anything. You can only help them discover it within themselves.”
This is a time of physical and emotional change for young people. They are starting to look at the world with a greater desire to engage and experience more. The Steiner Waldorf curriculum is there to meet this desire with a change in the learning and teaching approach.
The students now take more responsibility for their own learning with more project work and developing portfolios. The teachers provide more experiential learning opportunities, there is more academic rigour and a shift of focus to the community beyond the school. Class trips may include include French experience/exchange, Rua Fiola, and other city trips.
In addition to the class teacher, the students have a variety of specialist and subject teachers to give depth and breadth to the education. The values and culture of this programme includes an emphasis on student self-motivation, courage to meet new challenges, support of social and emotional development, and greater individuation of experience and presentation.
The Middle School programme for classes 6-9 allows students to complete the full eight year curriculum, with time to deepen and broaden their experience.
The rounding of the curriculum prepares students for the next steps in their education. This approach leads to well balanced and confident individuals with a strong sense of self and self-esteem. More than this they emerge motivated with the skills to engage with independent learning and creative thinking. These are powerful tools to take them forward in life.
CLASSES 6-9
Educational aims, to find their own place in the world, by:
- Developing independent judgement
- Working with the laws of the world (through chemistry, physics and geography)
- Challenging things formerly learnt only through authority (history: Bruno, Galileo, Luther)
- Depicting human beings as striving, ethical beings
- Formulating own points of view (debating)
- Developing ability to work independently.
- Developing qualities of self-restraint and self-motivation