Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School

Infobox NZ school
name = Raphael House Rudlof Steiner School
badge =
motto =
type = State integrated, composite (Years 1-15)
established = June, 1979
address = 27 Matuhi Street,
Belmont,
Lower Hutt,
New Zealand
principal = Karen Brice-Geard
roll = 322
decile = 10
MOE = 133
homepage = [http://www.raphaelhouse.school.nz/ www.raphaelhouse.school.nz]

Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School is a coeducational state integrated composite school teaching Years 1 to 15 in Belmont, Lower Hutt. It provides a Waldorf education, the curriculum being based on the philosophies of Rudolf Steiner. The school education of children starts when they are 7 years of age which is an important part of the philosophy behind the school.

Philosophy

Introduction of reading and writing:At a time when many kindergartens are emphasizing reading, writing and early numeracy skills, Waldorf kindergartens approach literacy readiness through movement games, poetry and story. The written language is first introduced, pictorially and artistically, when the children enter elementary school at age six-seven. Instruction progresses through writing into reading. Most children are reading independently by age eight.

Main lesson books:In both the elementary school and secondary school, most academic subjects are taught in blocks. For these blocks, instead of using commercial textbooks each pupil writes and illustrates a "main lesson book", a self-created 'textbook' based upon the content learned. Scope for independent creativity in these books progresses rapidly through the elementary years.

By the secondary school years, if not earlier, standard textbooks begin to be used for courses that either are not taught in or supplement the blocks: mathematics, literature, etc.

Foreign languages: Waldorf schools begin teaching two foreign languages from class 1 (age six-seven) on. Foreign language instruction in the first years is purely oral; by the end of class 3 , (beginning of fourth grade), the written forms of the languages are introduced. When the pupils are about sixteen-years old, exchanges with schools in other countries are encouraged; after such an exchange, a very high level of fluency has usually been reached. Raphael House currently offers German and Japanese to their students and most exchanges are currently to Germany although other options have been done.

Art and music: Painting is a weekly experience in the early years. Art instruction continues through the high school for all students. In the elementary years, drawing is practiced daily. For pedagogical reasons, full-color figures are usually drawn, not outlines. A special discipline called Form Drawing, created by the early Waldorf pedagogue Hermann von Baravalle, focuses on linear forms.

The children sing daily with their class teacher. They also have weekly singing lessons with a specialized music teacher beginning at an early age and continuing as choral instruction through to age 18. Pentatonic recorders are introduced in first grade/ class 1, the familiar diatonic recorder in class 3. Waldorf pupils are generally required to take private music lessons when a class orchestra is formed, usually at aged 10.

Nature and science in the Waldorf School:In the pre-school, kindergarten and first elementary years, rich, direct experiences of nature are encouraged. Children play outside in all weathers, preferably in gardens that show the seasons through the changing plant (and sometimes animal) life. Inside the classroom, natural materials are preferred for the room, its furnishings and all toys: these include wood, stone, clay (e.g. pottery), wool, cotton, silk, and linen. The emphasis is on working with the materials of nature through planting and harvesting, craft work and creative play. The beings of nature are personified and even anthropomorphized as active agents. The first years are thus years of ‘nature experience’.

At about nine years of age, children begin to become more conscious of their separation from their environment. From this age, nature is studied in an imaginative (rather than analytical) way, and still in relationship to the human being – but no longer anthropomorphized. The curriculum includes blocks on farming (aged 10), Man and animal (aged 11), Plant and Earth (aged 12) and geology (aged 13). A feeling connection to nature is aimed for, out of which a sense of stewardship can grow.

By twelve, children are entering a newly rational phase (cf. Piaget’s Theory of cognitive development). An experimental approach to science is introduced, beginning with simple but systematic sensory explorations of phenomena of acoustics, light, mechanics and chemistry and progressing through ever more advanced physics, chemistry, biological and ecological studies:

*11-12 years: Mineralogy, acoustics, optics, heat, natural magnetism and electricity.
*12-13 years: Nutrition and hygiene, mechanics, acoustics, heat, optics, electricity and magnetism, chemistry.
*13-14 years: Anatomy, hydrostatics and simple hydrodynamics, simple organic chemistry of starches, sugars and fats. At the secondary school level (fourteen years of age and up), Waldorf schools tend to emphasize the historical origins, cultural background, and philosophical roots and consequences of scientific discoveries. By the end of their secondary school education, students are expected to have a grasp of modern science equivalent to that achieved in other schools. In particular, the following subjects are recommended:

*14-15 years: Acoustics and thermodynamics, earth science, organic chemistry
*15-16 years: Mechanics, mineralogy, anatomy and physiology, mechanics, acid-base reactions.
*16-17 years: Cell biology and embryology, botany, atomic theory, electromagnetism and radiation, the periodic table, advanced chemistry
*17-18 years: Zoology, optics, physiological chemistry

Curriculum

Steiner developed a 3-stage pedagogical model of child development that is utilised in Waldorf education. His description preceded but in some respects is analogous to the three stages of conceptual development observed and described by psychologist Jean Piaget in the 1960s. Steiner's approach, however, views a child's physical, emotional, and cognitive development as expressions of the process of incarnation of an immortal soul in its gradual embodiment in the human body which will be its temporary earthly vehicle. Childhood thus includes but three of the many seven-year cycles of development that define human biography.

Pre-school and kindergarten – birth to age 6 or 7:The child at this early stage learns through imitation and example, so it is considered best to surround him with the goodness of the world and caring adults to emulate. Waldorf teachers work to support the amazing physical and spiritual growth the child experiences at this time. Clear rhythms of the day give the child security, moving between inside and outside activities; between time for play and time for "work" (practical or artistic activities); time to be extroverted and meet the world and time to hear stories and be calm within. Each day of the week will normally have particular highlights (baking, painting, etc.) and meal, creating a weekly rhythm. The rhythm of the year is emphasized through festivals primarily related to the experienced course of nature: autumn's harvest, winter's inwardness, spring's rebirth, summer's joy.

Emphasis is placed on traditional household activities such as cooking, finger knitting, helping with household duties, storytelling, rhyming, and movement games. Children are not taught specific academic subjects at this time, including reading and writing, and are sheltered from the media. The basis for literacy, language development, is fostered through circle games (songs, poems and games in movement), daily story time (normally told by heart, through which the children's memory forces are engaged) and the experiential richness of the environment (a rich vocabulary must have rich referents to be meaningful).

At approximately age seven, it is believed that the initial physical growth stage of the child is completed. A developmental test is often done to determine readiness for school entry. This may include a variety of signals: the ability to accomplish more complex physical tasks (e.g. skipping), growth of the limbs (often tested by the child's ability to reach over the head to touch the opposite ear), the beginning of the change of teeth, [6] the ability to interpret and replicate more complex forms in movement or drawing, the general development of drawing skills, the quality of social interaction, the development of play and an awakening interest in numbers and letters.

Elementary education – age 6 or 7 to puberty:In the Waldorf school, elementary education begins when the child is nearing or already seven years of age.

The curriculum is highly challenging, structured, and creative. In Waldorf schools, one teacher often aims to stay with a class as it advances from its first year all the way through to year eight, teaching the main subject lessons. Specialist teachers are utilized for subjects such as foreign languages, handwork and crafts, singing, orchestra (every Waldorf pupil learns to play an orchestral instrument), movement (eurythmy), games and gymnastics, and so on. Academic instruction is integrated with arts, craft, music and movement. As Steiner stated in "The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy", "...the child should be laying up in his memory the treasures of thought on which mankind has pondered...".

Throughout the elementary years, an imaginative approach is encouraged; new material is introduced through stories and images, and the children create their own "textbooks", often works of art in themselves. The day begins with a main lesson, a one-and-a-half to two hour lesson devoted to a single academic subject over the course of about a month. Subjects of main lessons are primarily drawn from mathematics, literature and language, history and nature studies.

In the middle school years, when the child is twelve to fourteen years old, many schools employ specialist teachers for mathematics, science, and/or literature as well. These are seen as transitional years when the pupils still need the support of a central teacher, but also the in-depth education possible only through teachers with special competencies in these subjects. The approach to teaching these years is changing rapidly in Waldorf schools, and the combination of teachers employed in different schools for the academic subjects in the middle school runs the gamut from a central teacher teaching all of these to only using specialist teachers.

Secondary education – after puberty:Pupils enter secondary education when they are about fourteen years old. Instead of having one main teacher who teaches most subjects, the students in secondary school have many specialist teachers. They begin to grasp concepts and analyze the facts and knowledge they learned in the earlier stages. All students continue to take courses in art, music, and crafts on top of the full range of sciences, mathematics, language and literature, and history normal to most academically-oriented schools. Extended block courses, or so-called main lessons, continue for academic subjects; in these, students are exposed to and explore the historical evolution, philosophical significance, and social consequences of special themes in more depth than is normally possible.

The child is helped to begin a guided, but independent, search for truth. As stated in "Education for Adolescents" (Rudolf Steiner, 1922), "The capacity for forming judgments is blossoming at this time and should be directed toward world-interrelationships in every field." Idealism is central to these years, and the education constantly directs pupils to motivating impulses that can stimulate their enthusiasm. The education works to cultivate a combination of highly analytic thinking with idealism in this phase.

Community

Raphael House offers the community evening courses on various subjects including health, anthroposophy, and self-development. The school has a news sheet called the Bush Telegraph which members of the community may place appropriate advertisements in. There are a small number of rooms available for community activities. Parents of the students attending the school are expected to be involved in their children's education. There is a strong expectation that younger children's television watching time is kept to a very low level or in fact not watched at all. Some of the festivals and camping trips throughout each year offer parents and older siblings the chance to participate.

Festivals

Raphael House celebrates a number of Christian festivals (namely Easter, Advent, St Nicholas, and Christmas; as well as Midwinter and St Michael's day) throughout the course of the year to create a sense of continuity for their students. This is not intended as a Christian indoctrination but rather as a cosmopolitan and cultural experience for students. Preparation for the feast days is considered an important part of the students' experience, for example the Midwinter festival where the students learn songs and make their own colourful lanterns in the days leading up to the festival. On the night the whole school including parents join in the festivities together.

Notable alumni

*Anna Paquin, Oscar winner. [ [http://anna-paquin.net/press/2003/nzherald-0503/ Interview, May 2003] , "X Patriate Anna Paquin" by Michele Manelis, NZHerald.co.nz. Accessed 2007-12-31.] [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001593/awards Awards for Anna Paquin] , Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for "The Piano" (1993). Accessed 2007-12-31.]

References

External links

* [http://www.raphaelhouse.school.nz/ School web site]
* [http://www.tki.org.nz/e/schools/display_school_info.php?school_id=133 Te Kete Ipurangi]
* [http://www.ero.govt.nz/ero%5Creppub.nsf/Institution/2B5D27CF723E6C34CC25704C0016050D/$File/133.htm?OpenElement Education Review Office report]