Dandenong Ranges Steiner School

[EduCativ]

The school is founded on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) and his picture of human growth and development. From childhood onwards, Rudolf Steiner knew both spiritual and natural worlds. His search to integrate these led him to recognize the significance of thinking for spiritual and natural scientific research. Steiner was a philosopher, artist, and scientist whose visions and depth of understanding continue to significantly impact many practical fields in areas such as education, medicine, agriculture, architecture, and the therapeutic arts.
Dandenong Ranges Steiner School is part of a worldwide educational movement that draws its inspiration from Rudolf Steiner's lectures to the first Waldorf/Steiner School teachers. The Steiner school's curriculum and structure are similar in schools both within Australia and around the world. In Victoria Australia, Dandenong Ranges Steiner School works within the parameters of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards and according to the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority requirements.
We also implement the Steiner curriculum to integrate the school within its community and the particular features of our school. These features derive from the character of our school community and the school's physical location. They include the school's semi-rural aspect and the interests of the founding families, enabling us to have a healthy Farming and Gardening Program. The school community has many people professionally involved in the Arts. Many school community members come to us as part of a commitment to holistic living in a broad sense, manifested in natural foods and clothing, and a commitment to organic/biodynamic/natural food. A number of our main lesson topics incorporate the history and geography of the local area.
In his many lectures on education, Rudolf Steiner delivered a method that helps the child develop faculties that unfold at specific times. For example, during the kindergarten years, it is active play engaging the limbs, which is paramount. At the primary school level, children learn through the imagination as feelings manifest. Here there is a need for rhythm, which is expressed in music, poetry, the rhythm of the day, etc. The secondary school years bring clarity of thinking and a capacity for judgment as the intellect develops.
Our endeavor at the Dandenong Ranges Steiner School provides a comprehensive, in-depth education of all aspects of growing children. All cultural development areas are essential to us, academic, physical, social, moral, artistic, and spiritual.
The school curriculum is a response to the inner and outer development characteristic of each year of childhood and adolescence. Every subject can have direct and intimate relevance to these subtle processes of growth. In particular, there is an emphasis on the healthy development of individuality within a social context and nurturing the students' capacity to discern and take responsibility for their conduct and work.
Behind all the teaching is recognizing the spiritual in each human being and throughout the natural world. This elevates every subject from training in skills and gathering information to becoming a medium for individual deepening and maturation. All aspects of the curriculum are considered essential for healthy, rounded development.
The Strands, domains, and progression points of the AusVELS and the Rudolf Steiner curriculum are interpreted by the teachers and applied within the structure of the subjects offered. The integration of the two curricula occurs, with each approach being entirely complementary. When reviewing and developing our curriculum, the Curriculum Manager with the College of Teachers strives to balance academic, artistic, and practical activities.
Overall, DRSS strives for a curriculum responsive to the developmental phases in childhood to young adulthood and nurturing children's imaginations accountable to the broader community through compliance with the standards set for education in Victoria, Australia. We encourage our students to strive for excellence, respect, find their place in the world, and care for others, thereby becoming motivated, balanced, and responsible citizens.
For Prep, the curriculum is delivered through a structured play-based program. For classes 1-6, each day begins with two hours known as the Main Lesson. This teaching unit is integrated and cross-curricular and includes activities to awaken and focus the children's attention, oral and written practice of necessary skills, mental arithmetic, music and drawing, presentation of new material, recall and discussion of the previous day's (or earlier) work, individual working, conversation, narrative and practical work. This introductory lesson period includes a "morning circle" where the children are awakened to work with the song, maths drill, instrument practice, literacy games, recitation, and movement activities. A particular subject is studied for 3-4 weeks to allow for a deep and enriching learning experience. Through the use of a wide range of strategies, the Main Lesson endeavors to unite all the powers of the soul by engaging the child's thinking, feeling, and willing.

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