Our unique college preparatory program integrates creative exploration with experiential learning, engaging students and preparing them for challenges of their time. San Francisco Waldorf High is located in the West Portal neighborhood, near Stern Grove. The state-of-the-art urban school sits amid an oasis of green and is the first school in San Francisco to receive the prestigious LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The campus is alive with activity, morning to evening, and classes take advantage of the City's vast cultural, natural, and human resources for learning.
Distinguished faculty help students pursue their passions and lead lives of purpose and excellence. They are experts in their fields, many with advanced degrees, who also complete an internationally recognized teacher training program. Teachers work together to implement the school’s educational vision and work with students in an environment of intellectual inquiry and mutual respect.
The realization of responsible human freedom is the foundational tenet of Waldorf education and San Francisco Waldorf High School. We strive to help students become free, resilient, creative human beings who lead lives of purpose and direction.
Waldorf education fosters students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth as they pass through distinct stages of development, from childhood to adulthood. In high school, students learn best from experts in their fields, faculty who encourage independent thought and the pursuit of truth. Through challenging intellectual engagement, students begin to master a wide range of subjects as they come to understand themselves and their places in the world.
Our dedicated faculty and staff support students’ sense of self-reliance, social responsibility, and moral purpose. Our diverse community is a source of invaluable human experience from which students learn and grow. Our school encourages young people to develop the highest human capacities and become citizens of the world.
we strive to nourish the unique capacities of every student, that in each may awaken the critical and creative intelligence to envision the future, the compassion and commitment to understanding others, and the courage to be a free and active participant in our common human experience
We strive to sustain a community that reflects the great diversity of the Bay Area. We seek to establish an inclusive learning environment in which differences are understood and celebrated. We recognize that the range of ethnicities, nationalities, languages, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientation, learning differences, and life experiences within our community enhance the school’s rich and diverse curriculum. We acknowledge that multiculturalism and inclusion touch every part of the school growth is an ongoing process that calls on the qualities of commitment, cooperation, and respect that are at the heart of our school community.
At San Francisco Waldorf High School, students discover a dynamic and challenging college preparatory program grounded in the classics and engaged in the modern world. Students are energized by learning and become creative thinkers who can take on the complex questions of today’s interconnected world.
What sets our classes parts? Courses engage students at their stage of adolescent development. Integration of the arts and academics inspires student learning. Direct source material often replaces textbooks. Dedicated teachers lead small, seminar-style classes that foster dialogue, debate, and oratory.
Even the structure of the day, a morning period of intensive academic study called Main Lesson followed by track classes, helps students gain depth and breadth of understanding. The Main Lesson is two hours spanning several weeks. Students immerse themselves in a subject such as Trigonometry or Latin America and really “learn how to learn.”
Track classes are year-long courses in the humanities, mathematics, world languages, and music. Students choose a course of study Spanish or Mandarin, and many participate in a unique exchange program at Waldorf high schools abroad. All students take four years of music and art.
Overall, the curriculum exceeds University of California admissions standards. All students study physics and calculus, for example, with additional honors classes offered. Graduates excel at a variety of academic institutions in a wide range of subject matter, becoming young adults who make a difference in the world.
San Francisco Waldorf High School integrates outdoor education into the curriculum in innovative and exceptional ways, taking advantage of the region's rich biodiversity, natural wonders, and human resources for student learning and growth.
Science students explore geologic formations in local parks humanities students write poetry on the beach architecture students tour City structures that are on the cutting-edge of sustainable design. Over the years, teachers take advantage of local resources to inspire student engagement, creativity, and learning.
The school is known for its overnight, curriculum-based outdoor education trips. Classes hike, kayak, camp, and explore California wilderness areas while studying astronomy, geology, and botany. Students have opportunities to challenge themselves in the outdoors and develop lasting connections to the natural world.
