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Sophia Mundi is an independent, non-denominational, and co-educational inner-city Melbourne Steiner school that offers an enriching, holistic educational pathway from Early Childhood to Senior Secondary. Next door to the Collingwood Children's Farm, we are located in the Abbotsford Convent's beautiful grounds. We are a not-for-profit organization, a member of Steiner Education Australia, and an IB World School. We are the only Steiner school in Australia to combine Steiner education's creative and academic richness (to grade 10) with the academic rigor of the International Baccalaureate (grades 11 & 12). Sophia Mundi is, above all else, a community of students, staff, and parents. We welcome newcomers as part of our community. Steiner education is not exclusive. On the contrary, our curriculum and methods are highly inclusive and open to students with very different needs and cultural backgrounds. The school is supported by parents and friends who believe in sharing in the education of their children. The nourishing food and supportive home environments that parents provide are fundamental building blocks in the educational picture we are striving for. Steiner education is an excellent opportunity for parents to become involved more deeply in their child's education. In today's world, parents are faced with an ever-increasing number of choices and concerns about the education of their child. It is a part of living in the 21st century. More than ever before, we have easy access to different information, research findings, and points of view on education. How do we make the right choice for our child amid this web of information? And how do we know that a school's stated educational goals will be consistently upheld as fundamentals in our child's education? At Sophia Mundi, we place the consistency and integrity of educational values at our practice's core. We have strongly defined educational ideals, and they remain fundamental to our educational practice from pre-school to grade 12. Founded by Dr. Rudolf Steiner in 1918, Steiner (or Waldorf) education was from its beginning a conscious decision to create an education for the whole human being. In a Steiner school, we place central importance on the student growing in their way, understanding their way, and feeling loved for who they are. Over the years, this consistent sense of love and self-respect lays the foundation for a keen and creative work sense. We believe the resistance to work is overcome when a young person feels a loving, creative relationship with their work and the world. At Sophia Mundi, we are committed to the principle that nurturing a child's creativity is the best basis for their intellectual learning and ethical decision making in later life. Most progressive educational philosophies now agree with this principle, though none have been as developed or as internationally successful as Steiner education. The curriculum we use is deeply connected with the age and development of each class of students. The different subject areas are integrated for each class. Language lessons, Mathematics, Science, Visual Arts, Theatre, Woodwork, Music, Outdoor Education, and other lessons are woven into a whole picture of learning for the student, providing a stable and reassuring sense of consistency (of teachers, of lessons, of environments) that makes a more profound and more lasting form of learning possible. View full school