Quick Facts |
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Waldorf School |
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Location |
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Lexington, MA |
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Grades |
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Preschool,Pre-Kinderfarten,Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle |
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Type |
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Private School |
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Total Students |
Tuition per Year |
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56 |
$22,715 -$32,778 |
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Religious Affiliation |
Coeducation |
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No |
Coed |
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Student-Teacher Ratio |
Hours per Schoolday |
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4:1 |
9 |
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Days per School Year |
School Website |
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175 |
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Address |
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739 Massachusetts Avenue Lexington, MA 02420 |
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(781)863-062 |
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The information above was carefully researched from government data and other sources. However, all data should be verified with any prospective school before making any decisions about attendance, as no warranties about its accuracy can be made. |
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The Waldorf School is a private high school in Lexington, MA. It is part of the international Waldorf education movement, with over 1,100 schools on six continents and in over 70 countries worldwide. Each school is autonomous and independently run, yet linked by a common educational philosophy and curriculum.
Waldorf education is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), an Austrian scientist, philosopher, architect, and educator who founded the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1919. Through a developmentally based pedagogy, Steiner intended to cultivate young people's independent thinking and imagination, empathy for others, and strength of will so they would rise to individual, social, and economic challenges both contemporary and future.
From the school’s website...
Child development is a gradual process with physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual dimensions that should not be hurried.
We believe in an unhurried childhood, where education is not a race or an outcome but a personal process of discovery. Our curriculum aligns with the gradual development of the human being from child to adult, following an archetypal sequence of three seven-year phases as described by Rudolf Steiner that each have characteristic physical, emotional, and intellectual dimensions. These dimensions are nourished through the integration of the arts, by working from experience to concept and from whole to part, and through the use of rhythm and repetition. Elements of thinking, feeling, and willing/doing are considered in every lesson to support the unfolding of the whole child.
Academics
A Waldorf education is built on the principle that everyone has artistic capacities and imagination. So the curriculum is strongly focused on the arts, which are fully integrated with learning and problem solving. Students explore a broad set of arts and crafts skills, such as basketry, bookbinding, woodworking, and metalworking. All students are required to participate in the music program, and most students play a musical instrument and sing in the school chorus.
The humanities are an important element of Waldorf education, with the goal of establishing strong cultural literacy among the students. The study of history and literature from all over the world, with a focus on English, American, and Russian literature, allows students to analyze and discuss important cultural ideas.
Science and math are another important element of a Waldorf education, and that goes beyond college preparation. Through all four years at Waldorf, students are exposed to science concepts repetitively at increasing levels of complexity and sophistication as their skills in other subjects mature. This gives students an opportunity to integrate and reflect on important scientific concepts from different angles, such as mathematics, art, or the humanities.
Sports
In the early years, games emphasize imagination, social skills, and the joy of movement. By fifth grade, cooperative games are integrated with competitive sports, which continue through the middle school years. Fifth grade also features the Olympic Pentathlon, a recreation of the first Greek Olympics, hosted by WSL and including other area Waldorf schools. Students train for the long jump, javelin, discus, long run, Olympic wrestling, and 50-yard dash. Our Olympians are judged not only on speed and strength but also on gracefulness and good sportsmanship. Beginning in sixth grade, all students (no try-outs) may participate in WSL’s competitive after-school athletics programs in soccer (fall) and basketball (winter), along with physical conditioning in the spring.
