Classes 1 to 6

One of the most notable ways in which the Steiner school approach to education differs from others is in the response of the curriculum to the various phases in child development.

Primary years at Ballarat Steiner School focus on delivering a high quality and rich educational experience to children.  We provide a hands-on and artistic approach in the teaching of literacy and mathematics.  Children are also engaged in an imaginative program that includes modeling, painting, cooking, woodwork, gardening and drawing.

Imagination is needed for creative work in adult life. Children nourished with imagination and opportunity for artistic expression will have the capacities needed to meet the technological and social challenges of their day.

Historically the human being drew pictures before reading and before the use of abstract symbols. Speech is a crucial element and precedes writing as a foundation to reading. Many aspects of Steiner schooling – form drawing, hand work, a foreign language, Eurythmy, etc.,  help to foster the children’s development for reading. The children learn the letter forms through stories and pictures given by their teacher. In the curriculum, writing precedes reading, and is developed out of the creative experience of drawing or painting individual letters. The children write words and read their own writing before working with printed literature.

We aim through the classes to share the finest literature with the students, appropriate to their age. Stories are told to each class and the children are also read to.

Our reading approach, which includes daily individual reading, is full of imagery, content and the richness of language, which develops an appreciation of literature in the students.

The children’s imaginative life and grasp of language is nourished by hearing and re-telling, acting and illustrating stories. For the 6-7 year olds, the teacher draws mainly on fairy tales, moving on at 8 years old to fables and legends, to Old Testament stories at 8-9 year old, Norse stories and sagas at 10, Greek myths and legends at 11 years of age and the Roman Empire at 12.

In using a sequence of this kind through different qualities of imaginative experience, the teacher prepares the way for history proper.

The curriculum is designed to harmonise with the particular stage of development that the child has reached, while affording a rich context in which to work on practical and academic skills.

In this way, the development of the life of feeling is not divorced from practical learning, and the curriculum is both integrated and truly child-centred.

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Craft

Handwork harmonises and balances the intellectual work undertaken by children, developing qualities such as perseverance and determination, concentration, motor skills and encourages care and respect for the handwork process.

Music

Music is a strong part of our curriculum with both a classroom music programme and a specialist stringed instrument program. In the classroom all students learn recorder and singing. The stringed instrument music program is introduced in Class 3. Every child at this stage commences on a violin or cello.

Second Language

German is introduced in Class 1 and followed through to Class 6. This helps develop children’s oral and aural skills. Through learning other languages a child is also introduced to new cultures and a wider concept of the world.

Eurythmy

Eurythmy is an art of movement that came into being early last century. Movement through gesture and dance has played a vital part in every culture and community. Movement expresses people’s experience of the world, their interpretation of the beautiful and the true.

Sport and Games

Sports and games are planned to correspond with the child’s developmental needs. Sports and games develop children as co-operative individuals, rather than forcing children into one-sided competitive positions.

Outdoor Education - Excursions and Camps

Camps and excursions are not optional as they are seen as an important part of the child’s social development, and are most often integrated with the curriculum and main lesson work. A note advising details and costs of camps and excursions is sent home to parents in advance. Any outstanding money is added to your invoice at the beginning of the next term. Permission notes must be signed for all camps and excursions.

Special Needs

Increasingly in our times children come to school with special learning needs, developmental needs, behavioral or social skill needs, with many of these needs being met within the classroom. It is essential that assessment of children’s special learning needs is discussed during the enrolment application procedure.