Primary School: age 6/7 to 14

In Waldorf schools primary education may begin when the child is nearing or already seven years of age. The primary school centers around a multi-disciplinary arts-based curriculum that includes visual arts, drama, artistic movement (eurythmy), vocal and instrumental music, and crafts. Throughout the primary years, students learn two foreign languages, in our school we have recently introduced French. We are in constant search of a eurythmy teacher. If you are interested in applying for this position please urgently contact our office and forward your CV to us.

Throughout the primary years, concepts are first introduced through stories and images, and academic instruction is integrated with the visual and plastic arts (using materials that can be moulded in some way, usually bees wax), music and movement. There is little reliance on standardized textbooks; instead, each child creates his or her own illustrated summary of coursework in book form. The school day generally starts with a one-and-a-half to two-hour academic lesson that focuses on a single theme over the course of about a month's time and generally begins with an introduction that may include singing, instrumental music, recitations of poetry, including a verse written by Steiner for the start of a school day, and practice in mathematics and language arts.

An objective of most Waldorf schools is to have a single teacher loop with a class throughout the primary school years, teaching at least the principal academic lessons; Waldorf teachers have been cited for their level of personal commitment to their pupils.

Waldorf teachers use the concept of the four temperaments to help interpret, understand and relate to the behaviour and personalities of children under their tutelage. The temperaments, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, and sanguine, are thought to express four basic personality types, each possessing its own fundamental way of regarding and interacting with the world.

Waldorf primary education allows for individual variations in the pace of learning, based upon the expectation that a child will grasp a concept or achieve a skill when he or she is ready. Cooperation takes priority over competition. This approach also extends to physical education; competitive team sports are introduced in upper grades.