From the Principal’s Desk – 24 October, 2019

Today presents a myriad of complexity, and innovation pushes on at a breathless pace. To the outside eye, Waldorf can seem at odds with the present day world. What are we intending when we limit children’s exposure to electronic devices and tell them fairy tales? Rudolf Steiner gave a verse to teachers of the first Waldorf School one hundred years ago that starts, “Imbue thyself with the power of imagination.”  To Steiner, imagination is very significant.

When we speak of an education for the whole child, our teachers recognize that there is more to an individual than what we can see or that can be measured with scientific instruments. Our work with children from the youngest ages helps refine and nourish their perception. When children in preschool and kindergarten paint with a single colour for many weeks before a second colour and all the wonders of their combinations are introduced.

As parents, we experience our children as very perceptive; sometimes we catch them hearing the words we only speak in our minds! When young children are deep in play, their imaginative worlds are very real. In the grades, we continue to nurture imagination through storytelling and the arts, and anchor our science upon observation and a reverence for the world and its inhabitants. The imaginative capacity, partnered with clear thinking, allows the mature individual to access more of their human capacities, and build bridges between what is not yet possible and the limits we experience today.