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Our School
Housatonic Valley Waldorf School strives to
cultivate each child's natural passion for learning.
Our goal is to foster imaginative thinking, an
empathetic and compassionate relationship to the
world, and the strength to achieve one's goals.
Founded in 1989, the school offers a full parent-
toddler through eighth grade curriculum at our
campus in Newtown.
In order to prepare children fully for the challenges
and complexities of the future, our curriculum
addresses all aspects of the child—head, heart, and hands—in a way that reflects a
deep understanding of the needs of the growing child and the young adolescent.
Rigorous academic instruction fuels the child’s developing intellect: classics, two foreign
languages, history, geography, mathematics, and science. These subjects are taught in
interesting, engaging ways incorporating artistic and experiential methodologies. A
nurturing environment fosters students’ self confidence and awareness of others.
Waldorf Education
Education is more than the simple acquisition of
information. Waldorf education fosters the ability
to think with clarity, to feel with compassion and
to initiate change with confidence. It recognizes
the capacities of every child and aims to awaken
and develop these. Through Waldorf education,
children embark on a life-long voyage of discovery
—of the world and of themselves.
The Housatonic Valley Waldorf School is based on
the ideas of educator, artist and philosopher, Dr. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) who
founded the first Waldorf School. Today, there are over 800 Waldorf schools and 600
early childhood programs in 35 countries around the world. These schools share a
philosophy, methodology, and basic curriculum. Waldorf schools are dedicated to
academic excellence and offer a challenging classical education that prepares
students for the most demanding high schools and colleges. At the core of the
Waldorf philosophy is the belief that knowledge is best learned experientially as well
as academically. Education is an artistic process.
"What every parent would wish as the best for his or her children,
Waldorf education provides. The fullest development of intelligent,
imaginative, self-confident and caring persons is the aim of Waldorf
education. This aim is solidly grounded in a comprehensive view of human
development, in an intellectually and culturally rich curriculum, and in the
presence of knowledgeable, caring human beings at every stage of the
child's education.
- Douglas Sloan, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
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