Taikura Rudolf Steiner School

The young person is taught from a broad-based curriculum in which all students participate. Besides traditional core subjects of English, Maths, Sciences, Social Sciences, the compulsory curriculum includes such subject areas as Art, Drama, Philosophy, First Aid, Music, Information Technology, History of Architecture, and others.  In the Craft curriculum, the practical understanding of structures and materials is also brought into the woodwork, handwork, bookbinding and sculpture courses.

Through their work as a team responsible for showing the inter-connection of subjects, the teachers aim to develop in their students a universal understanding, coupled with human values, in all disciplines.  For this reason, specialisation is avoided so that all students take all subjects. In a conscious way the teachers seek to present the inter-relationship between subjects and their connection to the human being.  It is therefore the teacher's task to enable the students to build a bridge between their inner being and the outer world.

Assessment and Qualifications

Student progress is continuously evaluated and assessed, the emphasis being on the development and use of skills and understandings, rather than purely retention of knowledge.  Personal development is seen as the main purpose of study and learning.  Differences in academic capabilities of individual students are recognised by individual teaching programmes within lessons, and, in the senior classes, are also expressed as minimum standards in assessment activities, with graduated achievement descriptors above those.

Reports are issued to parents twice a year, at the end of the first and third terms’ study. These are followed up by a Report Evening, which is an opportunity for parents to meet with individual teachers regarding their son or daughter’s progress.
In Classes 10 – 12, the teaching programmes are expressed in terms of units of work which are each assessed to improve learning and teaching, and to report on achievement. Each unit of work is assigned a level of credits, and these accumulate towards the award of the National Steiner Certificate, which is awarded at three different levels, Levels 1-3 to correspond with the years. There is a separate handbook describing the organisation and requirements of the certificate.

The Waldorf curriculum also places emphasis on sending its graduating Class 12 students off with a sense of self-worth and skills in self-directed learning. To this end, each Class 12 student undertakes a year-long self-chosen project, which requires a minimum 3000-word published thesis, a practical component, and a twenty-minute public presentation to the community. A separate handbook describes the Class 12 Project more fully.