Waldorf education, established by Rudolf Steiner and Emil Molt in 1919, has its foundations in Anthroposophy. At the heart of Anthroposophy is the belief that humanity has the wisdom to transform itself and the world, through one’s own spiritual development. To that end, Waldorf education holds as its primary intention the ideal of bringing forth—in every child—his or her unique potential in a way that serves the further development of humanity. The curriculum, pedagogy, and teaching methods are designed to nurture this potential.
These two educational approaches began with a similar goal to design a curriculum that was developmentally appropriate to the child and that addressed the children’s need to learn in a tactile as well as an intellectual way. The philosophies are otherwise very different.
A typical Waldorf Kindergarten classroom has 25 children of mixed ages between 3 - 5 years with one class teacher and one co-teacher.
In a Waldorf Kindergarten, children are not taught the letters of the alphabet nor do they practice reading from books or writing. Language skills are built through the repetition of stories, songs and verses. Children develop precocious verbal abilities of impressive vocabulary and a number of poems and stories that they can recite by heart. In addition to this, through activities such as drawing, finger knitting and sewing a child’s fine motor skills are enhanced in preparation for grade one when writing is formally introduced.
Assessment in Waldorf education is not driven by grades or scores. A full assessment of each student’s progress is provided in the form of a year-end narrative.
A central aim of Waldorf Education is to stimulate the healthy development of the child's own imagination. We believe that electronic media hampers the development of the child's imagination, feeding the child fixed images instead of allowing them to develop their own. The physical effects of electronic media on the developing child as well as the content of much of the programming is also a matter of concern.
Swechha has opened its doors in 2020 for pre-primary and in 2023 for Grade 1.Swechha will grow every year up till Grade 10 with this first batch i.e. Grade 1 will begin in 2023, Grade 2 in 2024 and so on.
Any formal learning received before joining Swechha will not come in the way of transitioning to Waldorf. We urge parents to fully adopt the Waldorf environment at home, thereby immersing the child fully into willing and imitation. Discontinuing formal learning after admitting the child into Swechha is strictly recommended.
Children who transfer from a Waldorf school into a more traditional school setting during grades 1-3 will likely need to spend time over the summer refining their reading skills, as Waldorf schools' approach to teaching reading is a more graduated approach. On the other hand, students often find they are more advanced in speech and language, social studies, mathematics, and artistic activities. Children moving during the middle and upper grades should experience no academic problems. In fact, in most cases, transferring students of this age group find themselves ahead of their classmates and with an eagerness to learn.
Swechha intends to affiliate to CBSE board and will integrate the CBSE curriculum into Waldorf principles and approach. Our students will appear for CBSE boards in 10th grade.