Rudolf Steiner School

Waldorf Schools

The Waldorf school movement was founded by Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, scientist and educator born in 1861. By the turn of the century, Steiner had become well know in European artistic and intellectual circles as an original thinker in many fields. In 1923 he founded the Anthroposophical Society to bring philosophical and spiritual awareness to a great number of practical initiatives in art, science, medicine, agriculture and education.

Steiner felt that comtemporary education did little to develop clarity of thought, sesitivity of feeling and strength of will. One of his supporters, industrialist Emil Molt, invited Steiner to form a new school for the children of the employees of one of his factories in Stuttgart. Thus the opportunity arose for Steiner to create a school curriculum and teaching methods that would educate the whole child - head, heart and hands. In the autumn of 1919 the school, sponsored by the Waldorf-Astoria factory, opened its doors.

Within a few years other schools followed- in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Britain, Scandinavia and the United States. The movement in Germany suffered a setback in the 1940's when the Nazis closed the Waldorf schools. But they reopened in 1946, and many new ones followed.

In the eary 1970s there was extrordinary growth in the Waldorf school movement. In Holland, Britain and North America the number of Waldorf schools tripled between 1973 and 1983, and in Germany it doubled. The growth continues today, and there are now over 1,000 schools in many countries, making it one of the largest independent education movements in the world.