Overview
Berkshire Waldorf School offers students a Waldorf curriculum from Early Childhood through the Elementary and Middle School Grades. Waldorf education is a twelve-year program, which deepens and comes to fruition in the four years of high school at Berkshire Waldorf High School. Together, our schools support your child from diapers to college, as they become their best selves.
The Waldorf curriculum is structured to respond to the three developmental phases of childhood: from birth to approximately 6 or 7 years, from 7 to 14 years and from 14 to 18 years, and is presented to children in a way that is appropriate to their stage of development. Rudolf Steiner stressed to teachers that the best way to provide meaningful support for the child is to comprehend these phases fully, and to bring to the students age-appropriate content that nourishes healthy growth.
When we bring to the child, first at the right moment, matter appropriate to his facilities, to his disposition, then it will become a source of refreshment for the child throughout his whole life.
– Rudolf Steiner
Parent-Child Garden
Our warm welcome to learning, BWS partners with Early Childhood Master Teacher Somer Serpe. Ms. Somer offers weekly seasonal, outdoor Parent-Child Garden classes for babies, toddlers and young children with their parent or caregiver on the beautiful Berkshire Waldorf School grounds.
Early Childhood (Toddler, Nursery and Kindergarten)
At Berkshire Waldorf School, young children learn through imitation, imaginative play, explorations in nature, real work, singing, storytelling and puppetry. Their later academic success is fueled by rich sensory experiences, providing a holistic education that honors each child’s developmental readiness and innate potential, as they learn first hand how the world works.
Early childhood classes take place in nurturing classrooms filled with the fragrance of handmade bread or soup made with vegetables the children harvest from our own organic garden. Children engage their imaginations indoors with simple natural playthings and outdoors with the best playthings of all: the Hairy Beary Woods, Tree Island, and surrounding gardens, fields and stream, as they change through the seasons of the year.
First Through Eighth Grades
Each child begins the school day with an individual greeting and a firm handshake from the class teacher. The atmosphere at the school is warm and supportive, and our standards and expectations are high. We encourage students to look for the best in themselves and in others, in a manner that leads to a purposeful life.
Summer Program
The Berkshire Waldorf School also offers a popular Waldorf-inspired summer day program for young children starting at age four.
High School
Our sister school, Berkshire Waldorf High School, continues the tradition of excellence in Waldorf education, welcoming students in Grades 9 through 12, offering students excellent college prep and a complete twelve-year Waldorf education in the Berkshires.
