West Coast Steiner School is committed to being a Child Safe Organisation taking a preventative and participatory stance on child protection issues and promoting a child safe environment.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten (4 – 6 years)
Cherishing and protecting childhood.
Steiner Early Childhood Education recognises that children are learning all the time. Children under the age of seven are expert imitators, so the physical and social environment of kindergarten should model a healthy, kind and holistic way of living, being and relating. At WCSS Kindergarten is a home-like environment, where children engage deeply in the rich domestic tasks of growing food, cooking, craft, time in nature, rest and play. The beautiful physical environment of the kindergarten includes materials for work and play that are open ended, sustainable and purposeful. We believe play is THE most important work of our kindergarten children.
West Coast Steiner School Kindergarten programs span three years.
Kindergarten 4
is two half days (8.30am – 12.30pm) for children who turn 4 years old in the calendar year.
Kindergarten 5
is three full days for children who turn 5 years old in the calendar year.
Kindergarten 6
is for children who turn 6 years old in the calendar year. They are compulsory school age in WA and attend five full days.
Kindergarten is a beautiful and safe sanctuary, in which children begin their school journey into the wider world without parent/caregiver.
Daily activities such as gardening, baking, painting and craft, and stories, songs and verses chosen to harmonise with the seasons, establish a strong rhythm that maintains emotional wellbeing and fosters a stress free environment where children can be completely absorbed in their play.
The following three statements encapsulate our approach to early
childhood education:
- Imitation of adult role models who are engaged in wholesome activities and work develops gross and fine motor skills and provides a sound basis for confidence in self and trust in the world.
- A sense of wonder is cultivated through activities in nature. Celebration of seasonal festivals fosters enthusiasm for learning and life-long moral strength.
- Imagination in play, dramatisation and artistic work provides the first step of a cognitive process that is furthered through the academic work of the primary school. Much genius springs from the imagination of individuals whose creative thinking enables them to visualise how things are and also how they might be.
While the Steiner early childhood curriculum does not emphasise overt academic learning, it lays the foundation in many important, developmentally appropriate ways:
- Foundation for language arts: fundamental work in listening and speaking skills, including singing, pronunciation, rhymes that form the later basis of word families, poems, listening to and comprehending stories, which also provide vocabulary enrichment.
- Foundation for mathematics: broad work in developing gross motor skills, graceful movement, balance, coordination, and dexterity in fingers and limbs; imaginative play with simple objects provides the basis for abstract manipulation of symbols in primary school.
- Artistic training: Beeswax modelling, watercolour painting, music, singing and handwork/craft.
- Social skills: Learning to live, work and play in a group, sharing and taking turns; practicing kindness and courtesy.
- Work habits: Learning to complete tasks, helping to clean up after themselves and working within the gentle structure provided by the daily rhythms of similar activities.
A Solid Foundation for Primary School
Our screen-free curriculum, developmentally appropriate activities and consistent daily routine fosters social harmony, imagination and physical confidence. This intentional focus on, and strengthening of, fundamental life skills establishes a positive and solid foundation for the academic and social-emotional demands of Primary School and cultivates a love of learning.
“If a child has been able in his play to give up his whole loving being to the world around him, he will be able, in the serious tasks of later life, to devote himself with confidence and power to the service of the world.”
Rudolf Steiner
Ready to Begin Your Journey?
For further information about the application process or to attend a school tour please contact our Enrolments Team on 9440 1771 or enrolments@wcss.wa.edu.au.