Expanded Horizons
At Bright Water Waldorf School, we nurture students' innate responses of wonder, curiosity, and reverence as the foundation for their academic and vocational futures. Our "micro middle school" program addresses the post-pandemic needs of youth, offering a learning environment that prioritizes active engagement over screens, fostering both emotional and intellectual growth.
With a small student-teacher ratio, our middle school students receive individualized attention that encourages independent learning and healthy development. This leads to academic excellence and creative self-expression in an atmosphere of kindness and compassion.
As students move through the grades, their education evolves into rigorous academics, vibrant arts, and character-building experiences. Subjects like lab sciences, physics, foreign languages, and history are taught in interdisciplinary blocks, while every student participates in music, theater, and handwork. By eighth grade, our students are ready for high school with strong academic skills, a deep sense of self, and lasting relationships. At Bright Water, students graduate prepared for their next chapter—confident, capable, and curious.
Middle school is a time to discover, learn, and grow. Bright Water Waldorf School fosters adolescence by meeting the individual academically and artistically while developing their social emotional competencies to build strong, well-rounded students. Each student is given the chance to nurture their curiosity and creativity through hands-on exploration. Sports and extracurricular activities offer additional opportunities for leadership development, group collaboration, and peer-to-peer friendship. Service learning projects make direct engagement possible with our surrounding urban community.
For a more in depth look at the curriculum: Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
“The end of a Waldorf middle school journey will include a foundation built of care and compassion, creativity and confidence, and this serves as a fortification for the years ahead. Students need this uniquely sturdy foundation more than ever, as they will be called upon in ways that we cannot even imagine today
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A NOTE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
By this age Waldorf students are knowledgeable in many areas where their public school counterparts are not. On the other hand, at other public and independent schools students often have more exposure to technology, which is intentionally limited in Waldorf schools. Computer technology is not taught at school but is used by upper grades students in a limited context for research and communication. Library research is still the main focus for independent projects.
“What’s valued in Silicon Valley is not just the ability to write code. What matters is creativity and the ability to communicate effectively with a team. That’s what they foster at Waldorf.”
For more on the Waldorf approach to technology in the classroom see:
Fost, Dan. “Tech gets a time-out,” San Francisco Magazine, April 2010.” danfost. 1 April 2010. Web.
Richtel, Matt. “A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute.” The New York Times 23 Oct 2011 national edition: 1,19. Print
Tarasov, Katie. “Inside the Tech-Free School Where High-Tech Parents are Sending Their Kids,” CNBC.com, June 8, 2019.
