“Nature is generous – there is enough for everybody’s need but not for everyone’s greed.” Satish Kumar
Respect for and connection with the natural environment is inherent in the teaching of the Steiner curriculum. Progressing through the school children gently but surely start to form a caring relationship with the world around them.
Integral to the Steiner curriculum is respect for all living things and for the ecology of life. This begins with an unconscious experience of living in an environmentally-friendly way in the Kindergarten. This develops to consciously working with the issues of earth ecology later in the upper school, once children have matured in their understanding. Leading by example, we will subtly nurture respect and appreciation for the earth’s resources as early as possible and cultivate ‘green’ habits from the outset.
Being outdoors is an important aspect of the curriculum as it offers endless opportunities which go beyond just academic learning objectives. An appreciation of nature’s processes, beauty and delicate intricacies develops an understanding of ourselves, of other people and of human developments across the ages.
Nature inspires many lessons from mathematics, English and Art to the more obvious physics, chemistry and biology. From the geometry of a flower to the culinary possibilities of the nettle; everything links back to nature.
Where possible, lesson-planning makes use of the outside environment to provide a ‘real’ context and experiential side to the learning. Many ‘main’ lessons require direct contact with the outdoors such as botany, farming, gardening and building. Children cultivate a deep connection with the earth.
Much emphasis is placed on teaching through the seasons and celebrating seasonal festivals. Children experience life cycles, birth, growth and death, by experiencing and closely observing nature, beginning with the very youngest.
