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Our 100th Anniversary! Waldorf Academy: the world renowned name in alternative arts enriched education. We offer a developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous approach to education. We integrate the arts in all academic disciplines for children to enhance and enrich learning. Waldorf Education aims to inspire life-long learning in all students and to enable them to fully develop their unique capacities.
We often consider the ideal student for a certain educational setting, though with Waldorf schools, it's important to also consider the ideal parent. Instruction student directed; benchmarks are less important than engagement. Multiple intelligences, multiple-sensory learning, cross-curricular instruction, visual learning—it's perhaps the epitome of what we think of as alternative education: constructivist rather than didactic. Waldorf Academy is one of the first of its kind in Canada, and was created when a group of parents decided to come together to create the kind of school that they wanted for their children. It's grown since then, and the organization and infrastructure has been formalized as well, including the creation of a purpose-built learning environment. Nevertheless, the core concept remains. The successful student is one who thrives in an interactive, transactional, arts-enriched setting. The ideal parent is one who sees the value in a constructivist approach, narrative-based assessment (letter grades are given in Grade 6 and up) and who prizes a considered and careful approach to the use of technology.
Gallery showcasing school life and general photos of Waldorf Academy.
The front of the Childcare Centre on Spadina Rd
The front of the main school on Madison Ave
1 of 3 yards for students to play and explore
Kindergarten- Stargarden- large rooms for painting, baking, building and circle
Childcare room 1/5 rooms
Gallery showcasing specific locations and facilities found at Waldorf Academy.
| Focus |
|---|
| Arts: Visual arts • Performing arts • Music • Acting |
DIBELS Testing: This school does not use DIBELS testing to assess reading progress.
| Subject | offered |
|---|---|
| Biology | |
| Chemistry | |
| Ecology | |
| Geology | |
| Meteorology | |
| Physics | |
| Physiology | |
| Zoology |
| Subject | offered |
|---|---|
| Evolution as consensus theory | |
| Evolution as one of many equally viable theories | |
| Evolution is not taught |
| Subject | offered |
|---|---|
| Acting | |
| Dance | |
| Drama/Theatre | |
| Graphic Design | |
| Music | |
| Visual Arts |
| Expressive | |
| Disciplined |
| Subject | offered |
|---|---|
| Computer science | |
| Robotics | |
| Web design |
| Flexible pacing style | offered |
|---|---|
| Subject-streaming (tracking) | |
| Multi-age classrooms as standard | |
| Ability-grouping (in-class) as common | |
| Frequent use of cyber-learning (at-their-own-pace) | |
| Regular guided independent study opportunities | |
| Differentiated assessment |
Students remain in a regular classroom for the whole day, and periodically receive break-out support (individually or in small groups) within the classroom from a qualified special education teacher.
| Subject Type | offered |
|---|---|
| Learning strategy and study counselling; habit formation | |
| Extra support and minor accommodations for children experiencing subclinical difficulties |
| Subject Type | offered |
|---|---|
| Accommodations | |
| Modifications | |
| Extra support |
Read our guide to special needs schools and special education
| Program | offered |
|---|---|
| Full-time gifted program (parallel to rest of school) | |
| Part-time gifted program (pull-out; parallel to rest of class) |
Curriculum delivery: Enrichment (The main focus is on enrichment. This means that while students may work at a marginally quicker pace than public school peers, the primary aim is to study subject in broader and deeper ways.)
| Program | offered |
|---|---|
| Custom subject enrichment (special arrangement) | |
| Custom curriculum compacting (special arrangement) | |
| Guided independent study (custom gifted arrangement) | |
| Cyber-learning opportunities (custom gifted arrangement) | |
| Formalized peer coaching opportunities (specifically for gifted learners to coach others) | |
| Custom subject acceleration (special arrangement) | |
| Career exploration (custom gifted arrangement) | |
| Project-based learning (custom gifted arrangement) | |
| Mentorships (custom gifted arrangement) |
In grade Gr. 8, Waldorf Academy students perform an average of 1 hour of homework per night.
| PS | JK | SK | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waldorf Academy | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 15 mins | 15 mins | 30 mins | 30 mins | 45 mins | 60 mins |
| Site Average | 2 mins | 6 mins | 7 mins | 15 mins | 17 mins | 22 mins | 29 mins | 34 mins | 40 mins | 52 mins | 56 mins |
| Lettered or numbered grades | Gr. 6 to Gr. 8 |
| Prose (narrative)-based feedback | JK to Gr. 6 |
| Academic achievement reporting | Gr. 1 to Gr. 8 |
| Habits and behaviour reporting | Gr. 1 to Gr. 8 |
| Parent-teacher meetings | JK to Gr. 8 |
| Sports Offered | Competitive | Recreational |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball | ||
| Basketball | ||
| Field Hockey | ||
| Ice Hockey | ||
| Lacrosse | ||
| Rowing | ||
| Soccer | ||
| Softball | ||
| Swimming | ||
| Tennis | ||
| Track & Field | ||
| Volleyball | ||
| Badminton | ||
| Canoeing/Kayaking | ||
| Cross-country skiing | ||
| Running |
| Clubs Offered |
|---|
| Outdoor Education |
| School newspaper |
| Band |
| Chess Club |
| Choir |
| Community Service |
| PS | JK | SK | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| Day | $18,000 | $19,150 | |||||||||
| Day (Half day) | $4,160 / program | ||||||||||
Discounts
| Discount Type | Enrollment Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Full payment | Day | $250 |
| Grade range that need-based aid is offered: | JK to 8 |
| Percentage of grade-eligible students receiving financial aid | 20% |
| Average aid package size | $9,000 |
| Percentage of total enrollment on financial aid | 20% |
| Total aid available | $300,000 |
This school works with Apple Financial Inc. for processing financial applications
Confidential and transparent process. Based on latest T4 assessments only and number of applicants to pool funds. 50% max of tuition only
This information is not currently available.
| Grades | Gender | Living Arrangement | Enrollment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | Preschool to Gr. 8 | Coed | Day | 240 |
| Total enrollment | 240 |
| Average enrollment per grade | 22 |
| Average class size | 12 to 20 |
| Gender (grades) | Preschool to Gr. 8 (Coed) |
| Boarding offered | No |
| Percentage of students are international students | 5% |
| Number of different nationalities within student population | 5 |
| Five-day boarding programs offfered |
| Assessment | Required | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Interview | NS - 8 | |
| SSAT | ||
| SSAT (out of province) | ||
| Entrance Exam(s) | ||
| Entrance Essay | ||
| Application Fee |
Day students: Rolling
Grade school students must complete a 3 day visit after a family interview.
Kindergarten requires a family meeting and visit in the morning if senior kindergarten.
Student Entry Points
| Student Type | PS | JK | SK | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day Acceptance (Acceptance rate) | 2 (80%) | 16 - 18 (100%) | 16 - 20 (100%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Below, find stories and testimonials about Waldorf Academy.
There are two main reasons that I chose the Waldorf Academy as the school that would best serve the needs of my son, Jasper. As an educator, I became keenly aware that the Waldorf approach is the only one that is consistent in every aspect of its pedagogy with what current studies are showing to be essential for cognitive development and learning. As a mother, it broke my heart that every single morning Jasper would cry and protest having to go to his previous public school, even though it was a good school and he had many friends there.
I have taught at high schools, community colleges and universities for twenty-five years, for the last ten years in York University’s Creative Writing Program as I am also a professional writer. I have designed the original curriculum for several writing programs and for the Yukon School of Art and am completing my PhD in Language, Culture and Teaching. My colleagues and I have noticed a tremendous shift in the abilities of our students over the past decade. Our university students can’t remember anything, can’t follow simple instructions such as how to label an assignment properly, can’t read deeply (they skim), have read very little and are intellectually immature. This is true even of the specially selected Honours students I teach in an elite program. Across disciplines, grades have been inflated and reading lists and assignments scaled down to accommodate this generation.
The public education system has changed: pushing cognitive skills and “paper and pencil” work earlier and earlier, focusing on standardized testing and “teaching to the test”, cutting music and arts programming, relying on computer instruction. A recent exhaustive study by Harvard’s Department of Education confirms that not only is this approach not working, it is counter-productive and seems to be causing deficiencies in learning skills and an increase in learning disabilities. Such educational studies and, increasingly, studies in neuroscience are confirming what the Waldorf approach has practiced all along: the best preparation for lifelong learners is to have instruction geared to cognitive development without rushing it. Focusing on handwork, music, purposeful physical activity, and memorization of oral stories in a calm and rhythmic environment in the early years has been proven to structure the brain optimally for then learning literacy, math and other academic skills. Holistic and arts-based instruction “lights up” the entire brain whereas common academic activities don’t engage the frontal cortex or pre-frontal lobes. The evidence is clear that the Waldorf approach is what works the best. Consistently, my strongest university students have been the product of Waldorf educations or European public schools that practice Waldorf principles.
My son was miserable at his public junior kindergarten because they were making him sit at desks and in front of computers all the time and he needed to move, play, do, learn the way a four-year-old learns. He hated the alphabet, hated numbers and counted the minutes until I picked him up, crying, “Mommy, why did you take so long?” every day. Since attending the Waldorf Academy, he is a different child: adding numbers in his head, writing words, weaving, embroidering pictures, memorizing complex stories and making up songs, all on his own initiative and all with joy. His teachers are extraordinarily wise and caring and supportive of his unique and lively spirit. He can’t wait to leave every morning and when I pick him up, he says, “Why did you have to come so soon?”
...At such an important and crucial time in the life of a child, when childhood is fast receding, the nine year old is strengthened by the Waldorf Curriculum, to answer the feelings of separation and change that are unfolding in their life. A child experiencing what Rudolf Steiner called 'The Nine year old Change', no longer feels supported by old pictures from his childhood. These ideas are now questioned, and can leave the child feeling lonely and isolated. At such times, it is essential, that through understanding this stage in a child's life, we can call upon them to not buckle under these deep feelings of separation, but instead nobly rise to this journey towards adulthood. We can inspire the children to work hard and rebuild new towers of support within themselves through working with the Grade Three Curriculum. We can keep them busy rebuilding a new inner house, furnished with new tools, new skills, and new pictures. Thus Grade Three began the journey to address these questions in September, with a 6 week Farm and Horse Program outside of the city. Each week the children were bussed to the location and spent time planting garlic and winter wheat, mucking the barn, and learning to ride and care for the horses that resided there. In the classroom, we mirrored this experience, with planting and writing about the Earth Mother, and our interconnectedness to the forces that enable life to flourish. The rhythm of planting, will again awaken in the spring, when we will cultivate a garden at the school, and nurture small seedlings for transplanting there. The Spring will also find us hard at work constructing a long house and teepees, as we study primitive shelters, where, peoples of our planet have been able to build simple homes of local materials to provide for their families survival. In our hand-work classes, the children have been knitting wonderful woolen 3 toned hats, each unique and individual. We are learning Cursive writing and finding the ability to communicate with the world. We are rehearsing our Grade Three play of Moses. We have been learning, that even the plagues, the Red Sea, the lack of food as well as the lack of water, were overcome through Divine support. We have stretched our skills to read 7 digit numbers and advanced our math to division soon with re We can hold our own part now as we sing in three and four part harmony. A skill we could not do in Grade Two. The children will discover that they will be all right to step into the next grade, having rebuilt a new confidence in themselves. They have been called to ennoble themselves in every way. They are coming through this experience stronger, thanks to the support provided by this wonderful curriculum. The right thing at the right time. By the end of Grade Three, they will hopefully be able to say, I can build a shelter, grind my grain, make bread, create my clothing, grow my own food, communicate with others through my cursive writing, tell time. They will have courage, knowing they will be all right. They will have the tools to navigate the world they have entered on this exciting journey of life. Submitted by Ena Bruce, Grade Three Class Teacher Waldorf Academy 2012
...Grade Eight's recent production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was a fantastic way for me to conclude my years of being a parent volunteer at this school. If you were lucky enough to see it, you know that it was an outstanding production in every way, by any standard. I've been involved behind the scenes a lot over the years, with plays, but also, metaphorically, in other ways at the school. My biggest learning experience since becoming a parent here is around community and how deeply significant that is for all of us. We are so immensely fortunate at this school to have a vibrant, supportive community that contributes in so many ways to creating a great environment for the children. Making this school happen is a collaborative effort, no doubt about it. I have had the best 18 years of my life as part of this community. The Alan Howard Waldorf School has given me experiences that were heartwarming, soul-stirring, spirit-lifting, mind-boggling, uplifting, challenging, moving, troubling, intense, confusing, exhausting, healing, gratifying, enriching and joyful. In short, a full measure of what life has to offer. I have made friends for life, seen my children develop in awe inspiring ways, had opportunities to be creative and helped other people. I would like to thank everyone who has crossed my path in this community for the past 18 years. You know who you are. And while this Grade Eight class is still here and A Midsummer Night's Dream is still fresh in my memory I would like express my appreciation for the collaboration that made the play happen so beautifully. ...
In grade three the children go through the 9 year change. They start seeing themselves in the bigger world and are no longer the princess or the knight. They may feel alone and unsure of this new outlook on life and how they fit in. Waldorf curriculum meets this development in the child by giving them the tools to survive. They knit a hat (they can make their own clothes), they learn cursive writing (communication), they grow a garden and go on a 3 day farming trip (they can grow their own food), and they build a wigwam (they can build their own shelter). Aside from teaching academic excellence, the curriculum works with the whole child to provide a very deep sense of knowledge that will last them a lifetime. Notes from their teacher, Karen Smith: Grade Three had a wonderful time building a wigwam as part of our Shelter block. Throughout the year, Grade Three journeyed with Jabal to visit many shelters from around the world. We visited with First Nations who lived in wigwams and learned to use gifts from natureâsaplings, bark, and animal hides to create shelters. Grade Three built our very own class wigwam in the side yard. We packed saplings into the earth, bent them toward each other to create a dome, and tied them together with twine. To prepare our saplings, we removed branches, leaves and bark, and cut points to go deep into the earth. Instead of using bark and animal fur, we improvised by weaving vines and saplings into our dome. It was wonderful to work together, using our creativity and the gifts of our hands to build a temporary home. ...
November 16, 2018
Cyber Civics in a Low Tech Arts School
Waldorf classrooms do not have smart boards or computers but by grade 6 they are learning about digital citizenship ...
July 27, 2018
New Grade One Bursary for 2018
We are growing our grade one class and offering a special bursary. ...
July 27, 2018
Waldorf Class of 2014 changing the world!
Ever wonder where are graduates go after high school? From top high schools to the best universities, meet the class of 2014! ...
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