What is the Rose Ceremony?
The Rose Ceremony heralds the beginning of each school year. In common with fellow Waldorf schools across the globe, The Waldorf School of Philadelphia honors the first grade students on their first day of entering the grade school with a milestone event: the Rose Ceremony.
Waldorf Giving Day: February 14th
Let's weave the threads of generosity and love together. Your pledge or gift today helps shape the dreams of our students. Join us in this collective effort, and let the spirit of giving light up our beloved Waldorf school.
Supporting Excellence: Your Contribution to Our School's Success
Have you ever wondered why schools that charge tuition still ask for donations? The answer is simple but profound: we want to provide our students with the absolute best holistic education. At the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, our strength lies in our close-knit community. Families here aren't just faces passing in the schoolyard: they're friends sharing picnics, dinners, and playdates; they’re community. This tight bond is what makes our school so special. But to maintain our accessible and thriving environment, we need your support. Your contributions play a crucial role in ensuring our school's continued success.
10 Reasons We Love the Holiday Fair & Craft Bazaar
Our Holiday Fair & Craft Bazaar, which takes place on November 18th and 19th this year, is a one-of-a-kind celebration of the simple joys of the holidays.
Preparing for the First Day of School
Your child will adjust with enthusiasm to their new environment and their classmates – and will do so more quickly if you maintain a confident and relaxed attitude.
Let Children Experience Boredom
Waldorf education takes an active approach to supporting children’s imaginations, and a large part of that approach is allowing children unstructured playtime. The free mind, unbound by prescriptive activity, can envision, create, and dream. These are crucial real-life skills, with important benefits that pay off for an entire lifetime when solving problems, approaching divergent thinking, and even managing boredom.
Waldorf Schools, Unplugged on Purpose
At the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, our graduates step into computer use easily in middle school and high school, given their strong critical thinking skills. In fact, the most coveted attributes sought by universities and employers can be found in our graduates.
Honoring Pride Month
Celebrating diversity and identity expansiveness is an active task. As we commit to being an affirming and empathic space of understanding and celebration, we invite everyone to find ways to acknowledge and champion LGBTQIA+ narratives, past and present, this month and always!
What Does It Mean to Be an Ally?
This past week in Seventh Grade Health and Body Wellness class, we began discussing different types of human identities. As they dove into all the different ways a person can show up in the world, in preparation for our work around personal identity formation, students paused to answer the question: “what does it mean to be an ally?”
Dramatic Arts and the Waldorf Curriculum
Why are the dramatic arts such an important component of the Waldorf curriculum? Through alternating sympathetic identification with the other and antipathetic interest in themselves, students educated through the dramatic arts gain the tools they need to shape and refine their judgment. By the time they become young adults, they are able to stride confidently onto the world stage and play the part they have come to play.
The Eighth Grade Trip
The power of the Waldorf Eighth Grade trip to build confidence and character is unprecedented and serves the children for a lifetime.
Finding Our Way: Reflecting on the Legacy of Bayard Rustin
This is a call to action for creativity and “sticktoitiveness.” If we are willing, we can lean into finding ways to engage: changing our ways, finding our way again, and finding new ways still.
How Ice Skating Can Improve Learning
Integrating the mind and the body to advance learning is not that new. But here's how The Waldorf School of Philadelphia helps learning through a fun winter-time activity - ice skating.
The Value of a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum
The 2022-2023 school year marked the rollout of the Waldorf School of Philadelphia’s Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum for students in Grades 1-8, though this work has always been embedded in, and integral to, our classroom culture. As an academic institution, we understand the importance of teaching the whole child: mind, body, and spirit. Research shows that social emotional learning and character education curricula benefit students in myriad ways.
Honoring Black History Month
Folded into our curriculum at the Waldorf School of Philadelphia are many consistent and intentional themes centering different peoples, cultures, practices, and communities. Last spring, students used class time across campus to celebrate the achievements, narratives, histories, and lives of African American and Black people across the diaspora. Throughout the year, and especially as we head into Black History Month 2023, we keep Black History at the forefront of our minds.
Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an individual human, like the rest of us. His work speaks volumes to the power that individuals have, as well as to the impact that can be made when we work collectively. Like his colleagues Bayard Rustin, James Farmer of CORE, and the late John Lewis, Dr. King aspired, and in turn, inspired. As we pause our routine work and school day next Monday to reflect on what King gave the Black community, the United States, and the world, it is also a time to reflect on what has yet to be shared, and what has yet to be done.
The Season of Light
In this season, the invitation to plant seeds of intention is ripe. The New Year in the Gregorian calendar is like the turning of a page. While January 1 often feels somewhat arbitrary, the Solstice (and the New Moon!) provide concrete moments of change and renewal. This renewal that marks the coming of “more light” is exciting and important.
Community Partnerships: Germantown Community Fridge
During the month of January, our entire community will be working collaboratively to continue our partnership with Germantown Community Fridge.
Fifth Grade Forum
Fifth Grade Forum is well underway in Ms. Richardson’s class this year. Born of a desire to instill a culture of kindness and social awareness in our classrooms, the Forum provides students with an opportunity to engage in weekly conversations and reflections around topics of identity, kindness, conflict resolution, diversity, and justice.
Sixth Grade Seminar
By studying the inspirational stories of those who came before us, The Sixth Grade Seminar provides students with opportunities to use their voices, to make connections, think critically, and learn more about the lives of important people in history, as well as themselves.