Mission
Garden Gate seeks to enrich the lives of mid-Missouri children, their families, and the community through Waldorf-inspired education. Garden Gate believes in honoring early childhood as a time to imitate and explore through experience; attending to the rhythms, cycles, and patterns of nature in all subjects; and awakening the child’s capacities to work joyfully with others. This education approaches each discipline in the humanities and the sciences artistically, supporting a child’s abilities to learn by engaging the body, heart, and mind. In using both age and individually appropriate experiences and materials, we hope to nurture intellectual flexibility and the constant love of learning.
Although the Waldorf curriculum best matches Garden Gate’s pedagogical vision, we also recognize other comprehensive theories of child development. We seek to employ trained Waldorf teachers but are open to teachers trained otherwise as long as they share the broad, Waldorf-inspired vision outlined above.
"The heart of the Waldorf method is the conviction that education is an art―it must speak to the child’s experience. To educate the whole child his heart and will must be reached as well as his mind."
―Rudolf Steiner
Although the Waldorf curriculum best matches Garden Gate’s pedagogical vision, we also recognize other comprehensive theories of child development. We seek to employ trained Waldorf teachers but are open to teachers trained otherwise as long as they share the broad, Waldorf-inspired vision outlined above.
"The heart of the Waldorf method is the conviction that education is an art―it must speak to the child’s experience. To educate the whole child his heart and will must be reached as well as his mind."
―Rudolf Steiner
Why Waldorf?
We are attempting to approach the child as a whole: hands, heart and head. Waldorf pedagogy trains us to take in the whole child, to see him/her as an individual who expresses that individuality through body, language, and activity. As a "child-centered" approach to education, Waldorf guides us to pay attention to each child and to provide rhythmic structure to all that they do. Our classes, in particular, use the feeling of a story or an activity to engage the child. Telling a story repetitively, predictable activities in the day, opening and closing verses and many more elements in this approach secure the child, freeing him/her to soar in imagination, to feel safe in physical endeavors, and to have enough time to play. This play-oriented curriculum allows our children to come to the "headwork" of school when they are eager for it.
Click here for links for more information about Waldorf
In this video Sir Ken Robinson, internationally recognized leader in the development of innovation and human resources, extols the virtues of an arts based education.
Click here for links for more information about Waldorf
In this video Sir Ken Robinson, internationally recognized leader in the development of innovation and human resources, extols the virtues of an arts based education.
The Success of Waldorf
The Survey of Waldorf Graduates, Phase II indicates that
Waldorf Education is achieving the following in its graduates:
• Multiple Intelligences and Cross Disciplinary Learners
• Global Consciousness and Sustainability
• Basis for Moral Navigation
• Creative Problem Solving
• High Levels of Social Intelligence
• Environmental Stewardship
• High Levels of Emotional Intelligence
• Thinkers Who Think Outside the Box
Click here read a summary report of The Survey of Waldorf Graduates, Phase II (pdf file)
Click here to access a full summary of the The Survey of Waldorf Graduates, Phase II
Waldorf Education is achieving the following in its graduates:
• Multiple Intelligences and Cross Disciplinary Learners
• Global Consciousness and Sustainability
• Basis for Moral Navigation
• Creative Problem Solving
• High Levels of Social Intelligence
• Environmental Stewardship
• High Levels of Emotional Intelligence
• Thinkers Who Think Outside the Box
Click here read a summary report of The Survey of Waldorf Graduates, Phase II (pdf file)
Click here to access a full summary of the The Survey of Waldorf Graduates, Phase II
