Windows into Waldorf Jan 31, 2025
IN THIS EDITION:
Director’s Note
Key Dates
PT Conferences & Camps
March & Summer Break Camp Dates
Childcare Corner
Second Generation Alumni Feature, by Jess Moore
DIRECTOR’s NOTE
Dear Waldorf Community,
Our administration has been hit with a pretty significant illness, and all of us have been out for a few days over the last two weeks.
Rudolf Steiner wrote, “… illness can be a way for the human being to find new balance, to develop forces that may not have been awakened otherwise."
I am taking comfort in this thought, perhaps our illness will lead to great awakening. At the moment it is leading to more need for sleep.
Wishing everyone a healthy weekend!
Conor
KEY DATES:
Feb 3 - PT Conference Signup Zones open
Feb 3 - 7pm - Knitting Circle
Feb 4 - PT Camp Registration opens
Feb 8 - 10am - Gr 1-8 Open House
Feb 10 - 7pm - Knitting Circle
Feb 11 - 7pm - Board Meeting - via Zoom
Feb 12 - 4pm - Grade 4/5 Play
Feb 13 & 14 - NO SCHOOL for K-8 (Camps Available) - PT Conferences
Feb 17 - NO SCHOOL or CHILDCARE (Family Day; No Camps)
Feb 20 - 7pm - Community Council Meeting
Feb 21 - 8:30am - Parent Song Circle
Feb 24 - 7pm - Knitting Circle
Feb 26 - PINK SHIRT DAY!
Mar 3 - 7pm - Knitting Circle
Mar 6 - Grade 8 Projects
Mar 10-21 - MARCH BREAK - 2 weeks
Mar 17-21 - March Break Camp Week (for K-Grade 5)
Mar 24 - PD Day (K-8 closed, CCC Open) (no camp available)
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES - Feb 13 & 14
Feb 3 - A Signup Zone will be sent out
Feb 11 at noon - The Signup Zone will close
Once the Signup Zone is closed you will not be able to view it online. Please be sure to note the date and time of your PT Conferences when you book them.
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE CAMPS - Feb 13 & 14
Feb 4 - Registration will be sent out
Sign up is on a first come basis
PT Camps will be available for students in Kindergarten to Grade 5
Cost: $100/ day
MARCH BREAK CAMP - Mar 17-21
March Break Camp will run through the second week of our March Break, from March 17th to 21st. It will be for students in Kindergarten through Grade 5. The camp will run from 8:30am to 4:30pm. The fee will be $425.00 for the week. Registration details to follow soon.
SUMMER CAMPS
Costs will range from $375-$560/wk depending on length of week and length of day (half, full, extended).
Registration will be available after March Break:
Week 1 - June 16 to 20 - 5-day week
First week Kindergarten AND Grade 1-5 students (two groups of campers)
Week 2 - June 23 to 27 - 5-day week - Ages 4, 5, 6
Week 3 - June 30 to July 4 - 4 day week* - Ages 4, 5, 6
*Canada Day on Tuesday July 1st (no camp)
Week 4 - July 7 to 11 - 5 day week - Ages 4, 5, 6
Week 5 - July 14 to 18- 5 day week - Ages 4, 5, 6
NO CAMP - July 21 to 25 - CCC closed
Week 6 - July 28 to Aug 1 - 5 day week - Ages 4, 5, 6
CHILDCARE CORNER
You may not know that Waldorf Academy is a sought-after centre for teacher training. Currently, 7 RECE students (Registered Early Childhood Educators) are completing placements in our Childcare Centre.
Our own Ms Hollis Keillor (right) with RECE student teacher, Summer
Having a diverse group of student educators at our school is a wonderful opportunity for both the students and our Childcare. Their fresh perspectives and enthusiasm bring new energy to our programs, enriching the learning environment for the children. Meanwhile, the students gain valuable hands-on experience and invaluable exposure to our Waldorf methodologies under the guidance of our senior staff. This collaboration not only enhances the quality of care and education we provide, but also helps foster the next generation of skilled professionals in early childhood education. We are glad to be part of the future of education!
SECOND GENERATION ALUMNI FEATURE - by Jessica Moore
Jess is one of many second-generation Waldorf Academy parents; we thank her for this feature!
I started at Toronto Waldorf School in Grade 7, after my grandfather offered to pay for private school, and I stayed until Grade 12 graduation. Those six years have nourished my life in ways I still feel resonating today.
Jess Moore
I loved the school. I loved being part of a small community and the way the teachers were so present with us. I thrived on being able to use my hands in woodwork, handwork, drawing, and music. I poured myself into our class plays and camping trips. I had the opportunity to spend half a year in French Switzerland through the exchange program. I still think about the powerful closing circle my class held in Grade Twelve, in which we each reflected each other with words of appreciation. My time at Waldorf provided me with a strong base in multiple realms – and the richness of believing that this multiplicity, this development of many skills matters, and that a ‘Renaissance’ approach is a worthy one for a life – I still play music, knit from time to time, do print making, engage daily with the French language in my work as a literary translator and draw in some invisible way upon the encouragement of my beloved English teacher, Anne Greer, in my work as an author. When new friends find out I went to Waldorf, they say, Oh, of course!
Jess, Arlan and Silas
The choice to send our twins to Waldorf Academy - where they have been enrolled for 4 years, since Kindergarten - is not taken lightly. Each year, we weigh the expense, the traveling distance, the absence of exposure to certain things that are more evident in some TDSB schools - such as a stronger institutional framework for diversity and inclusion, anti-racism and LGBTQ education, areas where WA has room to grow - against the care, learning, acceptance, and creativity they experience in a Waldorf school. And each year, the benefits of community, attention to art, small classes, learning through stories, the presence of drawing and music in each day, and handwork skills outweigh the costs. I love that my children have learned to knit, and that there are bees and a garden in their schoolyard. Above all, Waldorf is precious to me for how it protects children from screens and devices – I know their later lives will be saturated with these, and I’d like to keep them in the realm of handwriting, handworking, and rich, self-guided imagination for as long as possible.
When, at assemblies, parents and faculty sing the students back to their classrooms with the simple song Go now in peace, I get chills (every time!), and feel the deep beauty of a school that tends to mind and spirit as Waldorf does.
WE WISH YOU A PEACEFUL WEEKEND
