Village Squire, 1980-08, Page 20Learning to grow
London's new Waldorf School stresses character and creativity
Teacher Tom Baudhuln comes from the Detroit Waldorf
training centre
P0. 18 VILLAGE SQUIRE/AUGUST 1980
photos by Paul Nolan)
BY GLADYS NOLAN
After a visit to Open House of the
Toronto Waldorf School at 9100 Bathurst
Street, Thornhill, Ontario, one of twenty-
four parents attending a meeting of the
new Waldorf School in London for Nursery,
Kindergarten, and grade 1, said:
"Looking back on my own childhood in
an ordinary school, I feel as though I was
ripped off."
The meeting was held at new Waldorf
School, at 303 Commissioner's Road,
London, in a beautiful and homelike setting
in a converted farmhouse on two acres of
wooded grassland. Classes will start this
fall.
Children from 31/2 to 5 years will attend
morning nursery classes. Children of 5 and
6 years will attend kindergarten. Grade 1
will also be starting.
The speaker went on, saying he wished
to obtain further knowledge prior to
enrolling his child in the Waldorf School in
London. He was amazed at the co-
operation, knowledge and respect that was
evident throughout the entire visit at
Thornhill Waldorf School, between pupils
and teachers.
Waldorf Schools are not new. They were
first started in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner in
Germany. After the first world war, Europe
was exhausted and many searched for
solutions to the social chaos resulting from
a time of despair.
Emil Molt, executive director of
Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Co. in Stuttgart,
Germany, became convinced that the
reconstruction of a shattered society must
begin at school, that only education could
develop new understanding and human
values appropriate for the times.
Dr. Molt turned to Rudolf Steiner,
eminent Austrian philosopher, and asked