AT ITHACA WALDORF SCHOOL WE STRIVE…
To develop free human beings by awakening in the students clarity of thought, warmth of heart and strength of purpose. The academic, artistic and practical lessons respect childhood, encourage healthy growth and engage students in the living world.
COME SEE WHAT MAKES
OUR Waldorf SCHOOL
SO REMARKABLE!
LEARN ABOUT OUR PROGRAMS
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PARENT CHILD
Our talented Waldorf Early Childhood Educators lead classes for parents to attend with their children that include art and movement classes, indoor and outdoor activities, storytime, puppet shows, and tea and snack time together.
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EARLY CHILDHOOD
Our Early Childhood classes serve children ages 4-6 years old and nurture each child’s development through gentle and sensory-rich environments and play-based activities that encourage the young child to investigate the natural world, explore social relationships and expand imaginative capacities.
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ELEMENTARY GRADES
Our Waldorf Elementary School curriculum is alive with fairy tales and fables, mythological sagas and stirring biographies of historical figures. And teachers integrate storytelling, drama, rhythmic movement, visual arts, and music into their daily work, weaving a tapestry of experience that brings each subject to life in the child’s thinking, feeling, and willing.
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MIDDLE SCHOOL
Our Waldorf Middle School curriculum guides students' formal academic learning while awakening their moral development and increasing their awareness of their place in the world. Their intellectual and academic curiosity is met with an imaginative, artistic and stimulating curriculum that grows and expands each year as they grow and mature.
Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice
The Ithaca Waldorf School welcomes a diverse community which includes a range of nationalities, gender and social identities, socioeconomic backgrounds, racial identifications, family structures, belief systems, religions, ages, abilities, languages and political affiliations. By forming an inclusive and supportive school community, we strive to create an educationally and morally healthy social life.
Here at IWS, we unequivocally denounce any statements made by Rudolf Steiner that do not honor all human dignity.
Adopted by Faculty, March 18, 2021
The Ithaca Waldorf School is a gender-affirming institution. Waldorf pedagogy is based in supporting students as they develop in every aspect of their being. IWS follows New York state guidelines to foster a safe, inclusive learning environment for all.
Adopted by Faculty, June 17, 2024
“Waldorf education addresses the child as no other education does. Learning, whether in chemistry, mathematics, history or geography, is imbued with life and so with joy, which is the only true basis for later study. The textures and colors of nature, the accomplishments and struggles of humankind fill the Waldorf students’ imaginations and the pages of their books. Education grows into a union with life that serves them for decades.By the time they reach us at the college and university level, these students are grounded broadly and deeply and have a remarkable enthusiasm for learning. Such students possess the eye of the discoverer, and the compassionate heart of the reformer which, when joined to a task, can change the planet.”
-Arthur Zajonc, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physics, Amherst College
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