The Core Elements
The Grades
Waldorf education differs in numerous ways from mainstream education in its methods and the children greatly benefit from our integrated and progressive curriculum.
If humanity is to live in the future in a socially right way, humanity must educate its children in a socially right way.
The Awakening of Consciousness
We weave art, music, movement, and practical arts into all of our lessons reflecting the widely diverse and colorful nature of the human experience. By following the natural stages of child development and meeting them in age appropriate ways, we mirror the path of humankind and the patterns of growth in civilization.
We begin with the warm, wonder-filled pictures of mythology and legend (which are pictorial yet, truthful pictures of forces at work in the world), meeting the lively imaginations of younger children and gradually lead them into a world which is increasingly abstract and intellectual. By such methods, the children become enthusiastic and self motivated learners for life and our integrated curriculum encourages them to develop into well rounded human beings with a diverse set of highly developed skills.
The playfully imaginative world of the young child can be crushed by stress and the push for early achievement, but by properly meeting the child at their stage of development, they more naturally grow and transform into clear thinking young adults filled with the light of intellectual curiosity and genuine interest in the world. We become more fully human and our love for the world and one another is greatly expanded. We come together as a human family that shares the same home, the earth, and our diversity is not a threat or liability but one of our greatest strengths for everyone has gifts to share and from others there are great things to be learned, no matter how different they may be from ourselves.
While competition has its place, it is through cooperation, emulation, and the honoring of individuals that we can transcend the limitations of the physical, material world and embrace the eternal within every one of us. Waldorf is ultimately about social renewal and if the world is to become a better place, we must begin with our children, honoring them for who they are and nurturing them so that their being may fully flower and bear fruit in the light of truth.
The Curriculum at a glance
GRADES 1-3
- Pictorial introduction to the alphabet, writing, reading, spelling, poetry and drama.
- Folk and fairy tales, fables, legends.
- Numbers, the basic mathematical processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
- Nature stories, house building, farming and trades.
GRADES 4-5
- Writing, reading, spelling, grammar, syntax, poetry and drama.
- Norse myths, histories and tales of ancient civilizations, culminating in Greek history and culture.
- Review the four mathematical processes, fractions (common and decimal), percentages, and geometry.
- Local and Indian geography, comparative zoology, botany.
GRADE 6
History of the Rise and Fall of Roman civilisation with biographies of key historical figures like Julius Caesar, medieval times of Europe, geography of Continent Asia with polarities in its topography, climate, vegetation and diversified cultures. Mineralogy the study of Rock cycle, physics (acoustics, magnetism, optics and heat), Geocentric study of Astronomy majorly dealing movement of sun, moon and stars as seen from the earth, composition, grammar, spelling, precise geometric drawing with instruments, business math with introduction to Simple interest formula leading to Algebra.
GRADE 7
History through biographies (1400 to 1700), Age of Exploration, the Renaissance African geography, physics (optics/ lenses, acoustics/ resonance, heat/ convection, mechanics), Human physiology with emphasis on Health and Nutrition, Helio centric Astronomy tracing the shift in observations made by Copernicus and Kepler, inorganic chemistry, poetry composition, grammar, spelling, literature, arithmetic, introduction to perspective drawing, working with positive and negative spaces in art work, Geometry of spirals, Pythagorean triangles.
GRADE 8
History: Reformations and Revolutions (French, industrial revolutions, Indian Sepoy movement), civics, world literature, short story reading and writing, A class play or Drama from literature, world economic geography, physics (Hydraulics), organic chemistry, Human Anatomy (dealing with the physical laws of uprightness and balance in human being), climatology (weather patterns, different types of clouds, world winds and ocean gyre).
GRADES 9-12
- Grade 9 – trains powers of observation with the question: What?
- Grade 10 – trains powers of comparison with the question: How?
- Grade 11 – trains powers of analysis with the question: Why?
- Grade 12 – trains powers of synthesis with the question: Who?
The Path through the Grades
Reading and writing are introduced in Grade 1 beginning with story telling and working with children’s imaginative nature. The children hear colorfully rich stories which are orally recalled and summarized, and then by making imaginative pictures of the sounds, they learn the abstract letter forms. The letter ‘T’ may be drawn as a toweringly tall tree or the letter ‘G’ may be a great goose and through imitation, they record the stories in their main lesson books and soon learn to independently read the words they have written with the teacher’s guidance. Language skills are deepened and expanded to include spelling, basic punctuation, and simple grammar for the focus shifts as they progress through the year and into subsequent grades.
Formal instruction in numeracy begins in Grade 1 with the four primary processes which initially are brought with similar pictorial methods. Fractions are brought in Grade 4 when children experience a strong shift in their consciousness and math instruction steadily increases in complexity as the children progress through the grades. Decimals are brought in Grade 5, percentages and simple formulas as well as geometry with instruments in Grade 6, ratio, proportion, and pre-algebra in Grade 7, and by the time they reach the secondary level, topics include algebra, geometry, conics, probability, and calculus.
Life sciences begin at a very early age with nature studies and learning about the plants and animals with whom we share this earth. Stories of the living world encourage the development of observational skills and capacities for accurate description. In Grade 3 children learn about farming and the cultivation of food, often including a trip to a local farm to see this important work first hand. The animal kingdom is studied in Grade 4 and in Grade 5 a more formal study of Botany is taken up. Grade 6 includes mineralogy and astronomy and in Grade 7 and 8, studies in the “hard sciences” of chemistry and physics are brought.
History lessons begin with mythical and archetypal narratives in the early grades and by Grade 4, history lessons draw upon the local environment and geography. History lessons emphasize the human being and are often brought through detailed biographies of notable individuals and by Grade 5 history is a formal subject of study.
Two languages are taught from Grade 1 with English as the method of instruction and Hindi or Telugu, and Urdu as the second language. In the early grades most language instruction is oral and emphasizes the cultural aspects of language to nurture a strong sense of belonging and understanding of one another. The reading and writing of different languages is generally introduced in Grade 1.
Drawing and painting are a regular part of our school days with painting a weekly lesson and drawing a daily activity. From Grade 1 through Grade 4, children practice form drawing, a study somewhat unique to Waldorf schools but it’s running forms, geometric, and woven designs are quite familiar in it’s parallels with Indian rangoli. This art form works on many skills including penmanship, fine motor coordination, spatial awareness, to name a few, and eventually transitions into geometry done with instruments. Children are also taught modeling in clay and beeswax. Artistic instruction continues in the higher grades. In addition, students are taught a wide range of practical handwork skills including knitting, crochet, sewing, and embroidery. Sculptural woodworking generally begins in Grade 6.
Music is also a regular part of our school days and daily children sing songs with their teachers. This develops into choral singing by the middle or upper grades. Music is a social activity which speaks to the soul and is used to deepen our working with subjects as diverse as math, geography, history, and even science. Children learn to play a musical instrument, usually beginning with a pentatonic flute or recorders in Grade 1. It is our intention to follow the curriculum by starting a school orchestra beginning in Grade 4 and in such cases, students are generally required to take up instruction outside of school. Musical instruction and performing continue through all the grades.
Eurythmy is a movement art usually performed to music or poetry. This unique art form was created by Rudolf Steiner to help children develop greater harmony with their body, mind, and soul and is a required subject throughout the grades in a Waldorf school.
Grades 9-12
Waldorf education is the fastest growing private school movement in the world. Our purpose is to awaken each student’s capacity for love of learning, for independent thinking and
for heartfelt service to the world.
An understanding of human development, as elaborated by Rudolf Steiner, is the foundation of our work. The pace, priorities and practices of the curriculum along with the State requirements, from early childhood through high school, grow out of this foundation.
We strive to build a caring community of adults and adolescents who recognize and respect each other during the transformative and challenging teen years.
The goal of the high school is to support developing adolescents in achieving their full humanity intellectually, artistically, emotionally and socially. We want our students to know what they think, not what they are supposed to think.
All students engage deeply in the arts, science, math and the humanities along with the co-curricular activities. We believe students should emerge from their high school years ready to thrive in diverse settings and subjects. Our approach invites all students to learn and enjoy, without segregating based solely on aptitude.
Individual students discover their passions at different class levels.
The ninth grader who struggles with chemistry or math may very well become a debater and a chemistry lover in eleventh grade. We give students the chance to re-engage in all their subjects each year, deepening their skills and connection to the material along the way.
We view homework as an opportunity to further dwell on it in leisure, not a way of life. Our homework is designed for students to practice the skills they have gained in class, not to learn new material on their own.
We are fully accredited, with a proven track record. We are both Waldorf acknowledged and as well accredited to the CBSE Board till Grade 12.
We strive to create dynamic learning environments where students are healthy, challenged and engaged.
We offer small classes with teachers who know their subject and their student. Class sizes vary from 15 to 20 students, and their teachers are experts in their fields.
We place a high value on student learning that occurs outside the classroom. Field trips, performances and special events may vary from year to year.
In broad strokes, each of the four years in the Waldorf high school curriculum embodies an underlying theme and method that helps guide students not just through their studies of outer phenomena but through their inner growth as well. Obviously, these themes and methods are adapted to each specific group of students and take account of the fact that teenagers grow at their own pace.
Hence, the “broad strokes.” And yet, one can identify struggles developmental landscape at varying speeds, they nonetheless have to cover similar terrain.
Grade 9
As the freshmen plunge into the high school, they are also plunging with new intensity into the materiality of their bodies (with the unfolding of puberty) and abstract thinking. There is tension in this opposition: often struggle, occasionally even revolt. The ninth grade curriculum is sensitive to these tremendous developmental changes and struggles. It allows the students to see their inner experience reflected back to them in outer phenomena. In physics, for instance, students study the opposition of heat and cold; in chemistry, the expansion and contraction of gases; in history, the conflicts and revolutions, in English-tragedy and comedy Through the chaos and tensions of these struggles, students are summoned to exercise powers of exact observation: in the sciences, to describe and draw precisely what happened in the lab experiments and demonstrations (without, as yet, an overlay of theoretical explanation), in the humanities, to recount clearly a sequence of events or the nature of a character without getting lost in the confusion of details.
The objective here is to train in the student powers of exact observation and reection so that they can experience in the raging storm of phenomena around.
Prerana Waldorf School is a wonderful blend of sciences, mathematics, arts and humanities, with a healthy dose of social life and physical activity.
Grade 10
The tenth grader begins to discover a certain balance or midpoint between the violent collision of opposites. Physiologically, one may observe in boys a steadier gait as their legs grow to catch up with their oversized feet, in girls, greater measure of poise and self-assurance. They are now ready to face the Board exams of the State.
Grade 11
As adolescents enter the second half of their high school career, generalizations about their development become increasingly difficult the strokes must grow ever broader. “Sweet Sixteen,” however, is a typical time of newfound depths to the inner life of thoughts, feelings, and deeds. The curriculum for the junior year allows the students to cut free to a greater degree from their peers and set off on their own uncharted course into the invisible recesses of life within. Such a journey requires a new type of thinking—thinking not anchored in what our senses give us—and a confidence that this type of thinking will not lead us astray.
Grade 12
Now, for the first time, they survey the full panorama of the landscape that they had previously only glimpsed from eleven preceding perspectives. In other words, the senior year is intended, on the one hand, to be the gradual synthesis of the education—the great stock-taking and preparation for the next stage in learning—and, on the other, the fully conscious placement of oneself in the center of this panorama.
Subject Combination – XI and XII
Subject Option – Stream Science – Stream Commerce – Stream Humanities
Option 1 – English – English – English
Option 2 – Physics – Accountancy – Political Science, Geography
Option 3 – Chemistry – Business Studies – History, Psychology
Option 4 – Biology, Math – Economics – Economics
Option 5 – Physical Education, Home Science, Computer Science, Hindi, Telugu – Physical Education, Home Science, Computer Science, Psychology, Hindi, Telugu – Physical Education, Home Science, Computer Science, Psychology, Hindi, Telugu
Secondary and Senior Years
During these years, students become more independent learners. Learning goes beyond books through projects, multimedia presentations, group work and collaborative learning. High school at Prerana provides students with a comprehensive curriculum that focuses on developing the life of cognition. During each year of the high school a different cognitive faculty is trained: in ninth grade it is the powers of observation, in tenth the powers of comparison, in eleventh those of analysis, and in twelfth synthesis.
The Curriculum that is offered by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in Secondary and Higher Secondary Grades 9 & 10 – Grades 11 & 12 are based on National Curriculum Framework – 2005 and it seeks to provide opportunities for students to achieve excellence in learning.Central Board for Secondary Education or CBSE is the national board of our country and the curriculum is closely linked to all major exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, AIIMS, etc. We follow the text books recommended by the NCERT.
Students of Classes 9 and 10 study English, Hindi or Telugu, General Science, Social Science and Math. Envisioning all-round development of students, the curriculum is a perfect blend of Curricular domain equitable with curricular areas.
Each high school teacher is an active expert in his or her field; academic faculty hold a minimum of a master’s degree. The high school faculty works together on the development and implementation of all aspects of school life. Through their mutual striving for a harmonious, collegial school environment, the faculty hopes to provide the students with a working model for their own relationships in life. The teachers incorporate the latest teaching techniques and integrate a multi-disciplinary modality into their teaching.
The Senior Secondary program is flexible, offering a set of optional subjects to choose from according to students’ interests and career preferences. The school prepares students for the All India Senior School Certificate Examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education. We place high emphasis on practical application of concepts learned in the classroom. Our curriculum is structured with a level of rigour that will enable our students to be well prepared for any college course that they wish to join either in India or abroad. This degree is recognized as a qualifying examination for admission to Indian as well as foreign Universities. Building on a foundation of critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration, students are more engaged in the learning process and graduate better prepared to thrive in today’s global economy.
Science Stream
Mandatory:
English (Core), Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry
Optional (One of the following):
Biology, Home Science, Economics, Psychology,Computer Science, Painting, Political Science, Physical Education, Hindustani Vocal Music
Science Stream 2
Mandatory:
English (Core), Biology, Physics, Chemistry
Optional (One of the following):
Mathematics, Home Science, Economics, Psychology, Computer Science, Painting, Political Science, Physical Education, Hindustani Vocal Music
Commerce Stream
Mandatory:
English (Core), Business Studies, Accountancy, Economics
Optional (One of the following):
Mathematics, Home Science, Psychology, Computer Science, Painting, Political Science, Physical Education, Hindustani Vocal Music
Humanities Stream
Mandatory:
English (Core), Political Science/ History, Psychology/ Economics
Optional (One of the following):
Home Science, Computer Science, Painting, Physical Education, Hindustani Vocal Music
We are pleased and proud to share that our CBSE results are outstanding every year. Our students have earned a comprehensive range of excellent individual scores with a composite average that epitomizes excellence and hard work.It is rewarding to observe the tremendous growth demonstrated by students who exceeded their own wildest dreams, even in the face of challenges they had to overcome, and we are particularly grateful for the mentors who never lost faith in them.