About the Dandenong Ranges Steiner School (DRSS)
The Dandenong Ranges Steiner School currently offers:
- Playgroup - for children from birth to kinder age, usually 3
turning 4
- Kindergarten - for children from 3 and a half to 6, includes
prep
- Primary School - now offering class 1 through to class 6
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Playgroup
The School offers Playgroups to parents with children
from birth to kinder age. Playgroup is a chance for
families to meet weekly in a warm, nurturing and healthy
environment. It is lead by experienced Playgroup Leaders.
Free play, morning tea, simple songs, and a short story
are offered.
Playgroups are held in Belgrave Heights.
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Inside the Playgroup |
The Kindergarten
The Kindergarten programme centres around the child's inner need
to play. Play is seen as the child's "work". Through play children
learn about themselves, others and the world in which they live.
The kindergarten includes children aged 3 ½ - 6 in a mixed-age
setting. It includes prep children.
Equipment
Simple equipment, from nature or made from natural materials, is
provided to encourage play. Cloths, blocks, dolls, shells, rocks
and baskets are used. Even the furniture is used in creative play.
Outside equipment includes sand and water as well as climbing frames,
slide and swings.
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| The Kinder playground |
Kindergarten Program
A rhythmic day provides the stability and security in which creative
play can arise. Routines include:
- Free Play
- Morning Circle in which verse, rhyme and song are
carefully selected to reflect the season and complement
other aspects of the program.
- An artistic or creative activity such as painting,
drawing, sewing, woodwork or clay modelling.
- Daily menu of cooked morning tea which children
may help to prepare. (Allergies will be catered for).
- A spoken story, finger or puppet play, carefully
chosen to nourish the inner life of the child.
- Weekly Eurythmy
The Kindergarten Teacher
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| A basket of Kinder
dolls |
The task of the kindergarten teacher is to create a home-like environment
and to encourage creative play by engaging the children in work taken
from daily life. Examples of this work are cooking, sewing mending,
polishing, woodwork, cleaning and washing.
Through this role, the young child is given the opportunity
to imitate life in a simple and wholesome way. As role models for the
children, adults perform these tasks with great care and respect whilst
remaining wholly available to the children when needed. When disputes
arise, the teacher intervenes only when necessary and demonstrates
positive ways for the children to resolve their difficulties.
The Primary School
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| A Class 4 Display |
A simple principle underlies Steiner Education: The child
develops through stages that reflect the great cultural epochs.
Nothing is taught for its own sake, but within the context
of how human culture developed, thus building up the child's
own sense of humanity.
At the centre of the curriculum are the needs of the developing
child. Each subject is integrated with Storytelling and the
Arts and offers the child nourishment for the head, the heart
and the hands.
A rich childhood is the best guarantee for successful adulthood
and we present the traditional academic subjects as well
as a wide variety of artistic and cultural activities.
The Curriculum in Classes 1 - 6 includes weekly classes
in Craft, Painting, Eurythmy, German, Music and Games.
Classes
The primary classes we offer in 2006 are:
- Classes 1 - 6
- Prep in the Kindergarten
A child may begin in Class 1 in the year he or she turns seven
years of age before the end of September.
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