About Us
"May my soul bloom in love for all existence."Rudolf Steiner
The mission of Goora Gan Steiner School is to provide a Primary Years Steiner School that meets the educational goals of the Australian National Curriculum, as well as the needs of child development based on the principles determined by philosopher, Rudolf Steiner.
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With Steiner philosophy underpinning the education framework, Goora Gan instils a lifelong love of learning and continued engagement through this critical stage of school years, with enriching processes that develop faculties of thinking, feeling and willing. The holistic education provides integrated development of each child’s intellectual, moral and spiritual life through the delivery of education methods balanced in academic, artistic and practical learning – developing the whole child, head, heart and hands.
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Goora Gan has also adopted a multi-age class model and works with the strengths of various ages of students working together and learning from each other. Class models from 2021 are Prep, Class 1/2, Class 3/4 and Class 5/6.
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Places are limited due to the site and to ensure small class sizes and from 2022, Goora Gan will be at its enrolment capacity from Prep-Class 6.
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Goora Gan Steiner School acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which our school operates and throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang, Taribelang Bunda and Bailai people and their Elders past, present and emerging.
Philosophy
Are you wondering about a Steiner education for your child?
The holistic education offered at Goora Gan Steiner School develops and nourishes the whole child, head, heart and hands. The curriculum offered at Goora Gan recognised by the Australian curriculum assessment and reporting authority (ACARA) is based on Rudolf Steiner's picture of child development and designed to be a health-giving education, nurturing and balancing the human faculties of thinking, feeling and will.
The prime purpose of Steiner education is to support and educate children in such a way that their own innate and unique human qualities may come to greater fulfillment, developing each child's intellectual, moral and spiritual life through the delivery of education methods balanced in academic, artistic and practical learning.
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Prep
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In the first seven years, children are developing their physical bodies and are primarily living in their will. During this period, learning is mostly through physical actions and imitation.
The Prep programme focuses on the child’s physical development through movement and experiential activities, including creative play, age appropriate sports and movement, music, time in nature and the arts. During this time students develop the rhythms and routines of the school day that they will need for the following years. Stories, festivals and food are also strong elements of the prep curriculum.
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Goora Gan Steiner students enter Prep the year that they turn six. Pre-prep or kindergarden are not available.
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Primary School
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From the ages 7 to 13, the child becomes increasingly aware of a wider world outside of the family and begins to develop a sense of self. Between the ages of seven and fourteen, the child is primarily a being of feeling, imagination, and aesthetic sensitivity. The thinking and intellectual capacities are beginning to develop but do not dominate until puberty. For this reason, all instruction in the primary years is presented in an artistic way and involves and develops the artistic sensibilities and capacities of the child.
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The Primary curriculum is rich with creativity. This means that literacy, numeracy and all other areas of the curriculum are presented imaginatively to the child. They are immersed in the histories and mythologies of many of the great civilisations on Earth. From Fairy Tales and Celtic Myths in the early years through to the Old Testament Stories, Norse Myths, the Ramayana, Ancient Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt, and on to the Greek and Roman civilisations in Classes 5 and 6. In this way, our students gain an understanding and appreciation of various cultures from all over the world.
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Singing and recorder become regular activities that will lead to string instruments. Painting and drawing are incorporated into lessons, and drama is regularly employed to enliven the learning. Artistic work connects the children in a positive way with the content they are learning as does the extensive use of storytelling which stimulates the child’s imagination.
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High School Years
The period from 14 to 21 marks the transition from childhood to adulthood and is characterised by the development of thinking.
The role of the teacher and curriculum in this period is to guide the student’s use of critical thinking into constructive ends and to help them to develop self-direction and independent judgement.
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It is one of our greatest desires that Goora Gan Steiner School grow to include high school classes in the future.
"Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another the most varied opinions can be reconciled - thus one of the most important tasks for humankind today and in the future is that we should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of development is empty."
