Michael Hall School is Independent Secondary school in Non-selective for kids aged 3 to 19 (Gender - 3 to 19 )
The Steiner Waldorf approach to education is both innovative and insightful. The pupils are well-balanced as individuals and develop a general enthusiasm for learning, whatever the context might be. With over a hundred years of experience to draw on, the education is well-proven and central themes of innovation and enquiry ensure that it remains at the forefront of contemporary education in a fast-changing world.Michael Hall is a widely respected learning organisation, actively educating over 400 pupils whilst also providing an established teacher-training course. We are the longest-running Steiner Waldorf School in England. The curriculum is broad and rich and the outcomes for our students are for life. The education that they offer enables our pupils to mature in a balanced way; innovative and rigorous academic education is combined with the development of impressive human qualities. These human qualities promote purposeful engagement and, more than anything else, they ensure that our pupils take up meaningful and fulfilling roles that contribute in a positive way to our rapidly-unfolding future.
Early Years
A child’s learning is directly connected to their physical body and sensory experience – everything a child sees, hears and touches has an effect. In Early Years we provide beautiful, peaceful and orderly surroundings with natural materials and warm textures. We offer varied and nourishing opportunities for self-directed learning. Teachers support and offer guidance to parents, with the ideal of providing consistency between the home and the Kindergarten for each child.Why does it feel so different, so special, in a Waldorf Kindergarten? There is a hum of activity and focus, the teachers speak and sing softly, and the children move about the room with a comfortable confidence at any given moment.
Lower School
The Lower School develops an enthusiasm and love for learning in every child. Our innovative approach to teaching leads to outstanding levels of engagement and motivation. Children develop the expectation that learning is an exciting and rewarding process. This quality of engaged curiosity in our pupils becomes the foundation on which subsequent learning is successfully built. The Lower School has a carefully designed curriculum that is broad and rich–it supports the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development of each and every child. The education in has a strong visual element with an emphasis on the spoken word, music, and practical activities. At its heart, our education provides children and young people with opportunities to gather learning experiences, skills, and human qualities that shape and guide later learning, and later life.
Upper School
Students join the Upper School at the age of 14, choosing from a range of GCSEs and A-levels, alongside an extensive Waldorf curriculum that includes music, movement, drama, gym, ethics, educational trips, arts and handwork. The aim is to support each individual to develop independent thinking, sound judgement and a sense of social responsibility. Taught by experts in their field, the education nurtures the students’ development and supports their emerging ideals through a curriculum that is rich in breadth and depth and resulting in excellent exam results.
Music
Music holds an important and central position in the day to day life of pupils at Michael Hall. In the Lower School singing and flutes/recorders are integral parts of the daily rhythm of Main Lesson; enriching the subject matter; marking the seasons; and developing the social fabric of the classes through the joy of singing/playing together. As the pupils move through the Lower School they start to have weekly singing and recorder lessons, an orchestra lesson, and in the Middle School they begin music theory/history lessons. In addition to this, many pupils choose to take up an instrument on a one-to-one basis during school time.
Heart of Teaching
A pioneering In-House Teacher Training Programme offering student teachers the opportunity of undergoing a substantial part of their Steiner Waldorf Teacher Training at the very heart of the school, in the classroom with teachers and their pupils.
Please check the school website link for details.
1.68 miles
