I would like to ask if the routine is different for the final year of kindergarten students and if there are projects for them in order to prepare the "bridge" with primary school..
Hi Joana! the routine is no different. Simply the older there will be a day, from the second trimester, in the they will begin to do “transition to elementary school”. Once a week, about an hour, after lunch, they will go to an elementary school teacher and do “older things” as rounds, stories ... and you will know the spaces of Primary.
“STEP FROM CHILDHOOD TO PRIMARY”
“In the second cycle of Infantile at the Waldorf Alicante School we prepare the oldest in the classroom for their transition to Primary.
A) Yes, on the one hand, throughout your senior year, the boys and girls of 5 years they make their own loom. Working with the loom helps them to promote fine motor skills and educates them patience, What's more, develop imagination and agile thinking and prepare them for the literacy process, as it reinforces the coordination of movements, spatial orientation and laterality, among other things.
With natural wool they make small tapestries that will be transformed into bags or blankets for the dolls because the tasks that we teach our students must have a purpose and a utility.
Secondly, from the second trimester, the oldest boys and girls in the Infant classrooms will group together and start “transition to Primary”. In this way, once a week and after lunch, they will go with a Primary teacher and, for about an hour, they will “older things” as rounds, stories… And they will also get to know the Primary spaces to become familiar with the environment and the rhythms and routines that await them the following year.”
Miriam (Children's teacher)
They leave prepared for the University? Or if they have to finish in another school, how is your adaptation to another system and your academic performance?
ANSWER: The Waldorf curriculum goes all the way to high school and from there it would skip to high school. In Alicante we have even primary, and we are trying to open a secondary line in coordination with the Benidorm school. Carlos (parent and chat moderator).
Secondary is what age? I am NOT very familiar with the Spanish system…
ANSWER: From Carlos: Secondary would be from 12 years…
By Pau Calabuig: In Spain, Secondary school goes from 12 to the 16 years. The Baccalaureate of 16 a 18 years.
In other words, the Villafranqueza headquarters goes up to 16 years?
ANSWER:
Pau Calabuig: In Villafranqueza we have Primary, until the 12 years.
From Carlos: Villafranqueza headquarters, for the moment, reaches the 12 years… there is a secondary school extension project that is being developed with the Navy Waldorf school…
I have 4 children who would start from 1st to 5th grade… But I'm in the dilemma of liking the Waldorf system… but my children already go to a conventional school and they are delighted and there, they are doing super well academically, and they don't want to change schools. But he wanted to inform me, because I contemplate the possibility…
ANSWER: From Carlos: You can have an interview with a school teacher and talk about all your doubts ... https://waldorfalicante.com/matriculacion-proximo-curso/
ANSWER: Pau Calabuig: In our school it is usual to carry out visiting experiences. It is an opportunity for families and children to know and experience the school.
Of course, price is also an important factor to consider, especially with four children…
In Alicante, doing Waldorf Pedagogy, We only have, for the moment, the stages that include from maternal to 6th class of primary (1-12 years). From there the children are currently moving to the Navy (Benidorm) to continue with the Waldorf Curriculum in secondary (13-16 years). To be able to do a Bachelor, you would have to leave, for example, to the Micael Free School in Madrid.
It's a question we hear often “What happens when a child spends a few years in the Waldorf school and then has to continue their studies in a conventional school?”. There are as many answers to this question as there are experiences of those who have lived through this change., because it is still just another change and like all changes there is a feeling of fear of the unknown, fear of not dominating the situation, fear of making the wrong decision ... Fear is a normal emotion, the important thing is the capacity of each one to be able to face it. This is where it can be stated that children who have gone through Waldorf kindergarten, or for the garden and also for elementary school, they are children with a High self-steem for the love and respect with which they have been accompanied; with a tremendous confidence in themselves because they had to try many times on their own until they managed to climb the first tree in the garden without help from anyone and with insatiable desire to continue learning because their learning processes were respected and thus aroused curiosity and the desire to want to know more and more. They are children used to being around people in a community environment, where we all get together to work or to celebrate. For these reasons and more, They are children to whom, as everyone, changes affect them, but they adapt more easily.
I remember once in one of the talks we do at school, the intervention of a teacher from a public school, He wanted to answer this question that we ask ourselves here and from his answer I remember this phrase:- “Children who come from Waldorf have a spark in their eyes that others do not have.. They are always the ones who raise their hands to ask ".
In summary, some children may find it more costly to make changes than others, exactly like us adults, the important thing is that from the outset they have been able to develop, in a natural way, qualities like the ones we have mentioned: esteem, confidence, eager to learn, curiosity, social skills…
So now we ask ourselves the following question: -"Then, it's worth going to the Waldorf for a short period of time? " Of course yes.
There are responses that are repeated among the many testimonies collected in these 36 years What is our school open? (1984-2020):
- because it is a gift to make them live their childhood as children and that within them they keep this wonderful treasure.
- because what they live in these early years is the basis of their adulthood
- because at these ages it is essential that their rhythms and needs are respected. It is the stage in which they are shaping their personality.
- Because changes don't just happen from a Waldorf school to a public school, Within conventional schools, children also have to face changes in cycles: new spaces, new teachers, new companions, more subjects, different way of working ...; a new brother can come, parental separation, a move ... The important thing is that, wherever they are, they can be themselves and be proud. And this is a reality of our wonderful school, because for all of us, parents and teachers, there is nothing more important than them, the children.
Eva (Maternal Teacher)
Hello. What changes are you going to make due to COVID-19? We are moving from USA. in September and we are not aware of the recommendations and regulations. Thanks a lot!
At this moment, work is being done on the action plan for the return to the activity following the indications of specialists in public health and epidemiologists. Soon we will be able to have all the measures included in a document so that they can be consulted and put into practice in due course.
Hello everyone. I would like to know if you notice that there may be a clash of what is lived in the school with the outside ANSWER: From Carlos. Children are not isolated from the outside, they just learn in a different way to deal with things ...
ANSWER: From Carlos: It is true that the change to conventional education can mean a leap to something different, but children have a great capacity to adapt and highly developed capacities ... even though they may get a bit stuck at first, our experience is that the teachers who receive Waldorf children highlight their adaptation capacities… The interesting thing is that the children develop a contact with themselves that allows them to adapt… Of course it is a change… of course… but the developed capacities help them a lot…
Teachers from other schools are very happy when Waldorf students arrive, because they bring with them capabilities that have been developed from elsewhere
I would be for childish. Two girls from 4 Y 2 years but we are still seeing if it is possible for us by the residence.
In our case we had in mind to take our little one this course with 2 years and in principle, then take her to public school, but now I see that it is a project with a lot of commitment and I don't know if it is appropriate for a single course, if it is something habitual, etc.
ANSWER From Carlos : Some children come because they are here passing through ... parents who live here for a year and then have to leave ... the children adapt very well..
And I have doubts about the children's schedule…
ANSWER: Well, the school hours until before the state of alarm was in maternal of 8:30 a 13 and in child of 8:30 a 13:30. Then we have childcare service, what is extra, of 8 a 8:30
ANSWER EVA: Children and families who come to our school for a short period of time usually have, just like the others, the opportunity to know a new way of seeing the world and being in it. Even if it's only a year or two, they always take something very positive that will serve them for their life.
It is true that we are a community and that, most, we manage it ourselves; Nevertheless, the first year we ask families to be very present in the accompaniment of the child at home, while he is living the adaptation to his new school. We only ask that, the extent possible, come to the monthly classroom meetings and individual tutorials with the teacher, but do not participate in working groups or commissions during this first year.
We consider that adaptation is not only made by the child, also parents and that requires exclusivity to be able to observe and detect any manifestation of fear in time, unsafety, recoil, etc.
When families already know, they already know how the school works and are clear about where they could collaborate, for your time and for your skills, then they can decide, without any obligation, where to contribute your grain of sand.
Eva
There are dining hours, truth?
Our schedules are:
BABYCARE SERVICE: 7:30H A 8:30H
ENTRADA A MATERNAL (1-3 YEARS) 8:30H A 10H (+flexibility in the first trimester)
CHILDISH (3-6 YEARS) 8:30H
PRIMARY ENTRY 8:30H
HALF DAY DEPARTURE HOME
MATERNAL: FROM 13:00H
CHILDISH: 13:30H
1º a 4º: 13:30h
5º y 6º: 14:15h
SCHOOL CANTEEN:
MATERNAL: 13:00H A 16:00H
CHILDISH: 13:30H A 16:00H
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DINING ROOM: 14:30H A 16:00H
LATE DEPARTURE / PICK UP:
ALL CYCLES 16:00H 16:30H
