Our Character and Community
We foster people, projects, and social enterprises that embrace a positive vision of the future. We look to Anthroposophy as a world-conception, with its description of the universe and the human being, to guide our endeavours. Our current projects and enterprises include the Motueka Steiner School, Playgroup, Kindergarten, and farming.
We deliver holistic education that focuses on child development, engages the whole family, connects children to nature and fosters personaI uniqueness. We value creativity over conformity, imagination over predictability, and critical thinking over standardised testing. These goals and values are at the heart of Steiner Education and our work on the farm. We are developing a biodynamic farm as a learning environment, a source of organic food, a place for nature, and an example of restorative agriculture. The farm is a fantastic teaching resource for children and their families, and strengthens the connection between farming, people, food and the natural world.
The farm offers many land-based outdoor classroom opportunities for students. Practical hands-on activities are being developed that are age-appropriate and give rise to diverse learning opportunities. Outdoor classroom activities include: gardening, compost making, toolmaking, woodwork, working with wool, cooking, clay and wax modelling, building, managing fruit trees, working with fire, metal work and weaving.
Dr RudoIf Steiner (1961-25) was an Austrian philosopher and social reformer who funded Waldorf education in 1919 and biodynamic farming in 1924. His ideas and methods have been further developed, tested, and proven for almost 100 years. Awareness and understanding of holistic education and sustainable agriculture have grown in that time and we are growing to meet the increasing demand.
Our kindergarten opened in 1984, and the primary school opened in 2002. The kindergarten is mostly state-funded and the school became a state-integrated Special Character school in 2020. Extra funds are raised by donations and fundraising. The whole school community takes the responsibility to raise the necessary funds and resources.
The new farm campus is designed and built to reflect our values. The aim is to have beautiful, eco-friendly buildings that inspire learning and demonstrate respect for the environment. Where possible they are hand crafted from natural materials such as timber, clay and straw. Some key aspects are the use of natural on-site materials, placing 20% of the farm into nature reserve, restoring the soils to capture carbon and increase fertility, increasing biodiversity, treating and using wastewater on-site, and avoiding toxic products and materials. We are creating a permanent home for Steiner education and biodynamic farming in the Nelson-Tasman region, a home to be proud of.
The school is co-educational and non-denominational. We follow and engage with the latest research in child development and learning. We are open to all families who are willing to engage with our curriculum and methods.
The Motueka Steiner School does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex or national origin in its admission policies or in the conduct of educational, recreational, athletic or scholarship programs. See Equity Statement.