REVIEW OF Trillium Waldorf School BY parent, Travis Fantina

(4) Student Experience

Our daughter has enjoyed bonding with her teachers, finger knitting and drawing. She has always loved crafts, but Waldorf has helped her find new mediums of expression such as assembling bouquets on nature walks, modelling beeswax and making candles. In the winter, it is very difficult for us to get her outside every day, but since outside time is such a big part of the school day, we know she is getting at least a few hours outside. There is a peace and calmness in the school that is tangible; as parents, we feel it whenever we visit the classroom or attend community meetings. The kindergarten rooms, especially, foster a loving and protective environment for the children. Our daughter has struggled with rest time; 20-30 minutes a day of quiet time lying down is difficult for a restless five-year-old, but we think it is good for children to have time alone with themselves, and, specifically for our daughter, it is good for her to face this challenge.

(5) School Leadership

All the leaders are warm and welcoming. The school administrators are a key component to the community that is built up around Waldorf education. Having spent some time at different Waldorf schools, I can say that Trillium's community stands out as particularly welcoming and connected. Communication from school leadership is honest and candid, with frequent community meetings detailing everything from school finances to parenting practices. The school has been creating a plan to transfer their mortgage and continue paying off the land. Throughout this process, the leaders and administrators have kept parents well aware of any potential problems, issues, and options. As far as discipline goes, there is a cohesive plan to deal with challenging behaviour or classroom struggles with lots of communication between teachers, supporting employees, and parents so that everyone can work together to meet the child's needs.

(5) Teaching

Our daughter is still in kindergarten; at this age, our biggest concern is that she is safe, well looked after and seen. We feel like she gets that from her teachers. She always provides us with glowing reviews of her teachers and has come to respect and admire them. Having had multiple parent-teacher meetings, we have been able to get to know the teachers as well and are fully confident in their abilities both as educators and in fostering a loving atmosphere. Each of the three teachers who are in and out throughout the day brings a unique element to the classroom. One teacher spends the day and she is our primary point of contact in regard to how our daughter is doing. The other two trade off between the morning and afternoon. All three teachers seem to have a personal relationship with our daughter; they make crafts for her that cater to her interests and fill us in on the minutia of her day.

(5) Academics

Waldorf does not have an academically heavy curriculum, which is why we were attracted to the school. We believe that in North America, far too much emphasis is placed on pushing children to excel academically from an early age, often sacrificing their emotional development. Waldorf gives young children space to learn about themselves in many ways. Emotionally, the children are in a warm and welcoming room and interact with each other and their teachers. Physically, movement is encouraged, and the children spend many hours outside. Even when inside there is lots of motion and crafts such as finger knitting and wood working to help develop their motor skills. We appreciate that the Waldorf curriculum teaches students to solve difficult and often nebulous problems rather than simply finding answers in the back of a textbook. We believe this will ultimately create resilience and deep thinking.

(2) Extracurriculars

Our experience as parents of a kindergarten child is limited when it comes to extracurriculars since the young children don't have clubs after school. That being said, we are aware of a few things that have been mentioned in the school newsletter, such as skiing trips, the weekly math club, and field trips. As far as we know, there are not many extracurriculars offered at Waldorf.

(5) Students

The student body is about 160-180 students in the school. What really impressed us was how the students play together through the ages. In larger schools, it's much more common for children to play exclusively with other kids their own age, but at Waldorf, children of all ages play together quite happily. The older students look out for the younger students and genuinely care about their well-being. We've seen grade 5 children run over and help a grade one student with his snow tunnel when he asked for help, 4-13 year old kids gently wrestling after school in the snow (the 13 year old being very careful so that the 4 year old could join in safely), and children getting cold packs for others who got hurt. The kindergarten children (age range from 3.5-6) have a separate play yard from the "grades," and then in grade one, all the children (aged 6-14) share a space. I think that the wide range of ages in Kindergarten prepares them to play with children of all ages when they move up to grade 1. Another factor is that in grade 1, they're paired with a grade 8 buddy, who they visit once a week and are encouraged to seek out on the playground if desired.

(5) School Life

In the Waldorf philosophy, one of the most important things for a child to have in their life (home life and school life) is rhythm. At Trillium Waldorf School, there is a strong sense of rhythm and predictability. In Kindergarten, the children don't pack a lunch but are instead provided with a shared meal and snacks. They don't say "See you on Wednesday" but rather "See you on chili day!" because they eat chili together every Wednesday. The children know what to expect for their time together at school. The teachers are consistent, warm, and firm about the daily rhythms. With a 5-year-old, I've seen how difficult transitions are, especially unexpected transitions, so I know that this is helping her to have a smoother day. We feel strongly that this is an ideal environment for a child to learn and grow in. She hasn't gone to school anywhere else, so we're unable to compare her experience here with anything else. We've spent some time in the classroom, sometimes just 15 minutes while she adjusts, other times we've visited for the whole morning, and we've seen how well her day goes there. She doesn't tell us she loves school because she's something of a homebody, but once she gets there, she settles in immediately. The school deeply appreciates the anxiety that starting school can cause. Several steps were taken to help the young children acclimatize before the first day of school. First, a few weeks before school started, one of the kindergarten teachers came to our home for a short visit. Next, we were invited for a classroom visit during the summer, where my child spent two hours exploring the classroom and playing while the teacher did some work in the background. Then, a week before school started, we went to a picnic at a park near the school with all the other families and teachers who would be in our child's class. Put this together, and my shy daughter was actually excited for her first day and came home with a big smile on her face.

(5) Community

The community aspect of Waldorf is huge. The parents are highly encouraged to attend community meetings about three times a year, join the Parent Teacher Council, and come out for as many events and meetings as possible. The school puts on two markets a year: a Winter Spiral night, a lantern walk, a rhubarb social, and sledding at Crieff (some different events for families of different ages). There is a heavy emphasis on the need and joy of community. All parents are encouraged to attend the field trips (in Kindergarten). There was a "Work Bee"' at the beginning on the year where the children and parents were invited to come together to mend things at the school for a couple of hours. We sanded down and refinished a couple of tables with our daughter in the sunshine, which was a wonderful way to meet other families and let the children see the power of coming together as a community to accomplish things. The school is very much supported by the parents and gives many opportunities for parents to be as involved as they would like.

(4.5) School Location

The school is close to the city's edge but on a main road, which makes it quite accessible. It's in the suburbs and just a few blocks from a forest with many trails. The kindergarten children often take walks to the meadow, and I've heard some of the older classes do as well. Occasionally, they'll walk to the neighbourhood park, which is very close. The school has a good amount of space that is well utilized, with several climbing structures, hills, trees, gardens, fields, and a sandbox, so the children have plenty to do during their usual outside time. I think they enjoy taking the students on walks to the forest for a change of pace, maybe once a week, but the kids usually stay at the school.

(5) Admissions

I would say not to worry about it. The process was very smooth, and the administrators worked around our schedule to make the meetings happen. We had an initial meeting on Zoom since we weren't in the area at the time. Then, we filled out an online questionnaire about our family values and habits and met in person for a final interview. It felt like they cared about figuring out whether this school was the right fit for our child and family. Waldorf schools care a lot about continuity between home and school life, so these meetings included discussions about screen use, outdoor play, and even diet, which was quite interesting.