Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School is a coeducational, state integrated composite school in

Tirohanga Tirohanga ( Te Reo for "distant view") is a suburb of Lower Hutt City situated at the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand. The suburb is located on the western side of the Hutt River and State Highway 2. Demographics Tirohanga statistic ...

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

. It provides a

Waldorf education Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is Holistic education, holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic ...

for Years 1 to 13. Matriculation starts when children are 7 years of age.

Curriculum

The school follows

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...

's 3-stage pedagogical model of child development promoted in

. The Raphael House Rudolf Steiner/Waldorf curriculum is cross-referred to the National Curriculum. In 2012 a new Level 3 NZQA approved qualification, known as the Steiner School Certificate was offered to Class 12 (Year 13) students. From 2013 this qualification was offered at Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. The Steiner School Certificate Level 3, has also been approved by Universities NZ, for University Entrance Ad Eundum Statum. Foreign languages currently taught include: *

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Most overseas student exchanges are with students from German Waldorf schools.

Community

Raphael House offers evening adult education courses on subjects such as health,

anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers ...

, and self-development, and provides a small number of rooms for community activities. The school issues a printed and onlin
weekly newsletter
called 'The Bush telegraph'to parents which disseminates pertinent community information and also offers advertising space.

Festivals

Raphael House celebrates a number of

Christian festivals The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

, namely

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

St Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

, and

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

, as well as

Midwinter Midwinter is the middle of the winter. The term is attested in the early Germanic calendars. Attestations Midwinter is attested in the early Germanic calendars, where it appears to have been a specific day or a number of days during the winter ha ...

and

St Michael's day ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

, as cultural experiences for students and their parents. Preparation for the feast days is considered an important part of the students' experience; for example, the students learn songs and make their own colourful lanterns in the days leading up to the Midwinter festival.

Notable alumni

Anna Paquin Anna Hélène Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, Paquin made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film ''The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the Aca ...

- film and television actress, Oscar winnerAwards for Anna Paquin
Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for ''The Piano'' (1993). Accessed 2007-12-31.

References

External links