Waldorf Independent school of edmonton - WISE...drawing, modeling, movement, introduction of second languages of different origins, and handwork supplement the broad academic curriculum,

WALDORF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL OF EDMONTON

2014-2017 THREE YEAR EDUCATION PLAN &

2013-2014 ANNUAL EDUCATION RESULTS REPORT

“Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of

responsibility—these three forces are the very nerve of education.”

~ Rudolf Steiner

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Foundation Statements __________________________________________________________________________________ 1

Accountability Pillars ____________________________________________________________________________________ 5

Financial Statements ___________________________________________________________________________________ 11

Contact Information ____________________________________________________________________________________ 14

FOUNDATION STATEMENTS

Page 1

Foundation Statements

MISSION

The Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton is a community run school that strives to provide an

accessible Waldorf education for children and families. We look to the pedagogical and

anthroposophical indications of Rudolf Steiner to guide and foster the physical, emotional, intellectual

and spiritual potential of the child towards the realization of responsible human freedom.

VISION

2-5 Year Vision

In 2-5 years, WISE will be a thriving Waldorf school, operating in its own building/facility, with room to support our growing programs.

We will be a ‘Developing School’ within AWSNA, attaining Waldorf certification for all teachers.

The WISE will be known for our talented and committed staff, our accessible community, and for our happy, well-adjusted students, who demonstrate an ongoing passion for life and education.

5-15 Year Vision

In 5-15 years, WISE will be a thriving, AWSNA-certified pre-k through grade 9 Waldorf school, operating independently in its own building/campus.

Our inspiring, Waldorf-certified teachers will continue to follow Waldorf Curriculum and Alberta Program of Studies.

VALUE STATEMENTS

We value children and honour the whole child.

We value Waldorf Education for what it brings to each family.

We value our unique community built on mutual respect and integrity.

We believe that humanity is interconnected and that it is our shared responsibility to participate in the healing

and nurturing of our world.

We value the spiritual intention guiding our school and we honour the diverse beliefs of our community.


Page 2

PROFILE OF THE SCHOOL

The Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton (WISE) was established in September 2011.

The WISE School strives to assist students to nurture their sense of self, to develop and

understand their relationships to the world and immediate community, and learn to respect

nature and each other through their own observations and experiences.

Integrating artistic activities into the daily curriculum enhances the development of the

child’s imagination, inspiration, and intuition. Lessons such as music, singing, painting,

drawing, modeling, movement, introduction of second languages of different origins, and

handwork supplement the broad academic curriculum, and encourage a head, heart and

hands approach to learning.

The Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton Offers:

• A broad curriculum balancing the sciences, arts and humanities.

• A progression of learning based on related stages of children’s physical, social, emotional

and spiritual development.

• An emphasis on character development and the integration of knowledge with the

student’s own life.

• A single teacher remaining with a class for a period of eight years.

• An emphasis upon nature, movement and exploration – both physical and intellectual.

Background

Austrian Philosopher and Educator Rudolf Steiner developed Waldorf Education in Stuggart,

Germany circa 1919. There are currently more than 1000 established Waldorf schools

worldwide, and the demand continues to grow for this education modality.

In 2013-2014, our school offered two Kindergarten classes, one Grade 1 class, one Grade 2

class, one Grade 3 class, one Grade 4 class, and one Grade 5 class, as well as traditional,

parent-directed home education for grades 1-6. In addition, we offer early childhood

programs for children from 12 months to 5 years of age, and an Arts Enrichment Program for

Home Education Students. Our school will grow annually with the addition of a new Grade 1

Class each year, up to Grade 6, with the hope of eventually adding junior high classes.


Page 3

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

WISE Accomplishments

• The Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton officially opened our doors on September

6th 2011 to 30 children– 21 in Kindergarten and 9 in a Class 1/2 split. As of September

2014, we have over 130 students with classes from Kindergarten through Grade 5, as well

as home education students in grades 1 through 6, and over 130 children registered in

our early childhood classes.

• The Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton has a skilled and committed faculty that

possesses Alberta Teaching Certificates and/or Early Childhood Certification (as

required), as well as Waldorf Teaching experience and Waldorf pedagogical training.

• Several events were held during the 2013-2014 school year that supported the

development of our parent community, and that created engagement and support in our

wider community for the Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton. This has included

parent education talks and speaker events, a parent learning circle, three highly

successful community festivals: the Pumpkin Walk, the Winter Fair and May Fair, as well

as smaller school assemblies and celebrations throughout the year that encouraged

parent and community involvement.

• We hosted our first annual Gateways Conference in May 2013, with renowned author Kim

John Payne as our keynote speaker. This event was open to the public and included an

informative session on social inclusion, as well as the choice between a wonderful

selection of sessions. Our teachers were also excited for their professional development

session with Kim.

• In May and June of 2013, our school had its first students eligible to write the Provincial

Achievement Tests, and performed well.

• Beginning in June 2013, our Board, staff and parents helped our school transition to our

new school building.

• For September 2013, the third year of our school, we have almost triple the enrollment

we had in our inaugural year, September 2011.

• In May 2014, we held our second annual Gateways Conference with Joan Almon,

highlighting “Raising Healthy Creative Children in the 21st Century”. This event was open

to the public and had wonderful selection of sessions. Our teachers were thrilled with

their professional development session with Joan.

• In May 2014, all of our staff and board members came together with an independent

facilitator, to create our new WISE Values, Vision and Mission Statements.


Page 4

PARENTAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Community Connections

Parent participation and volunteerism at the Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton

completes the circle of support and learning for the students. Parents are encouraged to take

an active role in their children's education, helping in a number of critical areas from serving

on the board and numerous committees, to supporting community-building events and

fundraisers. We also host several events throughout the year that are open to the entire

community, both to attend and to contribute to the events. We believe that a strong

connection to the wider community is important.

Class-Parent Communication

Each Classroom has a class parent representative who coordinates activities amongst the

parents of each class. In addition, the class representative communicates the needs and

supports required for their class and coordinates activities to meet those needs within the

larger parent body, faculty, administration and board.

ACCOUNTABILITY PILLARS

Page 5

Accountability Pillars

ACCOUNTABILITY PILLAR OVERALL SUMMARY: AUTHORITY 0259 WALDORF EDUCATION SOCIETY OF EDMONTON Combined 2014 Accountability Pillar Overall Summary (Required for Public/Separate/Francophone/Charter School Authorities and Level 2 Private Schools)

Measure Category

Measure

Category

Evaluation

Measure Waldorf Education

Society Edm Alberta Measure Evaluation

Current

Result

Prev

Year

Result

Prev 3

Year

Average

Current

Result

Prev

Year

Result

Prev 3

Year

Average

Achievement Improvement Overall

Safe and Caring

Schools n/a Safe and Caring n/a n/a n/a 89.1 89.0 88.6 n/a n/a n/a

Student Learning

Opportunities n/a

Program of Studies n/a n/a n/a 81.3 81.5 81.1 n/a n/a n/a

Education Quality n/a n/a n/a 89.2 89.8 89.5 n/a n/a n/a

Drop Out Rate n/a n/a n/a 3.3 3.5 3.6 n/a n/a n/a

High School

Completion Rate (3 yr) n/a n/a n/a 74.9 74.8 73.8 n/a n/a n/a

Student Learning

Achievement (Grades

K-9)

n/a

PAT: Acceptable n/a n/a n/a 74.0 75.3 75.5 n/a n/a n/a

PAT: Excellence n/a n/a n/a 19.0 19.1 19.6 n/a n/a n/a

Student Learning

Achievement (Grades

10-12)

n/a

Diploma: Acceptable n/a n/a n/a 85.4 84.2 83.4 n/a n/a n/a

Diploma: Excellence n/a n/a n/a 21.0 19.5 19.1 n/a n/a n/a

Diploma Exam

Participation Rate (4+

Exams)

n/a n/a n/a 50.5 56.6 55.9 n/a n/a n/a

Rutherford Scholarship

Eligibility Rate

(Revised)

n/a n/a n/a 60.9 61.3 60.8 n/a n/a n/a

Preparation for Lifelong

Learning, World of

Work, Citizenship

n/a

Transition Rate (6 yr) n/a n/a n/a 59.2 59.5 59.1 n/a n/a n/a

Work Preparation n/a n/a n/a 81.2 80.3 80.0 n/a n/a n/a

Citizenship n/a n/a n/a 83.4 83.4 82.6 n/a n/a n/a

Parental Involvement n/a Parental Involvement n/a n/a n/a 80.6 80.3 80.0 n/a n/a n/a

Continuous

Improvement n/a School Improvement n/a n/a n/a 79.8 80.6 80.2 n/a n/a n/a

Notes:

1. Aggregated PAT results are based upon a weighted average of percent meeting standards (Acceptable, Excellence). The weights are the number of students enrolled in each course. Courses included: English Language Arts (Grades 6, 9, 9 KAE), Français (Grades 6, 9), French Language Arts (Grades 6, 9), Mathematics 9 KAE, Science (Grades 6, 9, 9 KAE), Social Studies (Grades 6, 9, 9 KAE). Grade 3 results were not included due to the introduction of the Student Learning Assessment Pilot.

2. Aggregated Diploma results are a weighted average of percent meeting standards (Acceptable, Excellence) on Diploma Examinations. The weights are the number of students writing the Diploma Examination for each course. Courses included: English Language Arts 30-1, English Language Arts 30-2, French Language Arts 30-1, Français 30-1, Chemistry 30, Physics 30, Biology 30, Science 30, Social Studies 30-1, Social Studies 30-2.

3. The subsequent pages include evaluations for each performance measure. If jurisdictions desire not to present this information for each performance measure in the subsequent pages, please include a reference to this overall summary page for each performance measure.

4. Data values have been suppressed where the number of students or respondents is less than 6. Suppression is marked with an asterisk (*). 5. Please note that participation in Diploma Examinations and Grade 9 Provincial Achievement Tests was impacted by the flooding in June 2013. Caution should

be used when interpreting trends over time for the province and those school authorities affected by the floods. 6. Survey results for the province and some school authorities were impacted by an increase in the number of students responding to the survey through the

introduction of the Tell THEM From ME survey tool in 2014.


Page 6

GOAL ONE: AN EXCELLENT START TO LEARNING

Outcome: To create a nurturing and safe environment in which children learn through play,

stories and music. (Locally developed outcome)

Strategies

To continue to grow our Parent-Tot and Nursery (pre-kindergarten) Programs to meet the

needs of our community, to ensure the growth of our school, and to grow the Waldorf

pedagogy that will help the children become engaged thinkers and ethical citizens.

GOAL TWO: SUCCESS FOR EVERY STUDENT

Outcome: Students achieve student learning outcomes

Comment on Results

As did many schools in the province, our grade 3 class chose not to complete the PATs for

the 2013-2014 school year; they completed the new SLAs in Sept/Oct of 2014 instead.

• 94.5% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of education at the WISE

in the 2013-2014 school year.

• 94.4% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with that their children learned what they

needed to know in the 2013-2014 school year.

Strategies

A survey circulated to establish whether parents and teachers are satisfied with the

opportunity for students to receive a broad program of studies and with the overall quality

of basic education.

Continue to develop Waldorf pedagogical approaches to the Alberta Program of Studies,

supported by student evaluation that prepares students for success on the new SLAs, as well as

a depth of understanding in literacy and numeracy.

Staff and board will work to increase the number of survey respondents to ensure that more

than 60% of families are heard from in our survey and to maintain and grow the high

percentage of parents satisfied with the students’ achievements in the learning outcomes.


Page 7

Outcome: Students demonstrate proficiency in literacy and numeracy

Comment on Results

As did many schools in the province, our grade 3 class chose not to complete the PATs for the

2013-2014 school year; they completed the new SLAs in Sept/Oct of 2014 instead.

• 94.5% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of education at the WISE in the

2013-2014 school year.

• 94.4% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with that their children learned what they

needed to know in the 2013-2014 school year.

Strategies

A survey circulated to establish whether parents and teachers are satisfied with the opportunity

for students to receive a broad program of studies and with the overall quality of basic education.

Continue to develop Waldorf pedagogical approaches to the Alberta Program of Studies, supported

by student evaluation that prepares students for success on the new SLAs, as well as a depth of

understanding in literacy and numeracy.

Staff and board will work to increase the number of survey respondents to ensure that more than

60% of families are heard from in our survey.


Page 8

Outcome: Students demonstrate citizenship and entrepreneurship.

Comment on Results

• In the 2013-2014 school year, 95.6% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied that the students

model the characteristics of ethical and active citizenship and that they are taught attitudes and

behaviours that will make them successful at work when they finish school.

Strategies

Students, staff and volunteers will model engagement and responsible citizenship by actively

participating in the management, care and upkeep of school/community life. Students and

teachers will create routines that build respect and responsibility for the maintenance of the

class room, school yard and community.

Students, parents and the Board will plan and carry out activities that enhance the school

community, including community events, such as festivals and special celebrations.

Students will regularly visit local parks and outdoor spaces where they will learn the importance

of respecting nature and being responsible for natural spaces. In addition, travel to and from

these field trips whether walking or riding public transportation will expose the students to

appropriate and acceptable behavior as a group on a community outing.

Staff and volunteers will model respectful conflict management and resolution.

A survey circulated to establish whether teachers, parents are satisfied; that students model the

characteristics of ethical citizenship that students are taught attitudes and behaviours that will

make them successful at work when they finish school.



Continue to develop Waldorf pedagogical approaches to the development of ethical citizenship and

the qualities needed for successful careers and entrepreneurship.

Results will be used to review planning and programming for future years.


Page 9

Outcome: The achievement gap between First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) students and all

other students is eliminated.

Comment on Results

Our teachers have noted no achievement gaps between our FNMI students and our other

students.

Strategies

Using teacher assessments and the provincial exams when applicable, we will continue to

monitor our FNMI students to ensure the continued success or our FNMI students and that no

achievement gaps begin to exist.

GOAL THREE: QUALITY TEACHING AND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Outcome: Teacher preparation and professional growth focus on the competencies needed to

help students learn. Effective learning and teaching is achieved through collaborative

leadership.

Comment on Results

With the guidance of the pedagogical principal, each teacher develops a Teacher Professional

Growth Plan annually. The TPGP is supplemented with weekly teacher-led child and book

studies, as well as collaborative learning opportunities to ensure that effective learning and

teaching is taking place in each classroom and for each student.

In addition the WISE School supports professional development opportunities, mentoring and

exchanges throughout the school year. Each summer, our teachers are supported to access

professional development opportunities that enhance their effective learning and teaching

approaches that focus on competencies.

Strategies

We will ask all staff, including educational assistants, to complete our school survey in the spring,

to ensure a high level of engagement and satisfaction with quality teaching and school

leadership.


Page 10

GOAL FOUR: ENGAGED AND EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE

Outcome: The education system demonstrates collaboration and engagement.

Outcome: Students and communities have access to safe and healthy learning environments.

Comment on Results

97.3% of respondents are highly satisfied or satisfied with parental involvement (collaboration &

engagement) in decisions about their child's education. In addition 86.9% believe they had

adequate opportunity to be involved in decisions at the school and about their child’s education.

Strategies

A survey circulated to establish whether teachers, parents are satisfied with parental

involvement in decisions about their child's education and the decisions at the school



Survey results will be used to review planning and programming for future years.

Parents volunteering as Class Representatives will liaise and facilitate discussion between parents

and teachers to provide opportunities for parent involvement and engagement. Class

Representatives will be supported by the WESE Board , which will continue to work to support the

teachers and their students as needed.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Page 11

Financial Statements

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION


Page 12

BUDGET SUMMARY


Page 13

ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENT FOR COMBINED ANNUAL EDUCATION RESULTS REPORT RESULTS AND THREE-YEAR EDUCATION PLAN

The Annual Education Results Report for the 2013-2014 school year and the Education Plan for the

three years commencing September 1, 2014 for the Waldorf Education Society of Edmonton (and the

Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton) were prepared under the direction of the Board in

accordance with its responsibilities under the Private Schools Regulation and the Education Grants

Regulation.

This document was developed in the context of the provincial government’s business and fiscal plans.

The Board has used the results reported in the document, to the best of its abilities, to develop the

Education Plan and is committed to implementing the strategies contained within the Education Plan

to improve student learning and results.

The Board approved this combined Annual Education Results Report for the 2013-2014 school year and

the three-year Education Plan for 2014-2017 on 30 November 2014.

TIMELINES AND COMMUNICATION

The 3-Year Plan will be approved by the Waldorf Education Society Board of Directors by November

30, 2014. It will be submitted to Alberta Education by November 30th.

The Plan will be posted on the Waldorf Education Society of Edmonton school website at

www.thewise.ca and a copy shall be placed in the parent room in the school. Notice of its availability

will be circulated in an update to members by January 2014.

The Audited Financial Statement of the Waldorf Educations Society of Edmonton for 2013-2014 was

approved by the Board on November 30, 2014 and is made available to members in our school office.

WALDORF EDUCATION SOCIETY OF EDMONTON

BOARD CHAIR

Mandie Abrams

THE WALDORF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL OF EDMONTON

http://www.thewise.ca/

CONTACT INFORMATION

Page 14

Contact Information

WALDORF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL OF EDMONTON

7114 98 St

Edmonton AB T6E 3M1

Tel 780-466-3312

www.thewise.ca

www.thewise.ca

Documents

Waldorf Independent school of edmonton - WISE...drawing, modeling, movement, introduction of second languages of different origins, and handwork supplement the broad academic curriculum,