The Waldorf School of Atlanta is a thriving, non-sectarian independent school offering Early Childhood through Grade 8 to 250 students in the heart of Decatur. Aligned with the nearby Waldorf high school, Academe of the Oaks, our curriculum is based on the work of Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Today, more than 1,000 Waldorf schools worldwide embody Steiner's educational philosophy based on balanced development, human values and universal spirituality.
Founded in 1986 by a group of parents, the Waldorf School of Atlanta is accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS), the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC), and the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. (AWSNA)
Our Mission
The Waldorf School of Atlanta inspires in its students a life-long love of learning through a curriculum that balances academic, artistic, and practical life skills, providing an approach to education that respects the unique abilities of each child and fosters his or her ability to think with clarity, to feel with compassion, and to act with purpose and social responsibility in their world.
Establishing Waldorf Education in Atlanta
In 1980, Katie Reily, a speech therapist and educator, attended a eurythmy performance by a traveling troupe from Stuttgart. A few months later, she visited a small Waldorf kindergarten in the mountains of north Georgia. Struck by the nobility and originality of these two manifestations of Rudolf Steiner, Katie began to research his lectures and share her discoveries in adult study groups in her home in Atlanta. It was Katie's knowledge, enthusiasm, and dedication that nurtured Atlanta's first Waldorf community of parents. As a new mother, she also extended the gift of Waldorf education to the young children in her Grant Park neighborhood.
Eventually convinced that the need and understanding were present to support a Waldorf kindergarten, Katie invited Susan Jones, the accomplished teacher of that small rural school in Young Harris, Georgia to move to Atlanta to teach. With Katie's vision, Susan's experience, and the support of devoted parents, the first Atlanta Waldorf kindergarten,
The Children's Garden, was established in 1986.
Along with the establishment of The Children's Garden, The Georgia Waldorf Association, a nonprofit organization, was founded. Its primary purpose was to build community awareness of Waldorf education in an effort to organize and support a Waldorf school in Atlanta. An Association newsletter was first published in 1986, esteemed Waldorf lecturers were sponsored, and various workshops were offered. As of October 1987, the Association boasted fifty members.
The kindergarten program expanded in 1991 to include a three-day class for younger children (co-taught by Theresa Moreno and Annamay Keeney); Annie Sommerville-Hall and Cheri Munske, among others, continued the Waldorf playgroup tradition by offering morning programs for very young children in their homes. In 1992, our school, and particularly its faithful parents, took another inspired step and established our first Grade I class: Susan Jones was the school's founding grades teacher.
The name of our school was changed to
The Waldorf School of Atlanta in 1993, to reflect the growth of our community and our aspirations for the future. Susan Jones stayed with her pioneer class through Grade V.
The formative years of this school were impelled by three essential convictions: Susan stood for the pedagogy, Katie stood for the community, and the parents stood for their children. These elements represent, in essence, the head, the heart, and the hands: those aspects of the human being which Steiner's education faithfully seeks to develop in its students.
We continue to build on our strong foundation as we plan for a permanent school campus at 827 Kirk Road in Decatur on property purchased in 2002.
(TOP)
