Free Waldorf School Bremen Touler Street

Waldorf education

The foundation of our integrated comprehensive school (grades 1 to 12, with a subsequent 13th grade) is Waldorf education. We offer our students an environment where, in addition to cognitive abilities, creativity as well as social and emotional intelligence are fostered. The students' natural joy of learning is nurtured through practical and engaging lessons. At the end of their schooling, we envision our students as young adults who are aware of their strengths and weaknesses and who joyfully find and embrace their purpose in life.

All students should be given the opportunity to discover and develop their personalities at their own pace. There are no grades; instead, progress reports are provided by the class and/or subject teachers at the end of the school year. In each grade level, we offer a variety of theoretical and practical subjects, internships, and projects tailored to the questions and needs of the students in that particular grade. An important structural element throughout the entire school career is the block teaching system.

Lower and middle school

In grades 1-4, learning with all the senses forms the basis for the child's learning experiences within the developing classroom community. In artistic and linguistic activities, strong imagery is used. This imagery stimulates the children's imagination and strengthens their cognitive abilities as well as their emotional and volitional development.

Each child is allowed to discover and develop their personality at their own pace. Students are supported by their class teachers and remain within their class community at all times. Instead of grades, teachers write individual, differentiated progress reports. Lessons are divided into block lessons and subject-specific instruction.

In grades 5-8, the period of pre-puberty and puberty, the artistic and visual aspects of teaching recede in favor of conveying information through observation, its representation, and analysis. The curriculum expands to include the natural sciences; practical subjects such as crafts and horticulture now find their place in the timetable.

LSR (Reading – Writing – Arithmetic)

In every class, there are some students for whom acquiring literacy skills presents a particular challenge. For these students, the LSR decree provides the basis for equal participation in lessons through the possibility of accommodations or protective measures. We support our students in this area during the lower and middle grades with appropriate support and provide accommodations. The aspect of grade protection only comes into play from grade 10 onwards, when school-leaving qualifications require grades.

For all students who have to deal with dyscalculia, the legislator no longer provides for any consideration after primary school, i.e. from grade 5 onwards.

Remedial lessons

Our support program is the responsibility of our special education teacher, who works with students in individual and group settings. Support measures for learning difficulties, dyscalculia, concentration problems, and other challenges are primarily implemented in grades 1-5. These measures are coordinated between the teachers, the special education teacher, and the parents after several classroom observations. The special education teacher also conducts the second-grade assessment, a standardized developmental evaluation of each child.

Curative eurythmy

Therapeutic eurythmy is offered to all students at our school. It is a movement therapy developed by Rudolf Steiner. In a healthy person, the forces of the physical, emotional, and spiritual-individual levels work harmoniously together. Illness is a disruption of this constellation of forces. Targeted therapeutic eurythmy movement exercises restore these levels to balance.

Degrees 

• Vocational training qualification after the 10th grade (BBR, state-recognized)
• Intermediate school leaving certificate after the 11th grade (EBBR or MSA, state-recognized)
• Waldorf schooling ends with the 12th grade and concludes with a theoretical and practical year-long project.
• Abitur after the 13th grade (state-recognized, together with teachers from Bremen grammar schools)