The Power of Connection
Building community at school
At Marin Waldorf School, we believe a healthy social life is at the heart of a well-rounded education and a meaningful life. In our classrooms and across the school community, we nourish and value relationships between students, teachers, and families.
Research makes it clear that a supportive community is fundamental to fostering children’s growth and development at school. A supportive community benefits parents, too. At Marin Waldorf School, we hope that, within a welcoming community of families and in partnership with our faculty and staff, parents will lean into the joy and personal growth that comes with raising children.
A Focus on Relationships
At Marin Waldorf School, students work with the same team of teachers for multiple years, allowing them to build deep, trusting, and supportive relationships with the adults at school. (Click here to read more about how we put this in practice through teacher looping.)
Parents, too, build strong, trusting, long-term relationships with their children’s teachers. All human relationships require effort and care, and we make those relationships a priority. We emphasize open and honest conversations between parents and teachers, building a trusting relationship with the child’s needs at the center.
Built-in Support
In addition to the support offered by teachers, administrators and faculty advisors serve as a bridge between the school and our families. Difficulties and differences of opinion are inherent in human encounters; we are committed to communication practices that lead to increased awareness of the needs of others, the community as a whole and ourselves. This is fundamental to a healthy community.
One sources of support is grades director Sarah Whitmore. In addition to her work as a mentor to faculty, Sarah works closely with parents, helping them navigate issues around parenthood, and working with them toward achieving the best outcomes when communicating with their child’s class teacher. Sarah works particularly closely with new families, helping them integrate into the school and feel part of the community.
Parent Engagement & Learning
Parents at Marin Waldorf School end up in the classroom too! Throughout the year, class teachers hold parent evenings in their classroom to talk about what’s happening at school, discuss the curriculum, and share insights about child development. It’s a moment to learn and to connect with each other.
Parents (and our extended community) are also encouraged to attend events in our annual Speaker Series, free annual program of guest lectures and community conversations with experts in health, parenting, and education. Recent topics have included Simplicity Parenting, sexual ethics, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Parents are also encouraged to get involved as school-day volunteers. There are numerous ways for parent volunteers to get involved with their child’s classroom, including opportunities to help handwork class, in reading groups, with festival celebrations, setting up for school plays, chaperoning on field trips, and more.
Festivals
and Community Events
Once a month, on Friday mornings, we host a Community Coffee in the breezeway outside the front office. It’s a simple affair: mugs of warm coffee and tea, homemade snacks, and, when we’re lucky, live music performed by one of our parents. Community Coffees are an invitation to set aside a few minutes in a busy Friday morning to breathe, relax, and connect with other people. It’s a small but beloved aspect of parent life at Marin Waldorf School.
Assemblies and festivals, from the Michaelmas pageant to the annual Lunar New Year assembly, bring the entire school community together. Integrated into the academic curriculum, seasonal festivals strive to awaken the child's reverence for the wonder and beauty of life, and connection with the rhythms of the earth and cosmos.