Where appropriate, we offer composite classes organised by stages. Currently, this includes Classes 1/2 and 3/4. This approach aligns with the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) framework, which groups learning across two year stages.

The content for each stage is delivered over a two year A/B rhythm. Using an A and B year cycle ensures that all students experience the full range of main lessons across both year levels. For example, if a class begins in a B year, they will complete the A year content the following year.

Children entering Class 1 from Kindergarten begin as the younger members of the group. In the following year, as Class 2, they remain with the same teacher and take on the role of senior students, welcoming and supporting the new Class 1 children. This fosters confidence and a sense of belonging, while encouraging meaningful social connections across a wider range of ages.

The Main Lesson incorporates the academic focus of an area of study and occurs during the first 2 hours of the day when the student’s mind is most receptive. Each area is studied thematically over a 3-4 week period to allow an in-depth focus, whether it be Mathematics, English, History, Geography, the Sciences or Humanities subjects.

Music, taught and experienced in a variety of voice, instrumental and ensemble contexts, is a vital and joyous part of the curriculum for all students, and is a very important form of expression. Exercises to develop the musical ear are practised to provide a solid base for subsequent musical accomplishment. From Class 1 to Class 6 students play the recorder, and in Class 3 all students begin to learn violin or cello. Ensembles bring another level to the experience from Class 4 onwards. Singing and choral work and a variety of instruments are experienced throughout the school years.

Art and craft are integral to the curriculum, and complement and enhance the intellectual aspects of the lesson work. Practical art develops multiple skills and abilities, and nurtures cognitive, social and personal competencies.

Recitation and drama, wet-on-wet painting, form drawing, beeswax and clay modelling, and handcrafts such as sewing, knitting, weaving, woodwork and carving are all experienced, educating the feelings and calling on skill, judgement, invention, form and style. Handwork develops a connection between the child’s inner world and the outer world, bringing balance to the child’s whole being.

“It awakens feelings in the child who is one-sidedly intellectual, stimulates activity in the weak-willed child, and awakens the thinking in the dreamy child. Children who learn to make practical things in an artistic way, for the benefit of others as well as themselves, will be able to form their lives and their relationships in a social and artistic way when they are older, thereby enriching their lives. The training through art in school is not for the purpose of producing artists, but in order to educate young people for the art of living, based on disciplined exercise. The type of exercise and the time it is introduced are the important factors. Joy and happiness in living, love for all existence, a power and energy for work, such are among the lifelong results of a right cultivation of the feeling for beauty and art.” Rudolf Steiner

Students study another language in order to both come to grips with the intricacies of language itself and also to be able to understand other cultures. Our students study French from Kindergarten to Class 8 in a spiralling continuum of songs, verses, stories and games in the early years to the complexity of grammatical structures in the higher classes.

Movement and Learning (Extra Lesson) is an innovative and dynamic program designed to develop the child’s physical, intellectual, and emotional wellbeing through games and exercises that combine spoken poetry, rhymes, and tongue twisters.

Celebration of the rhythms of the seasons and the winter and summer solstices, as well as the traditional Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter, provide an opportunity for the children, parents and friends of the whole school community to come together. As well as being highlights of the child’s year, these deepen their sense of purpose and place in the world connecting humanity to the rhythms of nature and the cosmos.

All students participate in class camps of increasing length as they rise through the classes from 1 to 9. The camps are integral to the curriculum: they are challenging, extending and provide an opportunity for students to be immersed in nature whilst enhancing social and survival skills. Armidale, being located near spectacular gorge country and World heritage areas, also allows opportunities for regular bushwalking day trips.