The Primary School Plan offers a holistic learning experience in a unique and diversified context, while taking into account the child’s developmental stages. The learning context, created around the child, is designed to encourage their individual potential, so that they can prepare to face the challenges of the society into which they will integrate.
This context conveys Waldorf values and educational approaches, in line with the programs of the Quebec Ministry of Education.
"Knowledge is acquired through experience, everything else is information."
The teacher in charge covers basic subjects such as arithmetic, writing, reading, natural science, history, geography, physics and chemistry.
Complementary subjects are taught by specialized teachers and include English, handwork, painting, music, eurythmy, physical education, gardening and woodworking.
The teacher in charge ideally accompanies their group of students for the first eight years of their school life, leading the class every day in the main lesson.
This continuity enables a deep understanding of each student’s strengths and challenges, and nurtures the development of a rich social dynamic in the classroom. In this way, the teacher in charge is able to bring cohesion to the program, integrate the various learnings over the years and constantly renew interest.
In the early years, teaching is essentially oral, with an emphasis on movement, images and artistic expression. This is the liveliest way to touch the child’s whole being: head, heart and body.
Writing, reading and arithmetic are introduced in a lively, pictorial way, using objects and images taken from fairy tales, legends, fables and animal stories. The child first does things before approaching them through abstraction. They have profound experiences through gesture and feeling.
In 4th Grade, children experience their inner separation from the world. Nordic mythology, with its grandiose and dramatic images, gives them an accurate reflection of their inner experience. They are ready to study fractions in arithmetic, to observe the world around them, both human and animal, in a lively way.
The curriculum cultivates the child’s imagination and, through art, tackles a variety of subjects: watercolor, drawing, modeling, singing, music, manual labor, physical education, movement and eurythmy.
In 5th grade, we teach the history of the great civilizations – ancient India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece. Students will encounter the aesthetic balance they themselves achieve in their physical development. They also observe plants and their geographical context.
In 6th grade, the student encounters Roman civilization in history, with its laws and the art of debate. Throughout the year, the historical journey evolves from the great invasions to the realities of the Middle Ages. It’s also a year of introduction to the sciences. Physics is approached through the observation of phenomena: acoustics, optics, heat, electricity… Their encounter with nature continues with mineralogy in relation to geography.
