Kufunda Village School
Waldorf inspired education in Nature
​
Kufunda Village Waldorf inspired School marries the best of Waldorf with our placement in nature, on a farm and as part of a learning Village.
We are dedicated to providing learning that enables the development of the whole child, stimulating creativity and imagination while giving them a strong foundation in learning and knowledge for life.
Our school is led by our council of teachers and supported by visiting teachers and resource persons from the Waldorf World.
​
As part of Kufunda Learning Village we are exploring where the skills and knowledge of Kufunda can more directly benefit the children. Already we have brought Sikhethiwe in to teach pottery; Admire and Tichaenzana to teach farming; Maaianne is offering Movement, and Irvine is teaching Arts. With head, hands and heart learning as core to Waldorf, being part of a learning village enriches the education of the children. We look forward to finding more ways for the Learning Village to enrich the school, as well as for the school to enrich the village.
​
"Rather than educating the child how to learn, we strive to teach them to love learning. We address the whole child in it’s unique way of being - harmonizing the thinking, feeling and willing. As teachers we create a safe place/environment for the child to freely explore and discover him/herself. Apart from the intellectual development, there is (a lot of) space for arts, crafts, music."
Dorothy Nys..
We are inspired by the Waldorf philosophy and approach, which works with the inherent joy of learning, curiosity and imagination of our young, and which understands that the human being arrives to this earth with a purpose and gifts that come from their soul's journey. Part of the role of education is to enable that soul to fully land in this body, becoming enabled to fulfil his or her purpose on earth. This means education is far beyond simply teaching technical or even philosophical knowledge, and in fact during the early primary school years, the education is primarily direction through the feeling centre of the heart. So stories and images and learning that inspire, and that give an understanding of the fundamental principles of nature and life are what are central during these first stages of education. A time will come when the child is ready to fully apply the intellect to these learnings, but to begin we allow them to land in a place that inspires their sense of goodness, beauty and truth.
A Healthy Growing School
June 01, 2020
We began the year in a strong way.
First of all our numbers have increased enormously - from 45 children in 2019 we are now 79 in 2020! This was a blessing but of course it came with a challenge to integrate the many new children, especially the ones in the older classes who come from a very different education system
Reflections from 2019
December 31, 2019
2019 has come to an end. Our new classroom block is complete and was inaugurated with the All African Anthroposophic Training. 115 people from all over Africa coming together to learn about human development and social competence - inspired by anthroposophy and including workshops on Waldorf Education, Anthroposophic Medicine, Biodynamic Farming and more.
Joan Sleigh joined us from the Goetheanum to teach the workshop on Waldorf Education.
Johannah Birth from Germany taught about story telling in the kindergarten, a hands on workshop in which they created silk angel mobiles. Andrea Seeman taught a very important workshop on children with special needs, which brought very different ideas to people struggling with special needs children - some of them being parents, others teachers. Her workshop expanded their sense of who each child is and created new possibilities for meeting them more fully
January-July 2019 Update
July 31, 2019
2019 has been a good year for our school. Our new classroom block has been progressing well and is almost entirely completed. It will be taken into use during the third term of the year, a beautiful bright and spacious classroom block.
This was also the year that Kufunda began to learn and practice biodynamic farming. A workshop in April with teachers Anne and Rolf Bucher from Germany laid the foundation for Kufunda’s biodynamic farming project. A team from the village is working full time with establishing a biodynamic garden. Each Wednesday children join for community work in the garden. They have been making compost, CPP (Cow Pat Pits), stirred biodynamic compost preparations, mulched, and much more! In just a few months the garden is flourishing.
​
Read the full update here.
Gilbert Guvakuva Graduates as Fully Qualified Waldorf Teacher
August 07, 2018
Gilbert Guvakuva joined Kufunda Village School at the end of term one, 2018. He brings much experience in Waldorf to our growing school community, and in July he went to Freie Hochschule in Stuttgart, Germany, to complete his final Waldorf modules and graduate. As far as we know he is the only qualified Waldorf teacher practicing in Zimbabwe. We are continuing our teacher development, with one of our teacher's formalising her Waldorf training in Nairobi. For now we congratulate Gilbert!
​
It was a rich term with visiting teachers, new learning and even a visit to Wild is Life! Read the full report here.