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.
We have a strong body of teachers, whose teacher training and further Waldorf training and experience covers several countries including several years of teaching experience in South African Waldorf schools, and professional Waldorf training in Kenya and at the Freie Hochschule Stuttgart in Germany.
The school’s curriculum follows Waldorf pedagogy, and is further enhanced by our placement in an active learning village. The children have access to farming, handcrafts, eco-building, herbal knowledge and more practical experience which complements and enriches their main lessons.
In the words of Dorothee Nys from Belgium who has been teaching the class threes last year "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."
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.
2019 School Update
September 03, 2019
2019 has been a good year for our school. Our new classroom block has been progressing well and is now almost completed. It will be taken into use during the third term of the year, a beautiful bright and spacious classroom block. It was made possible due to generous support and funding from many friends abroad, including Mahle, Freunde, Acaccia and Simba Kufunda.
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.
On the journey to qualifying as a Waldorf Teacher By Elizabeth Madanire
August 21, 2019
Obtaining my teaching certificate and honors degree was a great achievement for me. Little did I know that fate had bigger things for me. The Waldorf calling started, when I left Zimbabwe for South Africa due to economic hardship. I got a job at Hermanus Waldorf School in the Cape Province. I had two very excellent mentors Louise Oberholzer and Marrian Penfold. I received a lot of in-house mentorship which greatly helped me to have an insight into the Waldorf methodology of teaching. When the situation became better in Zimbabwe I came back. I got a teaching vacancy at a Waldorf inspired school. I was all alone with no mentor. I felt exposed, nervous and unsure of what to do with the children. Visitors from abroad would give their own individual views and advice. I was like the branches of a tree on a windy day that sway wherever the wind forces them. I would sway to and fro.
Class Updates
July 31, 2019
This little update will give you a taste of the learning style of the Kufunda school and classes.
Update from our first term as Kufunda Village School
This is the first term Kufunda Village School is operating on its own. It has been a big shift, which has placed greater demands on us, but which has also brought much energy as we have worked together to live up to what is needed. During the holidays and at the beginning of the term the whole village has been coming together to prepare the school for the children. We now have new spaces for the primary school, the kindergarten and the grade zero (pre-school class). All the spaces have been painted, windows have been added to bring more light, and the playground has been moved into the middle of the village in our small forest area.
Kufunda March School News
The last weeks have been busy for the school with the class 3s and 5s leading the way with creating a garden and entry way for where the school will shortly be moving to under the stewardship of Benjamin Tree, a Waldorf teacher who is with us for this first term of the year. The new school premise is only a few hundred metres from the current building, which is by a parking lot. The new space is in an ecologically built rammed earth building in the heart of Kufunda learning village. To support their move, the children have been planting a garden to mark the entryway into the village and to their school. Next term, as part of their building main lesson, they will be part of building a simple outdoor classroom using the simple cob technique.
Photo gallery
"I can see something new coming into my home through this child.
Something is born in the family which is important."
Kufunda Parent
"I like my school
because it is a fun way of learning and we do different things each day."
Student
“She is not as shy as she was before. She has become a curious person, wanting to know more about her school work and her surroundings.”
Parent