Attendees can expect a day filled with passionate sharing of ideas and visions, artistic experience and to hear the creation stories of other Waldorf/Steiner schools in South Australia

The topics and themes discussed will evolve organically from the interests and needs of the attendees themselves, with a final opportunity made to commit to some action that sustains and promotes the wider vision of Waldorf / Steiner in SA.

The day is open to everyone with an interest in Waldorf/Steiner education in SA – parents, teachers, staff, students, old hands and new chums! Please mark the date in your diary and help promote May 23rd as an exciting day for Waldorf/Steiner in SA.‘Waldorf Groundswell SA’ is on Facebook so please like this site. Registrations will be open soon so stay tuned.

Please contact us at the organising team if you would like to be involved or have suggestions for the day, on abeb2002@bigpond.com

Groundswell Unconference #1 – Reflections

In May 2019 the Mt Barker and Willunga Waldorf School Council / Boards organised a state- wide Waldorf education conference to mark 100 years of Steiner education in the world and 40 years in SA. Fittingly, the Mt Barker Waldorf School was the site for the conference which was attended by 60 keen participants from across the SA Waldorf/Steiner community, as well as the CEO of Steiner Education Australia, Virginia Moller, and SEA Chair, Chris Jack.

On the day, participants heard the creation stories of Mt Barker Waldorf School and the exciting new initiatives evolving in Port Lincoln, Victor Harbor and Moreton Bay, Queensland. The day then unfolded in the ‘unconference’ format where attendees set the agenda with topics of interest and relevance to themselves and to the promotion of the wider Steiner movement in SA. Twenty different topics were introduced and discussed, with much lively discussion and passionate sharing of ideas and visions. Attendees could ‘choose their own adventure’ – selecting topics that actually mattered to them.

Social opportunities arose over meal breaks to meet each other, really make connections and share experiences. Attendees enjoyed the hospitability of the host school and were able to appreciate the evolution and growth of the school over 40 years.

In the final session attendees received a collated booklet that contained all the notes taken from each of the 20 sessions. As a group they discussed and prioritised the key themes of the day and considered which themes they may be able to make an ongoing commitment to.

The final priorities to emerge were:-

1. Greater cooperation between Waldorf schools in SA
2. Marketing Waldorf as the best green school option
3. Get a Eurythmist for our schools
4. Organise a SA-wide festival day
5. Better parent education

What priorities will emerge in 2020? We hope to see many of you on May 23rd.

Andrew Bentley
Willunga Waldorf School Council,
Groundswell 2020 Organising Committee
abeb2002@bigpond.com