Acceptance Policy

Waldorf educational philosophy and practice seeks to develop and balance the needs of the whole child, working with the intellectual, spiritual, emotional and physical development of the individual within a social context.

The teachers and staff handle the policies and administration of the Waldorf School. We have no “bureaucratic layer” of administration. We have one part-time remedial teacher. Therefore, it needs to be understood that children in our school need to be able to function in a group setting. Parents will be given appropriate and timely information and we rely on parents to be supportive and forthright in their work with
the school.

We are not a “special needs” school. However our commitment to recognizing and working with the wholeness of each child often causes us to look beyond the labels a child has acquired elsewhere when considering placement in our school. Students may occasionally be offered conditional acceptance with the following guidelines:

• A meeting will be held with the parents, class teacher, and remedial teacher every two weeks for the first six weeks of school.

• During the third meeting an evaluation is done and further recommendations are made.

Support services outside of school may be requested (tutoring, counseling, etc).

Placement Guidelines

Nursery & Mixed Age Kindergarten
Three-day and five-day options. Children must be at least 3 years of age by September and potty trained. Please contact the school for further information on our early childhood program placement.

Grade One
Children born before April 1 are generally ready to begin first grade the fall after they turn six. Children whose birthdays fall in April or May are closely observed and evaluated to determine if first grade at six or seven will best suit their individual growth and development. Our "cut-off" date for the first grade is June 1, so children must have turned 6 by June 1 in order to enter first grade the same year. Since we are not evaluating the children for their readiness relative to the next few months but rather for the next eight or nine years, age is not the only assessment criterion that we use.

Grades Two through Eight
Children wishing to enter the grades, whose birthdays do not coincide with our cutoffs, will be placed according to the results of a developmental/academic assessment and observation during the required three-day visit. Previous placement will be taken into consideration.

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Waldorf School of Cape Cod
85  Cotuit Road
Bourne, Massachusetts 02532
phone: 508.759.7499 | fax: 508.759.7383

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