Expanded Horizons

At Bright Water Waldorf School, we support the development of innate human responses to the world around us: wonder, curiosity, reverence and awe. This is the foundation from which a middle school student will build their academic and vocational future. 

Bright Water Waldorf School’s “micro middle school” program is in critical conversation with the post-pandemic youth. It is a learning environment that is actively responding to the pandemic impact on the heart, mind, and soul of the student, and actively teaching in ways that call the student forward into active learning and healthy development, not set them down behind yet another screen.

Our middle school students are seen, supported, celebrated! Bright Water’s small student to teacher ratio provides individualized attention and encourages independent learning, which contributes to the student’s healthy growth and formation, and contributes to their academic excellence as they continue their journey into higher education. If you are looking for a remarkably different middle school experience for your student  that centers academic excellence as well as creative self-expression in an atmosphere that fosters kindness and compassion, Bright Water Waldorf School is the place for your child! 

In middle school, the foundational work of the grades blossoms into beautiful art, rigorous academics and character-building trips and projects. Lab sciences and physics begin. Foreign language skills increase and after-school sports open up. Every student plays an instrument and engages in theater. Handwork projects grow in complexity and school life becomes bigger and bolder.

The interdisciplinary curriculum continues to unfold as grammar is taught in the context of platonic dialogues and Pre-algebra is introduced while investigating the history of Islam. In the middle ages block, students drive for “knighthood” by practicing good deeds. By eighth grade, Bright Water‘s children have grown from fairy tales of childhood to the revolutions of nations. They can chart the heavenly bodies using geometry; they can build a dovetail joint box and write along research paper. Our graduates leave with a deep sense of who they are, solid academic skills, and a web of sustaining relationships. They leave Bright Water prepared to attend the high school of their choice.

Middle school is a time to discover, learn, and grow. Bright Water Waldorf School fosters adolescence by meeting the individual academically and artistically while developing their social emotional competencies to build strong, well-rounded students. Each student is given the chance to nurture their curiosity and creativity through hands-on exploration. Sports and extracurricular activities offer additional opportunities for leadership development, group collaboration, and peer-to-peer friendship. Service learning projects make direct engagement possible with our surrounding urban community.

For a more in depth look at the curriculum: Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8


The end of a Waldorf middle school journey will include a foundation built of care and compassion, creativity and confidence, and this serves as a fortification for the years ahead. Students need this uniquely sturdy foundation more than ever, as they will be called upon in ways that we cannot even imagine today

— Waldorf School of Moraine Farm

A NOTE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

By this age Waldorf students are knowledgeable in many areas where their public school counterparts are not. On the other hand, at other public and independent schools students often have more exposure to technology, which is intentionally limited in Waldorf schools. Computer technology is not taught at school but is used by upper grades students in a limited context for research and communication. Library research is still the main focus for independent projects.

What’s valued in Silicon Valley is not just the ability to write code. What matters is creativity and the ability to communicate effectively with a team. That’s what they foster at Waldorf.
— Brad Wurtz, Waldorf parent and CEO of Power Assure, an energy management company in Silicon Valley

For more on the Waldorf approach to technology in the classroom see:

Fost, Dan. “Tech gets a time-out,” San Francisco Magazine, April 2010.” danfost. 1 April 2010. Web.

Richtel, Matt. “A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute.” The New York Times 23 Oct 2011 national edition: 1,19. Print

Tarasov, Katie. “Inside the Tech-Free School Where High-Tech Parents are Sending Their Kids,” CNBC.com, June 8, 2019.