Ashwood Waldorf School, which serves children from nursery school through eighth grade, has recently received accreditation from the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) as well as reaccreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The school, located in Rockport, was commended by AWSNA for its “rich, varied, age-appropriate program that builds a foundation for lifelong learning and adaptability, fostering inner strength and preparing children to thrive in a changing world.”
While Ashwood has been accredited by NEASC since 2002, this is the first time in the school’s 26-year history that it has received full accreditation as a member school in AWSNA. Such accreditation is seen as a defining moment in the life of a Waldorf school, demonstrating that it has achieved sufficient maturity to contribute to the Waldorf movement nationwide.
A non-profit, independent school founded in 1986, Ashwood Waldorf School provides a curriculum based on the understanding that every child is a unique individual who passes through distinct life stages. Teachers present their subject matter imaginatively to engage their students’ artistic and physical sides as well as their intellects. Care is taken to balance intellectual growth with emotional growth and lessons are rooted in experience rather than abstract concepts.
AWSNA also praised Ashwood for “the beautiful capacity of the faculty to engage its students and to bring life to [the school’s] mission through their daily work.” Ashwood places great emphasis on offering the highest quality academics, integrating art, music and drama with the sciences, math, reading and writing, foreign languages, and the study of our cultural heritage from its foundations in myth and legend to the study of modern history.
School Director Jody Spanglet noted, “For many years, Ashwood has truly been a model of the best of Waldorf education: the quality of our programming, our high academic expectations, our beautiful facilities, and our exemplary faculty all combine to make Ashwood a standard bearer of educational excellence and one of the many treasures that enrich family life in midcoast Maine.”
“The AWSNA accreditation gives us recognition and greater visibility within the Waldorf community, some 1,000 schools worldwide,” said Board President Betsy Morrel. “It’s a wonderful validation for our school and the work of our outstanding teachers.”
AWSNA, the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, is a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to protect, encourage, and further Waldorf education and to aid and assist each affiliated institution to improve the quality of the education it offers. In addition to over 182 affiliated Waldorf schools and initiatives, there are kindergartens in North America working out of the pedagogical impulses of Rudolf Steiner and other groups doing preparatory work.
NEASC, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, provides accreditation services for more than 2,000 public and private institutions, from pre-K through university, in the six-state region.
For more information about Ashwood Waldorf School please call the office at 236-8021, email info@ashwoodwaldorf.org or visit www.ashwoodwaldorf.org.