We are happy to have you as members of our community. We hope this handbook will help answer your questions about the operation and organization of our school.

Our handbook is intended to provide guidance for families and help instill a caring, inclusive and thriving learning environment for all students. We ask that all families please partner with us in supporting these values and policies.

The handbook is not intended to form a contract between SCWS and its families. These policies and practices may be changed or modified at any time without advance notice at the sole discretion of the School. Any oral understandings not reduced to writing are not binding on SCWS.

Our Mission

Santa Cruz Waldorf School honors students’ individual development and capacities, and nurtures a love of learning through our rich curriculum inspired by Rudolf Steiner. At our rural, forested campus, our community, led by creative Waldorf-trained teachers, encourages the protection of childhood and respect for all life.

Our Vision

Santa Cruz Waldorf School cultivates self-directed, empathetic and free-thinking individuals with the courage and capacities to serve an ever-evolving humanity.

Why Waldorf?

The first Waldorf School was founded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. It was based on the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian-born scientist, educator, artist, and philosopher. Emil Molt, owner of the Waldorf Astoria cigarette factory, asked Steiner to start a school for the children of all the company’s employees. The original impulse that guided Emil Molt and Rudolf Steiner is stated by Rudolf Steiner in Soul Economy and Waldorf Education: “But in our case there was no question of founding yet another country boarding school, nor of implementing a particular brand of educational principles. Our aim was to attempt to heal social ills and to serve the needs of mankind in general.”

When, in July 1917, Steiner presented his proposal addressing the problems of society at that time to the German and Austrian governments, internal turmoil made any consideration of his ideas impossible. Steiner realized that the needed social change could not result from political coercion or upheaval. A truly human society could only be the outcome of fully developed capacities of thinking, feeling, and willing. Human social change would not be possible until a sufficient number of people had received an education that undertook to develop complete human beings. Thus, the idea of a Waldorf school was born. Steiner regarded the social and moral learning of the child as one of the core questions of education. He felt that education was not a question of what knowledge children needed to acquire to enter society, but of what capacities human beings could develop to bring new forces into society. “The task of education is no longer integrating the child into society in such a way that it receives its further formation from society, today it is the contrary which is important: the child seeks an education which makes it possible to allow its own forces, the source of new development possibilities, to flow into our existing society.”

When starting the first Waldorf School, based on the threefold social organism, Rudolf Steiner regarded these basic principles as necessary:

Independence from the state in developing the curriculum
Education of all children together
Academic freedom of the teacher in the classroom
School self-administration
Development of capacities for the future
Understanding of the child’s development of spirit, soul, and body.

Waldorf education has become one of the most rapidly growing independent school movements in the world today. There are now over 1100 schools worldwide, with representation on every continent and in a wide variety of cultures.

Further resources on the history of the Waldorf movement are available in our parent library, on our school website, and in our school shop.

Santa Cruz Waldorf School Then and Now

We acknowledge that the land on which our school resides is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, composed of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to Missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma. We recognize that every member of the Santa Cruz community has benefited and continues to benefit from the use and occupation of this land. Through this land acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold our community more accountable to the needs of Indigenous people, and teach in a way that helps students recognize and affirm indigenous sovereignty.

The Santa Cruz Waldorf School has its roots in the early 1970’s when a group began to gather to study Rudolf Steiner’s thoughts on education. Several of the participants had attended Emerson College and were also especially interested in bio-dynamic agriculture.

The study group began at the behest of those Bio-Dynamic students who returned to Santa Cruz, now with children. The enlisted Gudrun Monasch, a German native and eurythmist who later taught Eurythmy, German, and Handwork in the early years of the school’s history. Her counsel to the parents interested in starting a Waldorf school was to take up a study of Steiner education and principles, which they did. In 1976, the school began as a kindergarten in downtown Santa Cruz called the “Golden Goose”. Several years later, the school had grown to include early grades, and the first parcel at Empire Grade was purchased (formerly a Montessori School).

Since then, the school has expanded into its present campus with the purchase of land and the construction of classrooms, many of which were built by volunteer labor of mostly parents at the school. In 1995, one of the kindergartens was moved to a downtown location on Poplar Avenue to serve the East-side neighborhood. In 2004, Poplar became a mixed-age kindergarten to include three and four-year-olds, who attended three days a week. In 2015, a Pre K program was instituted on campus to support the families wishing to begin the education of their children not yet of age to start in the kindergarten program. Today, all Pre K and Kindergarten programs are on the main campus.

The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America

The Santa Cruz Waldorf School is a fully accredited member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). We were admitted as a full member in June 1983, and fully accredited in 2020. Formed in 1965 as a loose association of schools, AWSNA is now an incorporated legal body with a board of trustees. As a nonprofit organization, it brings awareness of Waldorf education to educational institutions and forums in Washington, D.C, and across the country; it provides encouragement and support to member schools, and offers some guidance to sponsored and federated schools (those in the process of becoming AWSNA members).

The working of AWSNA has grown very strong in recent years. Committees do many of the tasks that each individual school did in the past, such as economic and legal research, information dissemination, and even publishing.

Communication between schools has been greatly enhanced by the efforts of AWSNA in recent years. As a member school, we pay dues to the Association based on our number of enrolled students and families. Our school sends delegates to meetings twice yearly. Membership makes our school eligible to apply for grants and loans from limited international sources within the movement. Individual memberships in AWSNA are available to those who would like to support the Association’s work. AWSNA has developed an accreditation process for member schools based on our shared principles. AWSNA has been granted accrediting status by the National Association of Private School Accreditation.

There are over 1100 Waldorf schools worldwide in such diverse countries as Australia, Austria, China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Nepal, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, there are currently over 150 Waldorf schools and twelve teacher training programs. Please check with the office for a current listing of schools or if you are interested in Waldorf Teacher Training programs in the Bay Area.

Supporting Waldorf Worldwide

We are blessed to be part of a well-established and well-nurtured school in Santa Cruz and support schools and initiatives in other parts of the world that are working with Waldorf education. Each year we raise money for these schools at various events such as the May Fair.

Non Discrimination Policy

Santa Cruz Waldorf School admits students of any race, color, and national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender identity, sexual preference or sex in the administration of its educational and employment policies, financial aid programs, or other school-administered programs.

Drop off and Pick up Protocol (This schedule is subject to change)

Due to the diminutive size of our parking lots, drop off and pick up is a well-choreographed dance that requires the cooperation of all our families. We invite each of you to dance with us for a smooth, safe and stress-free drop-off and pick-up process each day.

We STRONGLY recommend teaming up with another family to carpool.
For safety reasons, parents and caregivers must not leave children unsupervised on campus before 7:55 am.
All classes for grades 1st-8th begin at 8:15am.
Preschool and kindergarten classes begin at 8:30am.
Sibling Pick Up - Older siblings will join their younger siblings’ class area during pick up.
Safety trails - Student safety is of primary importance to our school. You may only use marked safety trails to get from the parking areas to the classrooms, office, etc. Please only cross the parking lot on a safety trail or crosswalk. (see map below). Please continue to encourage your children to use them.
Speed - the campus speed limit is 5 miles per hour at all times.
For everyone's safety, please follow the directions of our friendly traffic guides and signage.

Family-Arranged Carpools

SCWS may help interested families connect for carpooling by sharing contact information with permission. All carpool arrangements are private agreements between participating families. SCWS does not select drivers, assign passengers, establish schedules, supervise transportation, or provide transportation through these arrangements. Families are responsible for ensuring that their arrangements meet their children’s transportation and safety needs.

Preschool Drop off and Pick up
8:15 - 8:30 Parents/Caretakers park in Family Parking in the Upper Lot along the Green Field and walk students to class using the safety trail.

At pick up time Parents/Caretakers, park in Family Parking in the Upper Lot along the Green Field and retrieve students from the classroom.

Kindergarten Drop off and Pick up
8:15am Coatroom opens. Parents/Caretakers may park in Family Parking in the Upper Lot along the Green Field and walk students to class using the safety trail.

Monday - Friday 1:00 - 1:10pm
Parents/Caretakers park in Family Parking in the Upper Lot along the Green Field and retrieve students at the kindergarten classroom.

It is important that you do not come before 1:00 PM on Thursdays, which is early dismissal for 2nd through 8th grade at 12:45.

1st Grade Drop off
7:55 - 8:10- Parents/Caretakers may park in the Lower Lot on either side of the center median safety trail or along the red field or drop students off near the basketball court.