Subject Lessons
GARDENING
Outdoor Learning at St Paul’s Waldorf School
At St Paul’s Waldorf School, outdoor learning is not an add-on—it is at the heart of our educational philosophy. We believe that children thrive when they are active, immersed in nature, and engaged in meaningful, hands-on experiences. Whether working independently or in collaboration with others, our pupils develop practical skills that lay the foundation for confidence, resilience, and a strong sense of purpose.
Our outdoor curriculum is designed to embrace the seasons and all-weather conditions, encouraging physical endurance, social fluency, and fine motor development. A defining feature of Waldorf education is our approach to age-appropriate risk. Rather than shielding children from difficulty, we offer guided opportunities for challenge—experiences that build courage and capability. From slicing oranges for a winter marmalade to chopping wood for the fire, our pupils learn through real tasks that matter.
We hold that purposeful work, contribution to the community, and the cultivation of inner strength are vital elements too often overlooked in modern childhood. This is especially true in urban settings, where opportunities for physical doing and the transmission of traditional skills are increasingly rare. At St Paul’s, we seek to reconnect children with this timeless knowledge—through shared effort, connection to the land, and experiences that foster both practical competence and a sense of belonging.
Behaviour in Outdoor Settings
At St Paul’s Waldorf School, outdoor learning is an integral part of the curriculum, offering children valuable opportunities to develop independence, collaboration, and practical skills. The freedoms associated with outdoor work are carefully balanced with clear behavioural expectations to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all pupils.
Behaviour in outdoor settings is governed by a clearly articulated policy that aligns with the school’s wider safeguarding and pastoral care framework. Children are explicitly taught the boundaries of outdoor spaces and the expectations for safe, respectful behaviour. Group work is carried out under close adult supervision, and pupils receive age-appropriate instruction in the safe handling of tools and materials.
The privilege of working outdoors is presented as a social contract, underpinned by kindness, responsibility, and cooperative behaviour. Pupils are expected to listen attentively, share resources, and engage constructively with peers. Where behaviour is deemed unsafe or disruptive, the session is concluded, and the class returns indoors. This consistent approach reinforces the collective responsibility and accountability expected of all pupils.
Outdoor learning at St Paul’s not only supports the development of practical competencies but also fosters key social and emotional skills. It plays a significant role in promoting positive behaviour, self-regulation, and mutual respect—values that are central to the school’s ethos and to the broader aims of Waldorf education.
DRAMA
In Middle School, the students meet 3 times a week for Speech in the morning. The students learn basic exercises to strengthen their voice and basic breathing techniques. Together they learn and speak a wide range of different poetry from all over the world and a mix of classical and contemporary verse. Some of what they learn the students perform at festivals.
Class 7 has a Drama Lesson once a week. It involves preparing a Story Telling Project usually with a Medieval Theme such as Eleonor of Aquitaine, Canterbury Tales, Joan of Arc, Arabian Nights. They are encouraged to hone their skills in working collaboratively, creating a performance in the Spring Term with music, movement, and speech which is performed to the school and parents.
In Class 8, the students continue with Drama. The students study a Shakespeare Play in the Autumn Term. In the Spring Term they workshop certain ideas and themes from the play and in the Summer Term put on a full production. They act, sing, dance as well as design the Set, make costumes and props, and market the play. This project is like the first ‘work experience’ for them.
In the past we have put on The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Pericles, A Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing. Comedy of Errors. The wider Community is encouraged to come and see the play.
HANDWORK
Handwork is a central and much-loved subject at St Paul's, nurturing both the practical and imaginative capacities of the child. From the early years onwards, pupils learn a wide range of traditional textile and fibre skills such as knitting, sewing, crochet, weaving and embroidery. Through these meaningful, hands-on activities, children develop fine motor coordination, concentration, perseverance and a deep sense of achievement. Handwork also brings mathematical and practical concepts to life in a sensory and experiential way, strengthening understanding through doing.
Beyond the practical skills, Handwork offers a rich, soul-nourishing education. Each project is carefully chosen to meet the developmental stage of the child, fostering creativity, confidence and a connection to natural materials. In a world increasingly shaped by digital experiences, Handwork provides a grounding, mindful counterbalance, encouraging children to slow down, work with intention and cultivate an appreciation for beauty, craftsmanship and the rhythms of making.
MUSIC
Music lessons nurture a joyful, embodied relationship with music through singing, body percussion, recorder playing and the gradual introduction of musical notation. Learning grows with the children’s developmental stages, moving from imitation and listening toward increasing musical understanding and independence.
Through ensemble playing, singing, and rhythmic movement, students develop coordination, concentration, musical confidence, and social awareness, while notation is introduced organically from practical experience.
FRENCH
At St Paul’s, the teaching of French is rooted in the belief that learning a language opens new worlds. It enables children to engage deeply with a wide range of ideas, peoples and cultures, and to experience ways of thinking and being that extend beyond their own linguistic and cultural framework. Language learning is therefore not seen merely as an academic subject, but as a vital means of human connection and inner development. Research strongly supports this view, linking bilingualism with increased cognitive flexibility, particularly the ability to switch between different modes of thinking. Studies also show that people who speak more than one language often demonstrate greater empathy and a more global mindset. Some researchers have even documented the sensation of feeling like a “different person” when speaking a second language, highlighting the profound relationship between language, identity and perception. At the same time, learning a second language has been shown to enhance creativity in one’s first language: fluency, originality and creative flexibility in language use are all positively affected. The academic benefits are also well established. Around 90% of studies investigating the impact of language learning on achievement in other curriculum areas report positive effects. These include improvements across English language learning and literacy, as well as in subjects such as mathematics and science. In this sense, learning French supports and strengthens the whole curriculum rather than competing with it.
The French curriculum is designed to engage not only the intellect but also feeling and will, and stresses that subject matter, including language, must be taught in ways that are meaningful to the child’s unfolding capacities. This means foreign language learning is integrated intentionally with other developmental tasks across the curriculum and that it is taught in an artistic and experiential way. The curriculum is carefully interwoven with other subject areas across the school, including Geography, History, Literature, Culture, Science, Maths, Music, Drama, Speech, Literacy, and Handwork. These intersections occur regularly within the French classroom and occasionally extend into other lessons, reflecting our holistic approach to learning. Referring to the French curriculum therefore provides insight not only into language teaching itself, but into how learning is enlivened and connected across disciplines.
The aims of teaching French are composite. The primary focus is to encourage a positive attitude towards people of other cultures and languages, and to foster human understanding by developing the ability to empathise with different ways of seeing the world. Alongside this, there is a practical, utilitarian aim: learning to understand another language through listening and reading supports and deepens children’s command of literacy as a whole. Introducing pupils to the characters, customs, literature, culture and history of another people enriches their imaginative life and significantly enhances creativity, allowing the child’s inner world to grow through encounter with the unfamiliar. The central aim of the French programme is to create, develop and nurture a genuine love and curiosity for the language and the culture it carries. Alongside this, there is a strong emphasis on building a solid foundation for practical use. After eight years of learning, the goal is for pupils to leave school able to speak comfortably, accurately and clearly, whether when travelling in France or when preparing for GCSEs.
BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE (BSL)
Through Classes I-V, children are introduced to BSL. Initially, they learn some basic Deaf awareness and then children get into learning colours, seasons and hobbies to emotions and punctuation and the importance of handshapes in later classes.
From simple conversations to memory games and lipreading challenges, children learn about what it means to be Deaf, and multichannel signs and how these are used in BSL. Children also learn about different hearing devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Children start in Class I by being encouraged to begin to produce sentences, so that by the end of the first year they are able to have a simple conversation in BSL, talking about family, hobbies and the weather. And then, in Class V, the children focus on developing their knowledge of BSL structure and grammar further by learning about affirmation and negation and learning signs linked to these and how to apply them in context.
The BSL curriculum is delivered by :
