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About Whidbey Island Waldorf School
“We are so lucky to have had our two children spend their entire education through 8th grade at WIWS. It was the most beautiful gift we could give. I am forever grateful."
Chuck Canright, Alum WIWS parent
A Foundation of Free & Innovative Thought
Celebrating 38 years.
Whidbey Island Waldorf School has provided a comprehensive, whole-person, arts-integrated education on south Whidbey Island, Washington since 1985. We are blessed to be situated in the midst of a 100-acre forest preserve. The beauty of the landscape and the richness of the forest ecosystem provide our students with a wealth of inspiration and resource for a direct experience of the natural world.
What We Believe
The world is changing. What today’s children need in order to thrive, both now and in the future, is based in creative learning, critical-thinking, and collaboration; not memorization, testing, and competition. We teach to inspire children to want to do their best, not because they have to, but because they want to. At Whidbey Island Waldorf School, our students learn to work with others to develop knowledge and wisdom. They learn to express themselves and their ideas clearly, confidently, and creatively. They learn who they are and how to use their strong moral character and will to positively impact the world.
WIWS students learn how to learn, and in turn, how to love learning, and they do this while forming friendships with their peers that will last a lifetime.
Who we are
Our extraordinary faculty brings decades of combined teaching experience, vast knowledge of child-development, and deep commitment both to their craft and to the children in their care. Whidbey Island Waldorf School is an pedagogically-established school that draws Waldorf families and teachers from across the country and the world.
“And so it is that we can rise up in the face of many things, even at this time that is so full of suffering, and greet them, because the events of today must be our occasion to seek out within them something that has great promise for the future. We need to create an energetic culture of peace—not idle talk of peace, but the real peace that can arise only out of a concrete, mutual understanding of the various individual cultures. We are very far from realizing this anthroposophical ideal; too much of what we do is actually the product of a merely egotistical identification with this or that national culture. But meanwhile we must greet with a measure of satisfaction any attempt to understand what really binds the various cultures together, for that alone is the source of genuine creativity.”
—Rudolf Steiner, Architecture as Peacework (CW 287), Lecture Two
Founded in 1985
Nestled into a 100-acre forest preserve.
Natural Beauty, Open Community
Just an hour north of Seattle and ten minutes from Langley-by-the-Sea, Whidbey Island Waldorf School offers the best of educational possibilities combined with the beauty of island living. The deep forest, the vast ocean surround, and the mountains that line the horizon support the holistic, enlivening curriculum.
More than an inspired school in a lovely setting, WIWS is also a community of students, their parents, teachers and friends joined together for the nurturing of the free and creative individual and for service to the greater good. Both Whidbey Island and Whidbey Island Waldorf School provide an incomparably beautiful and healthy place to raise and educate children prepared for the rapidly changing and challenging post-modern world.
““We came for the majestic land and the opportunities provided by the curriculum. We stay because this community has become our family.””
Mission
WIWS nurtures children to become world citizens who think independently, serve others and take action for the common good.
We seek to cultivate in students a life-long love of learning and nurture their capacities for clear thinking, compassion and moral strength.
Whidbey Island Waldorf School is part of a worldwide educational movement arising from Rudolf Steiner’s insights that supports the evolution of human consciousness.
Guided by love for each student and inspired by spiritual striving, teachers lead students through an educational journey that honors each stage of child development. This experience fosters a life-long love of learning. Thus nurtured, enlivened and empowered, students build a foundation that supports their emergence as free and responsive adults.
United by our intention for individual and social growth, our community of teachers, staff, parents, and friends strives’ to realize relationships of commitment, compassion and collaboration while navigating the turbulent waters of social change.
Vision
WIWS graduates thrive as world citizens who think independently, serve others and take action for the common good.
WIWS thrives through the strength and quality of its faculty, staff and board, the generosity and engagement of its parents, and mutually beneficial relationships with its neighbors, donors and the larger South Whidbey community.
Values
Preserving Childhood
We guide the unfolding of each child’s innate gifts and interest in the world through an age-appropriate curriculum.
Excellence
We provide a rigorous and holistic education that challenges students to do and be their very best.
Community
We cultivate a social life in which each person is valued and has a sense of belonging.
Social Inclusion
We tend relationships and work through conflicts with courage, compassion and love.
Engagement
We value the vital contribution of individual perspective, service, and goodwill.
Stewardship
We honor the island forest land that we occupy, its history, and its unseen forces working within us.
Spiritual Insight
We acknowledge the ever-present help of the spiritual world and seek inspiration and guidance to fulfill our mission and vision.
Chalk Art in Our Classrooms
Reflects the Curriculum over the year
““This is one of the best places to go to school as a young student! WIWS spends time working to create intelligent, well-rounded humans instead of simply forcing students to regurgitate information on standardized tests. Students spend time learning life skills such as: sewing, cooking, self-care, physical health and independent thinking, which prepare them for life beyond elementary school.””
Statement of Non-Discrimination
WIWS would like to reaffirm our commitment to creating and nurturing an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community for every student and family. We stand in support of each and every WIWS student and family, regardless of nation of origin, race, immigration status, home country and culture, religious affiliation or LGBTQIA+ identity.
We love and honor all of our students and families and feel blessed to have you all in our community.
Land Acknowledgement
Whidbey Island Waldorf School is located on the traditional territory of the Snohomish people. We honor this land, this timeless sacred place, its history, and the people - past, present, and future - of the Snohomish, Lower Skagit, Swinomish, and Suquamish Nations, upon whose traditional lands we gather, live, work and celebrate.