One of the key concepts of Steiner education is the way the curriculum reflects the evolution of consciousness, seen through the developmental stages of childhood. Eleven-year-old children certainly have an Ancient Greek vibe, with a developing appreciation for skill and beauty, art and science and earthly life and spirituality.

In Class 5 , we began Term 2 with a focus on Ancient Greece and the wonderful myths and legends of the gods and heroes, including Homer’s Odyssey and Illiad . This gave us the perfect opportunity to begin preparing for the upcoming Greek Olympics in Term 3 – a highlight of the Class 5 curriculum, in which we compete with several Steiner schools from our region, allowing the students to test their skills in a celebratory environment. The disciplines we have practiced include running, javelin, discus, long jump and wrestling. We ritualised our practice, walking to the oval to the beat of a drum and speaking a verse before starting:

We have trained our minds and bodies for Olympia.
We have been neither lazy nor acted dishonourably.
We will go forward and compete before the gods with courage and honour.

The second Main Lesson this term has ben Geometry, combining artistic and basic theoretical geometry (angles, triangles, degrees, perimeter and area), concluding with Pythagorean theorem (the square of the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle is equal to the sum of the area of the squares made up of the other two sides). This seemingly simple theorem has many hidden complexities (there are around a dozen ways of proving it!). The class has enjoyed some freehand and compass drawings as well. 

In the afternoons we have been working with clay—a beautiful glazed clay lantern for Winter Festival, and a coil-built Greek pot. 

We will finish the term with some bookbinding: working on our cursive writing, writing out some famous Greek quotes and doing some reflective writing about ourselves, as well as looking at illuminated texts and calligraphy.

William Keyte
Class 5 Teacher