Active community, special sound

In the Waldorf School in Adazi was founded in 1993 near Riga demonstrates how committed education can be even in a difficult economic circumstances. Its theatre productions and orchestra but also its tradition of “Mother Tongue Day” is well know around Latvia. Quite frequently Waldorf is asked to give its views when educational issues are publicly debated. However the kindergarten now has to relinquish its premises and needs to find new ones. 

The Waldorf School of Adazi began its work as a private school in an empty kindergarten. Since we had to begin with three classes, our school has now celebrated three graduations of the twelfth class. The children at our school do not come from the immediate surroundings but from Riga, some 30 kilometres away and sometimes come from even further afield.

Most students come from families in which the parents take an active interest in the education of their children. Our school is however also open for children who have not been so fortunate- at present we have 6 children from a children’s home (there are about 5000 children is such homes and their social integration is a great cause for concern). For families in financial difficulties we seek sponsors.

At present there are 160 children in our school. Up until now there were two kindergarten groups and there have been long waiting lists. However this year we were forced to close one of the kindergarten groups because the rented rooms were required again by the city authorities from which they were rented.

Luckily we were able to purchase land with the help of many donations from parents. In co-operation with a Swedish architect a custom made building was designed and by the end of 2005 the first phase of building was complete. Since we have too little money however we can’t open the kindergarten, which in turn creates financial problems for the school. We hope that many people can help us.

The work that teachers do for the school, and the contributions of former pupils is enormous. Our wonderful traditions are known throughout Latvia. Every autumn we celebrate our Michaelmas theatre festival in which all of our pupils participate in a castle or in the woods. Afterwards the children and the parents go on an excursion during which they have to face a number of challenges.

Shortly before Christmas our great Christmas theatre production takes place. The music for the school orchestra is usually composed by the teacher, dances are choreographed by our movement teacher and the script is written by pupils. In the spring we have the beautiful family day with a concert, workshops, market and cafes run by the children. On the last day of school the leader of the lower school orchestra always composes a musical fairy tale, which is performed for the parents.

The pride of our school is our orchestra for pupils from class 5 to 12. Alongside 5 violins, various flutes, guitars, drums, accordion, and saxophone are the tones of various percussion instruments and objects with which one can make sound. Our orchestra participated in various events and charity concerts not only in Latvia but also in England, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and Estonia.

Even our school has its own distinctive tone within the Latvian educational system. Teachers from our school are invited to advise in various projects involving questions of assessment, lesson content, methodology, language development and alternative teaching methods.

We don’t know if another new Waldorf school can be founded in Latvia, but we know that much of what the two current schools offer the children won’t go unnoticed. Work with such enthusiasm and joy will always bear fruit. The teachers at our school are convinced that an education for the heart is what enables children to see the world with open eyes. Isn’t that the aim of Waldorf education- feeling understanding and love of learning?

Adazi as UNESCO-Project-School

In 2000 we decided to link ourselves to the worldwide network of UNESCO Schools. Our school has already been associated with the UNESCO Project school and Waldorf School in Vestfold in Norway, who have helped us renovate the buildings, sent teacher advisers, and sent pupils on social practicals to us.

We are open for various UNESCO projects and we celebrate for example the international festivals. On the World Book Day we sent hand written books with Latvian texts to readers in other countries. On the Day of Tolerance we organised a “literary court” in which pupils could represent their own views, learn to promote and defend themselves by taking on the roles of literary heroes. On the “Mother Tongue Day” we organised a meeting with well known culture figures from Latvian society and included a competition between teams from 5 other UNESCO schools. Our school participated in a discussion organised by the Ministry on educational reform.

In May 2007 a seminar for international coordinators of the UNESCO project schools took place in Latvia for representatives from all around the world. After two exhausting days the participants could visit two schools, including ours. They experienced lessons, participated in a meal with pupils and teachers and experienced a concert with orchestra, singing and dancing. At the end all the participants took part in a Latvian traditional dance and had a lot of fun.

Every school is blessed when it has many friends and when visitors leave with a good impression of the school. To be a UNESCO project school means making others happy and this creates much joy for us too. The Waldorf School in Adazi enjoys getting to know other UNESCO schools very much, which means our pupils get to know other cultures and can tell something of their homeland.

I. Zemite and K. Koziola

Since 2001 the Friends have had the status of special relationship with UNESCO and try to use this status at the international political level to gain recognition for the holistic educational approach of Rudolf Steiner as well as creating opportunities for cooperation and reducing the fear of misunderstanding between different educational approaches.

In the spirit we are also linked to the „Associated Schools Project Network“ (ASPnet) of UNESCO. Around 7,900 schools around the world belong to this network in 176 countries, who are committed to creating a culture of peace, working together, mutual exchange and intercultural learning and who work at the national level to influence educational policy.
Around 25 Waldorf schools are part of this network. Through the activities of the Adazi Waldorf School within the UNESCO ASPnet and the visit of the UNESCO representatives from all the major European Education ministries it was possible to open door to Waldorf that had previously been closed.
A list of Waldorf schools that are UNESCO project schools and information about the joint activities between the Friends and UNESCO can be found on our homepage.

Barbara Schiller

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