“My son came to Steiner as a senior. I love Steiner because they respect the individual and let children become who they are meant to be.”

— CHRISTINE GUELTON, PARENT

Our High School provides a co-educational college preparatory program to approximately 85 students in the 4 grades. Small class sizes and faculty who are dedicated to the intellectual, artistic, and social growth of every student provide a unique environment for students to develop into well-rounded individuals ready to pursue their passions and contribute their gifts to the world. 

 The Main Lesson lies at the heart of Waldorf Education. During each 4-5-week Main Lesson Seminar students take up an immersive study of a particular topic for 90 minutes or more every morning. Mathematics, English, Science, History, and special cross-disciplinary topics are taught during Main Lesson Seminars in each of the 4 years. 

 Year-long and semester-length courses including World Languages, Mathematics, Art, English, Laboratory Science, Eurythmy, History, Music, and more round out the day. Over the course of the 4 years each student has the opportunity to craft their own increasingly specialized program through their choice of elective offerings and through their participation in Clubs and Athletics. 

Students are accompanied through their 4 years by a Personal Advisor who guides individual progress, and by two Class Advisors for each grade. Class trips, Community Engagement projects, and seasonal festivals create a strong community fabric within each class, with the entire school, and with the broader world of New York City and beyond. 

ADMISSIONS GUIDE
APPLY TO STEINER

SCIENCE AND MATH

Learning science and math at Steiner takes place in each of the four high school years in rich Main Lesson Seminars, in ongoing courses and electives, and in laboratory experiences. Major concepts are chosen for presentation and development in each main lesson.

The science curriculum in the high school intends to bring the student into a more conscious relationship with the world.

LEARN MORE

HUMANITIES

High school courses in the humanities include Main Lesson Seminars, core courses, and elective offerings in English, History, Social Studies, and related disciplines.

The Humanities program addresses Rudolf Steiner’s picture of the inner development of the growing individual. With adolescence, the young person is ready to develop critical thinking, sound judgement, and a quest for purpose.

LEARN MORE

MUSIC AND THE ARTS

Music and the arts are central components of a Waldorf education. Every student across all four high school grades is expected to sing, play in an instrumental ensemble, participate in class plays, and learn Fine and Practical Arts.

The art disciplines begins as early as pre-school, and are energetically pursued during the high school.

LEARN MORE

COLLEGE GUIDANCE

Our College Counseling Program guides students and parents through the complexities and challenges of the admissions process. We assess each student’s goals and work closely with them to find colleges where those goals are attainable and students can flourish.

LEARN MORE

WORLD LANGUAGES AND
STUDENT EXCHANGE

Spanish, French, and German are the three world languages offered at our High School. The program includes the study of vocabulary, grammar, cultural studies and communication skills. A highlight of our World Language program is the opportunity to participate in a Student Exchange.

LEARN MORE
Rudolf Steiner School offers a human-centered education. Our Waldorf curriculum reflects the developmental stages of childhood and serves the capacities and talents of each growing child. The school gives special emphasis to sensory experience and physical movement, to an alliance between artistic and intellectual activity, and to the ethical dimension of every subject. Our graduates are inventive thinkers and resilient idealists who cultivate an appreciative regard for a world that they seek to improve.
At the heart of the Steiner School experience is the Main Lesson Seminar. Main Lessons are taught in blocks lasting 3-5 weeks, and during that time the class meets daily for 90 minutes or more at the start of the school day. Each Main Lesson Seminar is a deep dive into a topic chosen both for its significance within a particular discipline and also for its resonance with the developmental stage of the student. The main lesson experience not only teaches skill in the subject at hand but invites students to explore profound questions about the nature of humanity as they grow towards maturity. Main Lesson Seminars in Science, English, Mathematics, History, and other special inter-disciplinary topics rotate during the course of the year; all Main Lesson Seminars are required. Oral essays presented by the teacher, direct participation in laboratory phenomena, and primary source texts provide the central content of each Main Lesson Seminar. Students typically create their own Main Lesson Book for each course; an individual portfolio of essays, illustrations, lab reports, projects, and other work that demonstrates how they have understood the course material and transformed it into something uniquely their own.
There is a Grade Advisor for each high school class who directs class meetings with students and parents. In addition, each student has a faculty member who acts as their Personal Advisor, guiding them in both academic and social development through grades 9-12. Personal Advisors review grade reports at the end of the trimesters and act as a liaison between parents and faculty members.
Keeping a cohort together with a teacher, which takes place in all areas of the school, allow individual approaches to each student’s unique learning style to be developed, reviewed, and refined over time. Starting in earlier grades and continuing throughout the high school years, Math Labs and Office Hours are available after school to all students for both academic support and enrichment.
Educating our students to be skillful and wise participants in this digital age is an important goal at Steiner. By the time students reach high school, they are regularly using digital tools for research (e.g. public and subscription websites and databases such as JSTOR), for presentation and design (e.g. visual-audio presentations on research topics, school publications such as The Key and Spectrum, correctly formatting and footnoting papers) and for data research and development (e.g. developing complete trig tables from exact values, applying numerical integration methods, analyzing data sets using pivot tables and linear regression techniques).

A Computer Science elective open to Juniors and Seniors allows interested students to deepen their knowledge of various programming languages and interfaces (e.g. Arduino robotics projects) and all students acquire at least a taste of breadboarding circuits using logic gates with some completing multi-bit binary adders from fundamental X-OR and AND gates in connection with the Electricity and Magnetism main lesson.

Students in ninth or tenth grade are introduced to fundamental elements of coding – functions, arguments, loops, if-then-while decision structures – most recently in the delightfully visual language p5js. Some students take up this work with particular interest and are able to create sophisticated projects, often in the context of simple games.

Rudolf Steiner School offers families recommended guidelines for student interaction with technology and media based on current research in child development. Educating our students to be skillful and wise participants in this digital age is an important goal at Steiner. Computer literacy and facility are introduced adequately by understanding the use of devices as tools within the general curriculum.

A screen-free childhood from birth to approximately seven years old is strongly encouraged. Our suggestion is to limit screen time at home in grades 1-6. Screen time in grades 7-12 is thoughtfully considered in school-directed and student-directed categories.

MEDIA CHART AND RESOURCES
At Steiner the physical education department fosters lifelong knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes, which will enable students to lead healthy, physically active lives. Students join sport teams and continue receiving Eurythmy classes. Steiner students engage in meaningful physical activity in their physical education classes, Eurythmy classes, and competitive sports teams. Team sports, individual fitness, yoga, swimming, and more, are typical activities for high school students during their PE classes.

Our school is a member of the Independent School Athletic League and each season our teams compete against other schools in New York City. Every class includes students who are enthusiastic about their sports and who treasure the skills and sportsmanship that they develop with their coaches and fellow students on these close-knit teams.

Eurythmy, an art of movement designed by Rudolf Steiner and unique to Waldorf schools, educates students’ spatial sense of themselves and others as they make speech and music visible through movement.

VISIT ATHLETICS
Participation in clubs and publications provide an important opportunity for students to develop their independent interests while connecting with like-minded peers across the grades. Steiner has a distinguished tradition of student publications: the literary magazine The Key – published yearly for over 50 years – Fifteen East, the school newspaper; and Spectrum, the school yearbook.

Students are encouraged and empowered to initiate new clubs together with faculty sponsors. Some of our current club offerings include: SIDER (Student Initiative for Diversity & Equal Rights), GLOW (Gay, Lesbian, or Whatever), Student Union, Drama Club and Jazztet.

READ 15 EAST
Each year includes a Class Trip – an event much anticipated and long remembered by the students. Class Trips are designed to enhance the curriculum, strengthen the class community, and serve others.
READ
Rudolf Steiner School has at its core, as stated in the school’s mission statement that “Our graduates cultivate an appreciative regard for a world they seek to improve.” Throughout their years at Steiner, students participate in this shared ideal of service to others. As their capacities for meaningful work increase, so do the number of ways in which students can make contributions to their communities both within the school, to their local New York City neighborhoods, and eventually to other parts of the country and the world.
READ

OUR TEACHERS

Our experienced and talented educators will guide your high school student through our rich curriculum.

MEET OUR FACULTY

APPLY

Visit our application page to start the process.

APPLY HERE

Rudolf Steiner School follows the Waldorf model of education. Students in grades 9-12 are challenged to think critically and present concepts clearly. Our students care and are deeply interested in the world around them.