“I love being called by my first name. It keeps me present and authentic. The experience-based curriculum is engaging, practical and inspiring to offer. The artistic element to all work adds pleasure for students and teachers. Science shows that being in nature is important for wellbeing. The ‘village in the bush’ setting at Orana is an affirmation of this. Human in scale, the landscape and architecture are designed with spiritual / emotional uplift in mind. The College of Teachers meet weekly, breathing life into the important matters of philosophy, personal growth (both staff and students), connection to nature and artistic expression and how this can be supported by the school. Above all, it is a caring community, connected to the seasons and our artistic essence. We celebrate together, with markets at the end of each term and seasonal celebrations in school. Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ Here it is.”

Jane

Primary School Teacher

"Since Orana, I have presented at TEDxSydney in front of 2,250 people in the Sydney Opera House, been sponsored by Intel to represent Australia at the International Science & Engineering Fair in LA, received the top score of 45,000 students across Australia, NZ, Singapore in a 2013 science competition, and grown my filmmaking YouTube channel past a profitable 4 million views. Orana focuses on cultivating a love of learning in students. Having experienced Montessori, Steiner, public education and now a Group of Eight university, I believe that Steiner education forms an excellent foundation for lifelong learning and nurtures an innate curiosity of the world."

Jake Coppinger

Alumni

"Some time in my second stint teaching at Orana, one of the Primary class teachers, Rosina, told me her class had a surprise for me. I went to their room one lunchtime and was regaled with a faultless rendition of the three-part song “Glorious Apollo.” I had seen this song in the Waldorf song book but had never taught it to anyone. I was stupefied. Rosina herself was not a strongly musical person - she enjoyed learning music with her class during my lessons but would have had trouble holding a vocal line alone. She told me how she had done it: first she asked those children who were playing descant recorder well to play the melody of "Glorious Apollo" to the class while they learned to sing it. Then, after a week or two, she asked the good recorder players to teach the children the second part. This took a few more weeks - eventually the class was able to sing the song in two parts, without the recorders helping. And finally, the good treble recorder players taught the third part to the children who were keen to sing low. And so, with no actual help, but with steady encouragement, that class taught themselves a beautiful, and not easy, choral work."

Judy Clingan

Music Teacher

“My children can’t wait to attend school each day. I only wish I’d attended.”