The idea of founding a Waldorf school on Rapa Nui came about when founder Vairoa Ika Guldman came into contact with a young woman who was born on Rapa Nui, just like herself. She had attended a Waldorf school in Australia as a student and now works there as a Waldorf teacher. She told her about her experiences as a Waldorf student and later gave a workshop on Waldorf education on Rapa Nui. Inspired by the positive accounts, Vairoa made contact with other former Waldorf students and finally decided to start a kindergarten in 2020. She deepened her engagement with Waldorf education through regular online meetings with a Waldorf teacher in Chile, who was unable to be there herself at the time due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In March 2021, a first, small kindergarten group was formed, for which a room was made available in an educational institution. Two years later, some of the children had outgrown the kindergarten and a former hostel was converted into a small school at another location. An experienced Waldorf teacher from Latin America was hired. She and Katiki, a Waldorf teacher from Rapa Nui, worked hard to integrate the cultural context of Rapa Nui into the curriculum. As founder Vairoa emphasises: ‘This strengthens the cultural identity of each child and also promotes the use and preservation of the local language. The young teachers also realised that this was particularly important to Rudolf Steiner when they studied his lectures.’

The new school year will see the number of pupils at the small school growing from 16 to 25. In addition to the kindergarten group and the jointly taught first and second classes, there will also be a third class.