„Learn to Change the World“ is the theme with which Waldorf Schools are using their centenary to initiate a global discussion on the educational challenges of our present and of the future.  For an entire year, they are organizing conferences and campaigns around the globe to address these issues, bringing together educational experts, parents and students. The festivities will culminate with the internationally attended centenary celebration in the Berlin Tempodrom on 19 September 2019. Here, students, teachers and parents from all around the world will present artistic highlights of Waldorf teaching. In workshops and talks on the current and future challenges for educational policy, celebrities, experts, and non-professionals will discuss possible avenues for the future.  The celebration in the Berlin Tempodrom has three major themes, for morning, afternoon, and evening, respectively: See the World, Love the World und Change the World. Information on the program and on tickets can…

Based on the agreements made at the special members meeting in January 2019, a Foundation Friends of Waldorf Education has now been established. This extends our range of possibilities with a new long-term tool. It allows us to preserve estates and bequests that we receive to sustainably ensure the continuation of the Friends’ work on international cooperation or on other fields of work. Those branches of the Friends that do not receive any public funds for their work face the major challenge of paying even the running costs. This is particularly true for our work on international collaboration. In the future, we plan to take the estates that were intended for this purpose and combine them. The goal is to ensure our long-term capability of working for the Waldorf Movement around the world.

Worldwide solidarity with Waldorf education - this is what is behind Waldorf One World Day, or WOW Day for short. On a certain day, people take action by collecting donations in various ways and donate the money to Waldorf institutions in need. In 2018, a total of seven Waldorf schools from the Czech Republic participated in WOW-Day, including the Waldorfská základní škola a mateřská škola Ostrava, p.o. : “On 19th November 2019, our school held the annual charitable event called WOW-Day. The students, teachers and the visitors could experience a wide range of activities. In the morning some students had prepared stalls selling a variety of foods and meals. In the afternoon there were workshops devoted to making soap and bast fibre decorations. The highlight of the whole event was a concert given by our students. The whole day exceeded our expectations and we would like to thank not only to those who took part, but mainly to those who gave donations. We believe that the money we raised…

For a few years now, people who had fled tyranny have been returning to Zimbabwe. Usually, many of the refugees had a better education than their South African counterparts and received a job in South Africa. Some became teachers at Waldorf Schools in South Africa and still are today. Others returned to Zimbabwe rich in experience and are now working to help children in their own country grow up in a Waldorf institution. It is not easy to build something new in this still politically fickle country, which was once called the Switzerland of Southern Africa. But some pioneers are succeeding. The Waldorf Early Childhood Movement Zimbabwe (WECMZ) in Harare is currently training about 30 kindergarten teachers. And if they could receive some support for the course fees, they would be delighted.

The Friends of Waldorf Education held a very constructive members meeting on 28 June, in which they agreed on a change in the statutes and on the establishment of a supervisory board. The change of the statutes, which was accepted at the members meeting, implies that in the future a supervisory board will complement the association. The supervisory board consists of at least four and at most eight members. Ex officio members are one of the heads of the pedagogical section at the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum, as well as two board members of the Foundation Friends of Waldorf Education. They are joined by up to five people to be elected by the members meeting. The supervisory board members are appointed for a period of seven years. The supervisory board will have no executive tasks, but is rather meant to appoint the board of directors, supervise the work, and mainly sustain the spiritual foundation. The work of the supervisory board is unpaid. This changed structure…

On the occasion of the centenary, all Waldorf schools in Germany are having a relay race. All participating schools are invited to make this sports event their WOW-Year campaign and to collect donations for each distance covered to support Waldorf institutions worldwide. The starting shot was fired in June 2018. Many schools have already taken part along three routes from north to south and ran, cycled, paddled and rode horses. The relay race will end on September 19th, 2019 when the three batons will come together again at the Waldorf 100 Festival at the Tempodrom, Berlin. The students of the Waldorf Schools in Stuttgart were already there. Not only did they carry on the baton, but they also collected donations to support Waldorf institutions worldwide. Click here for the report about the relay race in Stuttgart. All schools that will participate in the relay race are cordially invited to make this sports event a WOW-Year event and to collect donations for each distance covered to…

On the occasion of the centenary, all Waldorf schools in Germany have a relay race. All participating schools are invited to include the sports event in their WOW-Year campaign and to collect donations for each distance covered to support Waldorf institutions worldwide. The starting signal was already sounded in June 2018. Many schools have already taken part along the three routes that stretch from north to south. They have walked, cycled, paddled and ridden. The relay race will end on September 19, 2019, when the three batons will come together again at the Waldorf 100 Festival in the Tempodrom in Berlin. The students of the Filstal Waldorf School in Göppingen already completed their race. Not only did they carry the baton forward, but they also collected donations to support Waldorf institutions worldwide. Kalina and Paul, students of the fifth grade, report on how the day went: "We, the fifth grade, had agreed to take part in the relay. It is a charity run where each child looks…

"Einblicke Weltweit - Insights Worldwide" is a photobook published with Kehrer Verlag by the Friends of Waldorf Education in cooperation with Leica Camera AG on the occasion of the anniversary of the Waldorf Schools. Exclusively for this book, Leica photographers such as Dominic Nahr, René Perez, Herbie Yamaguchi, Fulvio Bugani and Laxmi Kaul travelled around the world to visualize the special features of each country and its connection to Waldorf Education. The volume thus becomes a unique snapshot of the world's largest free school movement. About 120 color and black-and-white pictures show current insights into Waldorf schools in 40 countries, which are accompanied by quotations on Waldorf Education - by Rudolf Steiner, among others - in German and English. The book is now available in stores and can also be ordered directly from Kehrer. The book "Insights Worldwide" will be accompanied by the exhibition #waldorfweltweit, which can be seen for six weeks in 50 Alnatura shops. This…

Worldwide solidarity with Waldorf educational institutions – this is the idea behind Waldorf-One-World-Day, WOW-Day for short. On the designated date, people take action by collecting donations in many different ways and give the money to Waldorf institutions in need. In 2018, the Escola Waldorf Vale Encantado in Capão Bonito, Brazil, participated in WOW-Day for the fourth time. Milena, co-worker and WOW-Day coordinator at the School, tells us how the day went: “We celebrated the last WOW-Day at Escola Waldorf Vale Encantado in Capão Bonito with lots of activities, some we had done in the other years, but especially in 2018, we promoted a new activity fingerprints. We have in our school parts with grass and parts with paving stone, and since the school began we have this made with the fingerprints of our students. Then on WOW-Day, we offered the opportunity to new students that didn't have our hand there yet. All the money collected was donated via WOW-Day to the social initiative…

Worldwide solidarity with Waldorf educational institutions – this is the idea behind Waldorf-One-World-Day, WOW-Day for short. On the designated date, people take action by collecting donations in many different ways and give the money to Waldorf institutions in need. In 2018, the Krisol Waldorf School in Premia de Dalt, Spain, participated in WOW-Day for the fifth time. Zina, a mother at the School, tells us how the day went: On 7th of October we celebrated the Fiesta de Michael. This was our sixth year that we celebrated this festival and we prepared with a very nice program of activities: A teacher's story (a Michael’s story), the room has been super full of persons, we have done two artistic ateliers for families, and both were also very nice and full of people. As it is typical of our country and our families specialty we have celebrate with a very big Paella, lots of food and arts to sell between the families of Krisol, friends, and visitors. It has been really a nice day! We…