BWS is a thriving progressive school nestled in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a historically African-American neighborhood in Brooklyn. Our faculty hails from all over the world and includes both seasoned Waldorf teachers and those new to Waldorf education. Typically, teachers remain with and lead a class through multiple grades, forming deep relationships with the children. Teachers do not use a prepared curriculum but develop their content through active engagement with the curricular resources offered in Waldorf teacher trainings as well as in consultation with the school’s Pedagogical Administrator.
Our curriculum is based on the developmental insights of Waldorf education but reflects our local urban environment and community values. Equity, cultural pluralism, and caring for the whole human being in the context of a big city inform all of our programs. Waldorf education has a deep connection to the arts, so in addition to our main lesson curriculum, students also receive instruction from specialty teachers in: Games and Movement, Chorus, Orchestra, Woodworking, Handwork, Mandarin, and Castellano (Spanish).
BWS serves over 200 students from our early childhood programs through grade eight. We are known throughout the Waldorf community as well as the local independent school scene for our dual commitment to the spiritually enlivening Waldorf educational system and contemporary social justice movements. We are involved with our local community in a number of ways, including hosting “Undoing Racism†workshops and partnering with the Lenape nation in a land acknowledgment process. People of color and other historically underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.