Connecting hands, hearts and minds since 1984.
Our Story
Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner founded the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. Waldorf education put down roots in America in 1928 with the founding of the Rudolf Steiner School of New York City.
The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara was formed in 1984 by a group of parents seeking the enlivened education that is Waldorf for their children. That first class of kindergartners met in shared rooms, which had to be packed up each Friday afternoon to make way for the site’s weekend occupants! As that first class of kindergartners advanced through the grades, new classes formed and followed behind them. The school now has over 115 students and two campuses. It is a vibrant community led by a dedicated faculty, administrative team and board of trustees.
The main campus is located on Fairview Avenue near the Goleta Library and Fairview Gardens, which serve as wonderful resources for the school. It is here that you will find the school offices as well as classrooms for the first through eighth grades. From the classrooms, the quieter sounds of academic study are interspersed with the sounds of song and verse, flute and strings, woodworking and handwork activities. There are gardens, play areas and a field for sports and games. Each year the children plant and tend the vegetable garden and help care for the other garden plantings which grow more beautiful with each passing year.
Early Childhood, Nursery and Kindergarten classes have their own lovely space on a campus shared with Vieja Valley Elementary School. Here you will find warm and inviting classrooms where the aromas of cooking and baking and the sounds of children's laughter fill in the air. There is also a wonderful garden and play yard located just outside the classroom doors.
We look forward to serving our community and continuing our ongoing growth in strength and vitality long into the future.
“Based upon the principles of Waldorf education, as initiated by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), our mission is to create a healthy educational environment where we support teachers in their work to foster imagination, inspiration and intuition in the children, thus encouraging them to develop their intellectual, creative and social capacities. We aspire to be protectors and advocates for children and childhood. We strive to maintain Waldorf education in our area. We embrace Waldorf education as a means to free the human spirit.”
