In their seventh year the children enter Class 1, where they meet their Class Teacher who, ideally, will stay with them for the next eight years. This continuity of Class Teacher for the main part of each day fosters security and respect in the children. For the teacher it brings a deeper understanding of the needs of the individual child, as well as an additional teaching challenge and an impetus to inner renewal.
At this age and for the next seven years, the children live very strongly in their feeling life. While they can learn readily what appeals to their artistic sense, it is more helpful to their later intellectual development if they do not work with purely abstract concepts at this stage. Memory is, therefore, developed especially through the sense of rhythm, and a strong foundation is given through content being presented, not intellectually, but in a vivid, pictorial way.

“When we came to look around the school I knew very little about the system, but I immediately felt at home. Looking at Class 2, I loved their desks and the paintings on the wall, the recorders in their knitted cases, and I was moved.” Michele Kaye, parent

All main subjects such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, etc., are studied in depth in block periods of three to four weeks in the Main Lesson, which begins each day. The curriculum is structured so that children receive what they need at each stage of their development. For example, in Class 8 (age 13-14) when the children are experiencing puberty and very conscious of physical changes, basic physiology is taught.

In addition to the Main Lesson, regular practice lessons are given in English, Maths, German and French. Practical subjects such as farming, building and gardening are experienced and there are lessons in woodwork, modelling, handwork, painting, drawing and eurythmy.
Music and Drama play an important part in school life and classes regularly perform plays in the school theatre. Singing and lyre and recorder playing form an integral part of the Main Lesson in the younger classes, leading to the formation of class orchestras.

Class outings take place in connection with the Main Lesson subjects being taught; for example, during the farming Main Lesson, the children visit a local farm. Longer residential field trips are frequently used to support Main Lessons, such as the visit to Michael Hall School in Class 5 for a re-creation of the Ancient Greek Olympics or a trip to Hadrian’s Wall in Class 6.