Waldorf School Opens New Campus

Hannah Heineman
Mirror staff writer
  
   The Assistance League of Santa Monica has leased its facility at 1439 Fifteenth Street in Santa Monica to the Westside Waldorf School for a pre-school.
   Last Thursday, the Director of the School, Jeffrey Graham, signed a three-year lease with the League.
   Beginning on September 8, nursery and other pre-school classes for 15 students between 2 years 9 months and 4 and half years old will be held in the 1,500 square foot building and playground, which was previously leased to Santa Monica College’s day care center for children of its faculty and students.
   Included in the lease was an option on another 3,500 square foot building and two neighboring City lots for further expansion. If it wins City approval, the school will add kindergarten classes, with an estimated enrollment of 65 children, in which case the Assistance League would move its administrative operations to the second floor of 1453 15th Street above its Bargain Bazaar Thrift Shop.
   Graham stated, “We are most grateful for this new relationship with the Assistance League. Our organizations are well-matched, being as they are both focused on helping and educating our youth. The 15th Street facility will enable us to increase the number of children and families exposed to Waldorf Education at the front end of their schooling. We believe this will increase the size of our Grades Program, which in turn supports further expansion of the school into 8 full grades. The demand for quality early childhood education is constant. Outgrowth into this and possibly other satellite campuses will help to serve this demand.”
   In addition, Graham believes the new site will give the school a “broader financial base” and “increase the visibility for Waldorf education.”
   The school’s main campus is located at 1229 Fourth Street and it has another pre-school location on Fifth Street.
   Westside Waldorf School is part of the largest non-sectarian independent school movement in the world, with about 200 schools in North America and 900 throughout the world.
   Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, designed the school’s educational approach, which “accepts the children with reverence, educates them with love and sends them forth in freedom.” Steiner opened the first school in Germany in 1919.
   The Assistance League of Santa Monica is a volunteer philanthropic organization that was founded in 1937 and is dedicated to providing community service through a variety of programs in cooperation with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
   Its Operation School Bell program, according to its literature, “provides children in need with appropriate assistance to enhance self-esteem, to promote learning and to encourage regular school attendance.” The assistance includes vision and dental programs, distribution of sweat jackets, backpacks and supplies, school nurse supplies, emergency clothing and hygiene counseling kits.
   Its Operation Hug “gives children in a traumatic situations a huggable teddy bear,” and the Assistance League Summer Program of Recreation and Training “serves at risk and needy children by providing outdoor camping and sports experiences as well as enrichment programs.”
   The League also awards college scholarships.
   The League’s principal source of funds is its shop, which is stocked with merchandise donated by members, community residents and local businesses.
   The Westside Waldorf School currently has openings at all grade levels. For information please call (310) 576-0788.