Steiner Education Australia

At Mansfield Steiner School, Year 12 students have completed their 3,000-word Internal Assessment in Chemistry for the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

Each student enjoyed the freedom of designing their own experiment, based on their own interests, and through the lens of chemistry, have now conducted, tabulated, graphed, analysed and evaluated their findings.

The projects ranged from the electrolysis of copper, Prussian blue pigment synthesis, and exploring the limits of buffer capacity, to optimising salt bridges in voltaic cells, vitamin C degradation in orange juice, the effect of pasteurisation on the sulphite content of white wine, and determining the levels of toxic oxalates in rhubarb leaves.

Critical thinking skills are at the centre of this exercise which builds students’ capacities to be analytical and independent thinkers — a hallmark of Steiner education. Well done to Mansfield’s Year 12s.

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Steiner Education Australia presents: Student Support Conference | 3-4 July 2026 | Warrah Specialist School, NSW

A timely conference for teachers, learning and student support staff, wellbeing staff, school leadership and board directors, exploring how Steiner schools can meet the growing learning, emotional and mental health challenges of today with compassion and insight.

Featuring keynote speakers Associate Professor Daniel Fassnacht, presenting "The Power of the Self: Integrating a healthy sense of self for better mental health", and Dr Michaela Glöckler, presenting "Educating young people for wellbeing as preventative medicine".

Bookings are now open: https://steinereducation.edu.au/event/2026-student-support-conference-2/

Central Coast Steiner School has been named by The Sydney Morning Herald (May 18, 2026) as one of NSW’s top primary schools for student academic growth, following the release of 2026 NAPLAN results. Improvement from year 3 to Year 5 was measured across reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. Achieved without teaching to the test. Without screens in the early years. Through a curriculum built around the developmental needs of the child.

“If we educate the whole child and honour their developmental journey, academic growth will come.” — Principal Rosemary Michalowski

A quiet but significant affirmation of something Steiner/Waldorf schools have been doing in Australia since 1957.

Attention Steiner/Waldorf Alumni. Something significant is underway for Steiner education in Australia. We've partnered with the University of the Sunshine Coast to research graduate outcomes.

We need to hear from as many alumni as possible to make the results count. The more voices in the room, the stronger the story we can share.

If you attended an Australian Steiner/Waldorf high school we would love to hear from you. To find out more and access the survey, click on the link:

https://steinereducation.edu.au/news/2026-graduate-outcomes-research-project/

Please share!

Steiner Education Australia presents

2026 Student Support Conference
3–4 July 2026
Warrah Specialist School, NSW

Thrive together: healthy development for today and tomorrow

How do we support the healthy development of children and young people in an increasingly complex world?

This two-day conference will bring together teachers, learning and student support staff, wellbeing staff, school leaders and board directors to explore the diverse learning, emotional and mental health challenges becoming more common in today’s classrooms.

The conference will offer a thoughtful and practical exploration of how Steiner schools can respond with compassion, insight and care.

To find out more: https://steinereducation.edu.au/event/2026-student-support-conference-2/

Steiner Voices XYZ: An Elegant Journey of Awakening: Learning to think in Science education

This week's podcast features Dr Tim Dunn. Tim’s educational journey began in IT and computing, then led him on to a university career as a scientist with a PhD in cancer research and immunology. Tim was drawn into teaching when asked by friends to help out in the fledgling high school at Samford Valley Steiner School. He negotiated a release from university commitments of one afternoon per week to teach Maths, but soon found himself captivated by the quality of thinking he encountered in the high school students: a flexible, active and engaged thinking that contrasted with the fixed and formulaic thinking with which he was familiar. The one afternoon per week became a full time commitment when he left a position as Senior Lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, and became a Science teacher at the school. Tim describes the Steiner school approach to science as an “elegant journey of awakening”: one following the classic traditions of the great scientists, of clear and intense observation of phenomena followed by a critical reflection that builds the concepts of Physics, Chemistry and Biology into a living whole. The process is as important as the content in helping students to not only know their subject, but also to learn to think critically and creatively.

You can listen to Steiner Voices XYZ on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or via this link https://steinereducation.edu.au/steiner-voices-xyz/