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School
Camphill Special School, Glenmoore, PA, USA
School Gallery
Introduction
Where Special Means Extraordinary.
Camphill Special School consists of The Children’s Village and School at Beaver Run, The Transition Program at Beaver Farm, and The Camphill School of Curative Education and Social Therapy.
Camphill Special Schoolis the only Waldorf school in North America that exclusively serves children with special needs. Waldorf curriculum presents traditional scholastic subjects, both academically and experientially, stimulating young minds and nurturing healthy emotional development. School’s mission is to create wholeness for children and youth with developmental disabilities through education, extended family living, and therapy so that they may be better understood, they may more fully unfold their potential, and they may meaningfully participate in life.
The school offers residential and day academic and prevocational programs, as well as therapeutic care, for children in kindergarten through grade twelve. We also offer a Transition Program for young people ages eighteen to twenty-one.
Number of students
Boarding School:
Girls:
0
Boys:
0
Total:
0
Day School:
Girls:
0
Boys:
0
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0
Fees
7 days boarding:
About the school
Camphill Special School was formed when Downingtown Special School and Donegal Springs, curative homes for children that began in 1954 and 1961 in Pennsylvania, merged. After an extensive search for a location to house an ever-growing number of children and volunteer coworkers, a beautiful fifty-seven acre farm in rural East Nantmeal, Pennsylvania, was purchased in October 1963.
When founded in 1963, Camphill Special School was based upon the idea that the new community not only would become a village for children, but a place that nurtured childhood itself. This was powerfully affirmed in 1967 when a foundation stone was laid at Rock Crystal, the village’s first purposely built house where volunteers, interns, and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities could share their lives.
Rock Crystal is named after a small book of the same name by Adalbert Stifter. First published in 1845 as a “Christmas tale,” Rock Crystal is a fable of two children, lost on Christmas Eve on a glacier separating two villages. The youngsters, protected by The Angel of Providence, are rescued the next day when residents of both villages overcome their prejudices towards each other and search together to find the lost ones.
In the same way, Rock Crystal embodied Camphill Special School’s new ideal of a “children’s village” — a collection of accepting and loving homes where children who have lost their way in the world can be found and, once found, lead lives with purpose and significance.
Camphill Special School is a Waldorf school accredited by AWSNA and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Camphill school also is licensed by the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Public Welfare and it is a Pennsylvania Approved Private School for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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Academic life
Camphill Special School assigns students to classes according to chronological age. In this way, students participate in age-appropriate educational programming, together with small group and individualized instruction that addresses each child’s needs and abilities.
Utilizing adapted Waldorf curriculum, Camphill Special School’s teachers strive for a comprehensive understanding of each child through conscious and careful study. Students are regarded as whole human beings first and foremost, with intact spirits that are capable of learning, accomplishment, social interaction, and social relationships.
In a Waldorf classroom, such things as beautiful art, fresh flowers, and vibrant colors combine to create a warm and loving environment where learning occurs in a predictable and rhythmical manner. Literature, drama, art, music, and free play nurture young imaginations and bodies.
Students in the elementary and middle grades are active participants in the rich festival life of the Camphill Special School community, and they also enjoy trips to museums, concerts, or plays. Birthdays and special occasions are celebrated in houses and classrooms. Depending on individual interests and availability, some students become members of local Special Olympic teams, such as basketball, swimming, or softball.
High school students are grouped according to their chronological ages, enabling both age-appropriate educational experiences and, perhaps even more important, age-appropriate social interaction.
Students in grades nine through twelve, ages fourteen to eighteen, participate daily in a unique afternoon prevocational program designed to develop skills and attitudes that enhance their social development and allow them to participate in meaningful cooperative work. Working individually or in small groups, students rotate through various prevocational crews including the school store, household activities, gardening, landscaping, weaving, sewing, woodworking, maintenance, life skills, and stable and animal care.
Sport and culture
Students receive small group and individualized instruction addressing their unique needs. In addition, however, they are permitted to choose from elective courses according to their interests and talents. Our elective courses have included: Photography, Auto Shop, German, Baking, Poetry, Book Club.
Friends and social relationships are of paramount importance to this age group. Trips to museums, plays, movies, or concerts enrich academic programming. Birthdays are hugely special occasions, especially the “big” ones such as sixteen and eighteen. Dances are perennial favorites and every spring the Student Council sponsors a Prom. Ski trips, swim programs, and own horse shows and recitals give students other avenues for interaction and growth.
Location Description
1784 Fairview Road Glenmoore, PA 19343 PA 19343
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- info@best-boarding-schools.net