Our School
Lakeside is not just a school. It’s a community where all the people involved have one main goal: educate our children for freedom, respecting their individualities, learning together how to be better human beings.
“Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another the most varied opinions can be reconciled - thus one of the most important tasks for humankind today and in the future is that we should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of development is empty.”
Rudolf Steiner
At Lakeside School, students are invited to experience with their heads, hearts and hands what they are studying.
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Our unique curriculum follows the BC Ministry of Education guidelines and standards while adding art and soul to every taught subject.
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Interested in learning more about Lakeside School?
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We invite you to keep exploring our website, and get in touch with questions about our values, academics, community and more.
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Join us today!
Our Location
Lakeside is located in the neighbourhood of Lower Mission in the beautiful city of Kelowna, the heart of the Okanagan Valley, part of the traditional unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Syilx - Okanagan people. We are lucky to be one block from Okanagan Lake, where our children enjoy nature walks weekly on one of the three beaches that takes less than 5 minutes to reach.
Our Threefold Social Structure
The goal of this social initiative is to be not just a building where people come to learn, but a community where people learn to live. We strive to work as a threefolding structure.
First, following the principles of an education for freedom, our committed faculty and staff support the children in their learning processes respecting their individualities and group characteristics, along with strengthening the class community.
Second, endorsing those principles, the Board of Trustees is the legal, financial and administrative body responsible for the economic well-being of the school, while the Administrative staff ensures documentation is updated and completed according to the law.
And last, but not least, the Parent Council navigates between faculty and board to make the festivals and fundraising happen.
All three divisions work as one toward the centre of our objective: the healthy educational development of our children.
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If you want to know more about Threefold Social Structure, visit:
Our History
Our school’s association was founded in 1981 with the name Waldorf School Association of Kelowna. The first Preschool class was offered in 1982 and the first Grade 1 class in 1985. The school, Kelowna Waldorf School at that time, continued to grow one class each year. The first Grade 8 class graduated in June of 1993.
The property was purchased in 1987, in 1990 the current Peach Blossom preschool building with a Eurythmy room was built, followed by the main building with 5 classrooms, science lab and office in 1993.
The bell tower and the flow form were completed in 1999. In 2002 new wooden playground structures were finished.
In 2018 the school was rebranded as Lakeside School, and the association became Lakeside Educational Society of Kelowna.
Despite the difficulties of recent years, since 2020, our school remained united and we were able to provide our students with support and education, even with distancing and other restrictions.
In 2021, a huge fundraising effort resulted in the possibility of constructing four new playground structures. They were built by our families and by Kukuk Playgrounds.
In 2022 we are celebrating 40 years of our first class, the beginning of this amazing community!
Our Vision, Mission and Values
Vision
Lakeside School seeks to provide children with the highest quality education by offering a creative and supportive learning environment that inspires imagination, holistic thinking, and responsibility for self, community, and the world.
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Mission
Our mission is to educate children through a curriculum that:
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preserves the awe and wonder of childhood
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is developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous
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fosters imagination through artistic experiences and storytelling
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encourages responsibility through clear expectations and engagement in meaningful tasks
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supports students, teachers, and parents working and celebrating together
Shared Values of the Lakeside School Community
Goodness, Truth, and Beauty
An appreciation for goodness, truth, and beauty fosters a healthy physical, socio-emotional, and intellectual life. In support of these values, we encourage gratitude and reverence, kindness and compassion. We strive to educate the whole human being and foster analytical, creative, and flexible thinking, while offering comprehensive artistic experiences.
Organizational Integrity
Integrity in the way our school is organized and run is essential to realizing our values. This means ensuring our structures and processes are transparent, that our governing bodies, mandated committees, and volunteers are all working together in partnership, and that collaborative decision-making, clear communication, and professionalism guide everything we do.
Social Renewal
We are committed to contributing toward the health and harmony of the world. This means recognizing and taking an interest in the needs of others, valuing inclusivity and diversity and working in partnership with the greater community. We seek to impart reverence for nature and encourage students to become good stewards of the earth.
Memberships
The Peach Blossom,Lakeside Hollow and Golden Dawn preschools are Associate Members of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN). WECAN provides direct dialogue with early childhood educators and their colleagues about the programs they design in institutions and in homes, and about how they define and develop their roles and their work with parents. Site visits, regional gatherings, and conferences allow WECAN to research and harvest the current needs of programs in the USA and in Canada.
Lakeside School has been a Registered Initiative member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) since 2018. AWSNA accreditation is a structured, cyclical process of self-study, peer review, and follow-up. The AWSNA accreditation process includes all aspects of school life, including Waldorf principles, independence and mission, self-reflection, students and families, faculty and staff, community, educational programs, decision-making, resources, health and safety, and legality. The goal is to strengthen Waldorf schools while maintaining the true and complete independence of each school.
The Federation of Independent School Associations in British Columbia (FISA BC) is an umbrella organization of independent school associations formed in British Columbia. FISA BC was founded in 1966 by a diverse group of independent schools and represents 307 schools enrolling approximately 94% of the students attending independent schools in British Columbia.
More
If you are interested in learning more about Waldorf Education around the World, watch these videos.