The Waldorf Approach

Waldorf Education brings age-appropriate content and methods to each stage of a child's development. The Waldorf approach recognizes human beings as three-fold in nature—consisting of a mind, spirit, and body—and educates that entire being in preparation for a life of meaning and purpose. 
“Waldorf Education is not a pedagogical system but an art—the art of awakening what is actually there within the human being.”

–Rudolf Steiner
Founder of Waldorf Education

Developmentally appropriate education

The aim of Waldorf education is to develop each student’s unique capacities, believing those capacities are how they will fulfill their lives in a future whose contours we can glimpse only vaguely.

Waldorf schools approach education as an art to be tailored to the developmental stage of the student and the ways the student experiences life:

  • When children learn best by imitation and routine, teachers create healthy daily rhythms and model worthy behaviors , with the goal of developing strength of will sufficient to carrying the child through adversities.
  • At the time of life when children respond most to stories and relationships, teachers anchor their lessons to those rewards, with the aim of developing healthy feeling lives.
  • As students develop abstract thinking and intellectual discrimination, daily lessons cultivate those qualities, for the purpose of developing lively, discerning intellects and ethical foundations.
Waldorf education integrates the arts in all academic disciplines at all ages, for involvement in the arts has been correlated to gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Music, dance and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about and tested. They are experienced.

Recognition by leading universities

Professors who have taught Waldorf students across academic disciplines and a wide range of campuses—from state universities to the Ivy League—note that Waldorf graduates have the ability to integrate thinking; to assimilate information as opposed to memorizing isolated facts; to be flexible, creative, and willing to take intellectual risks; and are leaders with high ethical and moral standards who take initiative and are passionate in reaching their goals.
"Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potential than practically anyone I know."

–Joseph Weizenbaum,
Professor Emeritus, MIT

Bus Route Along NH Rte 101

Students from kindergarten through grade 12 can sign up for our school bus that runs along Rte 101 from Manchester, Bedford and Amherst from the east and Keene and Peterborough from the west. Busses arrive at both the Pine Hill and High School campus by 8am each day and leave at 4pm. The monthly rate is $150, and drop-ins are welcome when space is available.

Find more information about the bus stops and schedule here and contact the admissions office for more information: (603) 654-2391.


Learn More About Pine Hill

Follow the links below to read more about the Pine Hill experience. Please contact us with any questions!

Pine Hill at High Mowing School

Address: 77 Pine Hill Drive, Wilton, NH 03086
Phone: (603) 654-6003    Fax: (603) 654-5012
Founded in 1972, Pine Hill merged with High Mowing School in 2017 to create a coeducational, non-denominational, accredited Waldorf school serving students from early childhood through Grade 12. High Mowing School is accredited by NEASC and AWSNA (high school current, lower school in process).