About Sophia Mundi

Sophia Mundi is an independent, non-denominational and co-educational inner city Steiner school offering an affordable, enriching educational pathway from Early Childhood to Senior Secondary. The school was founded on 16^th May 1985.  We are located on a five-acre campus in inner city Melbourne within the beautiful and safe surrounds of the Abbotsford Convent, adjacent to the Collingwood Children’s Farm.  We are a not-for-profit organization, a member of Steiner Education Australia, and an IB World School offering the unique combination of a Steiner Curriculum and the International Baccalaureate Diploma. This unique educational offering marries the richness of Steiner education to Year 10, with the IB in Years 11 & 12 contributing an internationally recognised benchmark qualification.

Our students are drawn from a wide area, with many coming from Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs.  They represent all parts of the economic spectrum. Our highly developed curriculum and pedagogy is equally suited to a diverse range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds and our mix of students reflects the cultural and ethnic richness of the surrounding population.  The school is supported by a strong parent community and maintains a belief that we all share in the education of our children.  We encourage an active lifestyle, healthy eating – organic/biodynamic food where possible – and sustainability. Parents are supported to send fresh lunches with minimal packaging.  We try to use natural and recycled materials.  We encourage parents to participate in support of the school.  We celebrate a range of festivals, particularly those in response to seasonal changes. It is commonplace within our school to see colourful dancing, live music, drama, games, singing, puppetry and story telling.

Why Steiner Education?

In today’s world when parents are seeking an education that will best meet the needs of their child, they are confronted by many choices.  It is not always easy to discern the differences as each school endeavours to provide a good education that caters for a range of needs.  Whatever the educational approach, schools today face the challenge of preparing young people for life in a world that is complex and constantly changing.

The essence of the Steiner approach is the principle that education is an art. Whatever the subject, its presentation must live – it must speak to the child’s experience. Each child is valued as a complete individual – not exclusively for academic skill.  A caring, rather than competitive relationship is encouraged between students.  Steiner Schools develops the student’s capacity to learn, to be open to life and to develop a sense of meaning and purpose. A non-competitive environment allows children the time to learn and develop at the pace they need and protects them from the pressure to enter the adult world too quickly. Being part of a class community that journey together through the school awakens individual capacities and social awareness. So not only is the individual’s development fostered, but students are also encouraged to develop a genuine regard and respect for humanity, and service to others.

“The aim is to educate our children to be positive towards others, resolute in oneself, thoughtful in observation and self expression and to pursue all this with enthusiasm, and with faith in the striving qualities of humankind.  To do this is to ennoble the mind, to fire the imagination, fortify the will, and quicken the initiative for positive action in life.” (Francis Edmunds, Essentials of Rudolf Steiner Education)

Sophia Mundi’s artistic curriculum is a feature of Steiner education.  The visual arts and drama are mostly integrated through the primary school.  We are able to draw upon strong links with our surrounding artistic community: for example, students in Year 10 spend time with local artists and artisans, many of whom have their studios within the Abbotsford Convent Precinct. In music, each child is required to play an instrument and the Strings Programme commences in Year 3. From this time, students participate in a class orchestra until Year 7 when they join one of a range of ensembles.  Eurythmy, a movement art unique to Steiner education, is taught from Prep right through to the end of the Senior years.

Our learning based Outdoor Education programme is widely acclaimed and fulfils an important experiential component. Camps, usually 2 per year, are introduced in Year 3 and the programme has a major focus in Year 9, with a number of camps. They are devoted to developing independence and include bushwalking along the coast, hiking in the mountains, raft building to navigate the Murray River and work on a working farm.

Academic standards are underpinned by mapping our curriculum to the 8 key learning areas of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS).

Sophia Mundi is philosophically committed to the principles and practice of Australian democracy, including:

• Elected government
• Rule of Law
• Equal rights for all
• Freedom of religion
• Freedom of speech and association
• The values of openness and tolerance

Our Student Engagement Policy describes the framework through which we work with the community to attain the highest levels of student well-being to reinforce effective learning and positive behaviour.

The Sophia Mundi Difference

At Sophia Mundi we are committed to a human-centred form of education. To this end we strive

to allow children to experience the joys and mysteries of childhood fully.

This avoids a premature hastening towards adult consciousness and experience – taking time to do things well.

to awaken the children’s thinking and imagination.

Students are encouraged to find beauty and wonder in the world. Creative thinking in the sciences and humanities is enlivened by an artistic way of working and a focus on observation.

to educate the whole human being through the harmonious working of not only the head, but also the heart and hand.

The students’ capacity for clear thinking is stimulated, their life of feelings is broadened and enriched and united with their sense for doing good in the world.

to educate the child as a being of body, soul and spirit

This is not a religious education, but neither does it espouse merely materialistic values. Education of the soul and spirit takes place through the uplifting power of beauty and the imagination,
and out of the content of the curriculum.

to be an education towards freedom.

The aim of the journey at the Sophia Mundi School is the formation of young adults who can think, judge and act freely and responsibly through their strength of individuality.