In varied conversations and experiences with our grandchildren, they have let me know that they have thrived in their Steiner school education. They have an easy sense of belonging and take as given their education in main (morning) lessons, the arts, games, camps and community.

Our eldest grandchild, Benjamin, attended Little Sophia and was a student at Sophia Mundi from prep to Year 12. “Why would I want to go anywhere else?" He would say when asked if he considered other options later in high school. He is now in his third year of an engineering degree at RMIT.

His sibling, Ibiyemi, on the other hand, was ready to fly by the end of class 6 at Sophia Mundi. She had made 4 dolls instead of one in handcraft, written an essay of 3,000 words instead of the required 800, and confidently performs in plays and music concerts, so was insistent on setting out for further horizons.

Having enrolled in another high school in 2021 and right into COVID and the bigger challenges of adolescence, those primary educational foundations especially in the arts, handicrafts, and writing have been Ibi’s strengths in navigating a way to graduate from year 12 while being an activist for Indigenous rights, the plight of war victims, and ecological issues.

Panning out now to the Dandenong Ranges, our grandchild Robin has this year graduated from primary school into a Steiner high school, at a distance from home and with many more enrolments than her Steiner primary school. When asked if it’s very different for her travelling by bus and being there, she replied, “Not really, just bigger.”’ How grounded is that!

Some years ago, I picked up Robin’s brother Honza from his Steiner school, and it was just he and myself in the car. He was then about 8 years old. After minutes of silence when I had decided to see what would happen if I stopped talking to him and stopped asking questions, he finally spoke: “Myna, I have so much to tell you.” And then, without drawing breath, he spoke excitedly about the rain, the vast puddles in the playground and how he and his friends had dug dirt, dragged stones and made water channels, among other things. What a golden moment that was for me being a Steiner education enthusiast and his grandmother. In this day and age, he is enabled to live a wholesome childhood at school (while still doing all the magnificent curriculum lessons) and was being given a fine basis in education for life. He was clearly thriving and eloquent in telling me all about it.

Angelique’s open ended invitation for me to write something for Community Voices feels like having been in and coming out of one of those kind of silences as I’ve pondered what to share and “I have so much to tell you” about our experiences in Steiner education over many years (and years).

In 1980 when we moved from Melbourne to Canberra, we joined a founding group of about 10 people wanting to start a Steiner School in Canberra. The school opened it's doors in August 1981 with 3 kindergarten students and it grew year by year from that small beginning such that, when we left Canberra to return to Melbourne in 2015, Orana School as it was then called had 650 enrolled students from pre-school to year 12.

Michael was a pioneering teacher and educational leader at the school for over 30 years, and I had many volunteer roles in the school community and was also employed in various positions there for 18 years including early childhood teacher, business manager, educational administrator, and in the latter years, as the school chaplain. I served on the Orana Council/Board for 27 years. Our 4 children attended the school and that's a very long story.

So what I’ve begun telling you is that it is deeply moving to observe how, through their parents’ decisions and support, I see that our grandchildren are holding their own in today’s society. Grandparents are ‘once-removed’ and have a perspective that is won over time and through a generation of experiences, in this case, with respect to education. A Steiner approach is both timeless and relevant as a worthy educational option, offering families engagement in community life that strives for holistic human experiences and expression.

I am so very grateful to be a part of such a social impulse that has a recognised presence enlivening education in Melbourne by adding diverse choices for parents, students and teachers. It is delightful to still be engaged in Steiner education at this phase of my life particularly as I can glean insights through our grandchildren.

Gratitude is an overflowing soul quality that looks for an outlet. So, as I have worked in Steiner schools in many roles over the past 40 years, one outlet is serving on the Sophia Mundi Board, contributing my experience and learning, looking to what sustains us now and into the future. The Board is an inspiring collective of talented, energetic, determined individuals who are parents of the School. And I am a grandparent in the mix. Thanks to all of you - the Board, parents and families, teachers, staff, students, friends, grandparents, for this gem of a school and community we create together by being in it and turning up for our children and families.

- Cheryl Nekvapil 

Sophia Mundi board member