Seaside Charter Schools embraces the whole child - Head, Heart, and Hands - through an education that integrates each child's creative, intellectual, emotional, physical and social domains. Seaside employs an interdisciplinary liberal arts program inspired by Waldorf Principals where art, music, and movement are integrated with core academic instruction. Seaside is the largest, and first established, Public Waldorf institution in the Southeast U.S.A.
ONE SCHOOL | THREE LOCATIONS
Seaside Charter Schools in partnership with the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education and the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, administered by the Seaside School Consortium, offers K-8 tuition-free education inspired by the principles of Public Waldorf.
Seaside seeks to awaken a child’s natural reverence for the world and the many wonders it holds while providing a rigorous academic experience through our three Jacksonville, FL locations.
Seaside seeks to awaken a child’s natural reverence for the world and the many wonders it holds while providing a rigorous academic experience through our three Jacksonville, FL locations.
THE SEASIDE DIFFERENCE
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Seaside Charter Schools follow traditional Waldorf topics within the Florida Standards framework which strengthens the child to meet not only the challenges of school but also to be capable of contributing to community life.
To face their futures with confidence, students need to develop a capacity for clear thinking, emotional stability, intellectual flexibility, and moral values. Our objective is to help all students to blossom into young adulthood with a balanced capacity for thinking, feeling and doing, so that they are prepared with self-confidence and inner resources to accept responsibility and to take their places as creative, self-directed members of society. We teach to the “head, heart, and hands” of every child. |
Some introductory highlights of the Waldorf approach at Seaside:
The Waldorf method of education provides a rigorous, arts-integrated educational program guided by the Core Principles of Public Waldorf Education presented in a developmentally appropriate and arts-integrated context. This holistic, balanced approach has been shown to produce better academic results. In fact, Waldorf educated students have been found to equal or surpass their peers on studied parameters such as math, science and reading achievement. Equally imperative, are the observed but less easily documented cognitive capacities such as emotional intelligence, social interaction, flexibility and tenacity that these students exhibit.
Seaside Charter Schools offers a curriculum that will allow students to excel academically and transition gracefully into upper level public high school settings.
- Consistent Daily Rhythm: The school day rhythm balances concentration and relaxation, mental and practical work, movement and stillness, listening and participation, observing and doing. The school’s master schedule engages students in most of their intellectual work in the early hours of the school day.
- Teacher Looping: At Seaside, teachers are encouraged to stay with their class for more than one school year. This practice is referred to as looping. Looping allows teachers to develop a stronger relationship with their students and families. Looping is not required at Seaside, but rather considered on a year to year basis to ensure the best educational experience for both staff and students.
- Main Lessons: Main lessons include all traditional subjects and are typically taught in 6-week units, thereby allowing children to gain a deep and personal relationship with the material and therefore retain it longer.
- Music, art, and movement: Arts and music are greatly employed in the learning process. Those emphasized are yoga, watercolors, recorder/percussion instruments and in later years violin/guitars, songs in the round, knitting and crocheting, wood carving and nature crafts.
- Limited Technology: Technology is de-emphasized in the early years at school and at home. Parents of enrolled children are asked to greatly limit their children’s exposure to computers, TV, and video games.
- Spanish: Spanish immersion begins for students in the second grade. Our Kindergarten and first grade students spend time learning American Sign Language (ASL).
- Preservation of Childhood: Premature intellectual demands are avoided and skills are introduced at appropriate ages, thereby fostering a cooperative non-competitive environment.
- Festivals and Seasonal Study: Seasonal studies and festivals are taught and celebrated throughout the year.
- Storytelling: Storytelling is used to awaken imagination, build vocabulary and oral language, retain attention and teach subjects such as math, history, geography, social studies, writing and reading.
- Nature: The Waldorf method emphasizes nature and environmental stewardship. Children spend time outside exploring the world around them gaining a deeper understanding of science and nature studies.
- Real Life: Children learn real-life tasks such as housekeeping, cooking, fiber arts, and gardening.
- Limited Class Sizes: Seaside maintains a 1:18 student teacher ratio as outlined in our charter contract.
The Waldorf method of education provides a rigorous, arts-integrated educational program guided by the Core Principles of Public Waldorf Education presented in a developmentally appropriate and arts-integrated context. This holistic, balanced approach has been shown to produce better academic results. In fact, Waldorf educated students have been found to equal or surpass their peers on studied parameters such as math, science and reading achievement. Equally imperative, are the observed but less easily documented cognitive capacities such as emotional intelligence, social interaction, flexibility and tenacity that these students exhibit.
Seaside Charter Schools offers a curriculum that will allow students to excel academically and transition gracefully into upper level public high school settings.
COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY
Seaside Charter Schools support and embrace diversity in all its forms, including differences in socio-economic background, ethnicity, physical ability, geographic origin, family structure, religious heritage, age, gender and gender identity, and sexual orientation. We seek to ensure that all aspects of school life - including curriculum, admissions, retention, hiring practices, and support for students, families, and employees — reflect our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and will be diligently assessed and actively supported.
We recognize that diversity within our community is an asset and sustains the health of a school while reflecting and enriching the community in which it exists. Learning at Seaside Charter Schools involves listening to and working with others, considering and embracing different points of view, and empathizing with and understanding multiple perspectives. Through open, honest dialogue and active, ongoing inquiry in an authentically diverse context, all members of our community gain awareness, wisdom, and the capacity to act as responsible, engaged citizens.
We recognize that diversity within our community is an asset and sustains the health of a school while reflecting and enriching the community in which it exists. Learning at Seaside Charter Schools involves listening to and working with others, considering and embracing different points of view, and empathizing with and understanding multiple perspectives. Through open, honest dialogue and active, ongoing inquiry in an authentically diverse context, all members of our community gain awareness, wisdom, and the capacity to act as responsible, engaged citizens.
