Back to School 2024–25

Dear Waldorf School of Pittsburgh Families,

Welcome to the 2024–25 school year! The faculty and staff eagerly anticipate the arrival of your students on campus in just a few weeks. In the meantime, we hope you are able to enjoy a little more time taking in the light and airy nature of summer.

Throughout this summer, our Faculty have attended both in-person and virtual courses (including renewal courses, restorative practices, teacher mentor training, informed adolescence curriculum, and literacy courses). Our Administrative Team has been busy as well. Among our tasks, we are in the process of implementing a new student management platform that will offer parents easier access to necessary information in the 2024–25 school year. We look forward to rolling out Ravenna Student Management over the month of September.

Physical campus projects completed over the summer in the main building include repainting the fifth grade hallway and bathrooms, refinishing two kindergarten classroom floors, and restoring the storm drain outside the wood shop. The interior of the Yellow House has been painted, the floors have been refinished, the gutters and roof have been repaired, and the porch has been removed in preparation for future restoration. 

As we prepare for a new school year, it is our long-held tradition to warmly invite all families to help us clean, organize, and refresh the classrooms and common spaces of the school by attending Beautification Weekend. This year, we are holding Beautification Days. Families may come anytime during the designated times to help prepare the school buildings.

• Early Childhood Families: Wednesday, August 21, 1–6pm

• Grades 1–4 Families: Thursday, August 22, 1–6pm

• Grades 5–8 Families: Friday, August 23, 1–6pm

Our New-to-WSP Orientation will take place from 5–6pm on Wednesday, August 21 for all new families on the Heartwood Annex Lawn. Please plan to join us! 

We are excited to begin the school year together with students returning for their first day of school on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. This is a half-day for Nursery through 8th grade students with dismissal at 12:15pm, and a full-day for Little Friends children. Our extended care program begins Tuesday, September 3.

Please mark your calendars to attend our in-person Back-to-School Night to be held on Tuesday, September 10, 2024 from 6–7pm. We hope to see you all there as we kick-off the school year together with important information delivered with some fun to guide you throughout the year.

In the meantime, please read through the contents of the school packets that will be sent to you next week for useful information in preparation for the start of the school year including a checklist of important paperwork needed by Friday, August 23.

I look forward to our year together of new discoveries in Waldorf education. Children will experience the beauty of nature, explore the world of imagination and develop their independent thinking skills as we live our values as a community. At WSP, we value collaboration, holism, empathy, curiosity, diversity, and truth, beauty, and goodness. We foster opportunities for all students to grow into well-rounded individuals and cultivate in each person the ability to understand others and feel compassion for them.

All the best,

Kirsten Christopherson-Clark

Head of School