Our Story
On June 26, 2004, at one of our very first gatherings on the future site of OVWS, a rainbow appeared.
The Orchard Valley Waldorf School, a developing Waldorf school, located in East Montpelier, VT, represents the fruit of a unified effort to provide Waldorf education in central Vermont. Families in the central Vermont area had long been served by Waldorf education. In 1991, the Montpelier Waldorf Child’s Garden was founded, creating a nurturing Waldorf kindergarten.
In March 2003, a committee of parents was formed and set out to find a property where a Waldorf grade school could flourish in central Vermont. After one dry run, they learned in July 2003 of the Winooski Valley Orchard property, which was to be auctioned off just six weeks later on August 15. This beautiful 55-acre property, with farmhouse, large barn, rolling hills, extensive river frontage, and spectacular views, seemed an ideal location, and members diligently began gathering information to determine if the site would meet permitting and other requirements for a Waldorf kindergarten and grade school.
With only weeks until the auction, time was short. An immense amount of work needed to be done, not the least of which was finding the funding for purchase of the property at auction, which was not assured, and renovation of the property if successful at the auction. A commercial loan was deemed to be out of the question. Members brainstormed and the idea of a cooperative lending organization was put forth. In August 2003, less than two weeks before the auction, members worked frantically to prepare a proposal with supporting maps, photos, a brochure, and a budget. These information packets were quickly sent to over 200 people in Vermont connected to Waldorf education. The effort paid off; in the week before the auction, pledges of loans and gifts rolled in. The group went to auction knowing that it could spend upwards of $350,000 if needed, and with additional funds in reserve for renovations to the property.
On a hot August afternoon in 2003, the group prevailed at the auction and secured the Winooski Valley Orchard property, and in doing so a dream was realized. Buildings were renovated in time for a nursery class and the two grade school classes to move into the farmhouse in January of 2004, only three months after purchase. The community celebrated the purchase, an ideal location for a Waldorf school: 55-acres of orchards amidst a pastoral landscape, a 19th century farmhouse for early childhood programs and the Apple Barn to serve the grades. The Orchard Valley Waldorf School was born!
In the summer of 2007, a straw bale yurt was constructed to accommodate the need for additional classroom space and housed our first eighth grade class. In the summer of 2010, a second yurt was constructed to house our growing student population. For the first time in the 2010-2011 school year, the Orchard Valley Waldorf School achieved its full complement of programs with grades 1 through 8 and early childhood classes. The Child’s Garden campus in Montpelier continues to thrive as a mixed-age preschool within the city.