School Life

The Orchard Valley Waldorf School was founded by families committed to providing their children a Waldorf education and to creating a supportive school community that continues to thrive through strong parent involvement.

Family participation is essential to the school’s commitment to keep tuition costs affordable. We do not have custodians, gardeners, painters or carpenters! All of these tasks and more are filled through the loving support of our community members. Parent involvement also instills in our children a sense of responsibility for their school and a feeling that it is an extension of their family life.

OVWS families contribute in the following areas:

Festivals

The school community hosts a variety of seasonal festivals throughout the year. Festival days are a source of joy and enrichment for all. Your family will be asked to help with one of the two major festivals: Michaelmas (autumn) or Mayfest (spring).

Caring for our school

Families take turns cleaning the public areas of our school building. Each family is scheduled for one cleaning weekend during the school year. The cleaning requires 3-4 hours of work. Families will be provided a cleaning checklist before the scheduled weekend cleaning. Families also participate in one (out of three) seasonal workday each year which is held on a Saturday from 9am-3pm.

Fundraising Assistance

Each family is expected to participate in a variety of fundraising events throughout the year. Fundraising is essential to keeping our programs affordable. Each year our school sponsors such events as the Spring into Summer Celebration (which includes our annual silent auction and pie breakfast), Fall into Winter Fair (our annual holiday craft fair featuring local artisans, luncheon buffet, children’s activities, and more) and Vacation Raffle. Your new ideas and energies for fundraising are always welcome!

Tasks

You will be asked to commit to a specific task that suits your interests, skills and available time. Examples include: serving as librarian for our small library, taking home the school laundry for weekly washing, serving as a “class parent,” assisting in the school office and chairing a committee for one of our fundraising events.