Since the late 20th century, a shift in understanding has occurred about how we teach students. New approaches to learning emphasise the importance of deep understanding in order to facilitate a lifelong love of learning in students and the flexible thinking capacities needed to meet the demands of an ever-changing world. Students need learning environments where active, deep and authentic thinking occurs over time.
Glenaeon has long recognised the need for a balanced and enriched approach to learning, responsive to the developmental phases of childhood and adolescence and the nurturing of the child’s imagination, creativity and active thinking.
For over 60 years, Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School has helped children and young adults find meaning and direction in their lives. Through a considered balance of academic, aesthetic, artisan, altruistic and active wilderness, we equip students with the foundation they need to lead a life of character and contribution.
The Glenaeon Journey
The Glenaeon Learning Journey is an integrated, holistic education, designed to provide a balance of intellectual, artistic, imaginative capacities and practical life skills, with a strong emphasis on teaching through the arts and experiential learning.
Our graduating high school class demonstrates the benefits of this approach, consistently placing in the top 10% of NSW high schools. A strong academic program, incorporating culture, the arts, service and wilderness environments, extends students in a balanced and rounded manner.
As well as performing so well academically, students who come through the school have all sung and performed on stage in their musical, have hiked and camped around Australia, played musical instruments, learned another language for years, and most importantly, been part of a strong learning community built on bonds, many of which will last a lifetime.
Cherishing Childhood
Their early years are equally blessed, with a creative education that cherishes the roots of childhood through play, imagination and a love of nature, established in our Preschool and Kindergarten.
Formal learning begins in primary school, where a rigorous education is delivered with creativity embedded in the learning process. Our teachers are story-tellers, artists and musicians who enrich the core subjects of literacy, numeracy and science by bringing learning alive with imaginative flair and passion. They accompany their classes through the primary years as a Class Teacher, and become valued partners with parents in raising each child, building character and igniting a curiosity for learning and the world.
Middle and Senior School – a balanced curriculum
Our Middle and Senior Schools run a range of sports, outdoor education, musical and theatre programs, building a balanced and creative preparation for life. Glenaeon’s ACARA-approved curriculum is centred on the healthy development of our students and is seamlessly blended with local Board of Studies (BOSTES) requirements
Glenaeon is located on three campuses near Chatswood on Sydney's lower north shore. The main campus at Middle Cove is located on three hectares of beautiful bushland grounds reaching down to Scotts Creek and Middle Harbour. The Kindergarten and Classes 1 and 2 are situated on a quiet, tree-lined campus at Castlecrag with a beautiful playground, while the Preschool is in a home-based Federation house and garden in Willoughby.
To realise a contemporary understanding of the wisdom of Dr Rudolf Steiner which will prepare students to take their place as young men and women of distinction in Australian and world society.
Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School is an academically challenging, emotionally fulfilling, and culturally enriching school where teachers educate to the highest standard and support students on their journey to a successful future. We are very proud of Glenaeon’s history, current practice and unique vision for the future.
Glenaeon was founded in 1957 by Sylvia Brose OAM, out of the community around Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin. Their enduring values of academic scholarship infused with design, the arts, community, nature and spirit were ahead of their time. From this foundation, Glenaeon pioneered innovative teaching and learning in Sydney, and we are indeed proud of the contribution our school has made to contemporary education.
Today, as an educational community from Preschool to Year 12 with 500 students, our school is able to foster a strong sense of connection while getting to know our students individually as their journey unfolds. Glenaeon students are educated to a very high standard and are given opportunities to find out who they are, in order to add something of value to the great human story.
To all our students we offer two of life’s most precious gifts, hope and wellbeing: hope, so they can contribute meaningfully to the world story, and wellbeing, that they will be healthy, whole and skilled enough to do so. Our task as a school
is to give them the rich and nourishing environment that will inspire them, in a challenging but connected world, to be their unique and individual best.
I look forward to welcoming you to Glenaeon.
ANDREW HILL
B.A. (Hons) Dip Arts, M.Ed (Sydney) MACE Head of School
Duke Of Edinburgh Award
This Award is offered at the beginning of Year 9 with students able to enrol at the Bronze level. Completion of the award gives students a great sense of achievement and they are able to progress to the silver and gold awards which are valuable additions to their resume. Glenaeon’s camps and activities support the students in the achievement of the Bronze award.
There is a council car park for Bales Park on Sydney Street, right next to the preschool. If you are attending with your child access the preschool through the garden gates. If you are attending for a tour, please come to the front door and ring the doorbell.
The Castlecrag campus is in a residential area of the suburb. There is street parking on Edinburgh Road, next to the campus and Edith Street, opposite the campus.
Glenroy Avenue is a narrow residential street and poses difficulties for parking and navigating at peak times. If you arrive during the day, street parking can be available on Glenroy Avenue and limited parking is available on campus. Otherwise, it is wise to park in Victoria Avenue and cross Eastern Valley Way, finding the path between houses near the bus stop on Eastern Valley Way that leads to Glenroy Avenue. The school gate is shut every day from 8:30am-9:15am and from 3:15pm-3:45pm. At other times limited parking is available on campus.
Glenaeon is serviced by a range of government bus services and by three school run shuttle services. These services operate morning and afternoon each day from:
For further information or questions please contact our Registrar at: enrolments@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au
Scholarships offered in 2018:
For more information, please visit our website at http://www.glenaeon.nsw.edu.au/enrolments/scholarships or call Enrolments on 02 9932 2325
The 2016 HSC results underline our commitment to a balanced curriculum which includes our excellent academic program. We achieved 16 Band 6 or equivalent results (marks above 90 in a subject) giving us a 14.9% Band 6 to exams sat result.
2016's HSC group was the last of our small classes, and with 107 exams sat, we are not included in the Sydney Morning Herald’s ranking list which only ranks schools with more than 150 exams sat.
However, based on our results, our placing in the state ranking of over 930 high schools in NSW is around 105, within the top 150 schools which are published in the Herald and within the top 12% of high schools in the state.
There is now a sizeable diaspora of Glenaeon students spread across the country, and the world, who have in one way or another shared in the Glenaeon spirit.
Classes have regular reunions and there is a camaraderie that lives on between those who have been comrades-in-arms in Glenaeon classrooms.
The lives of our GlenXer’s make inspiring reading, and can be read online at http://glenaeoncommunity.com.au. So many of their stories demonstrate that our education has equipped them with a range of skills, attitudes and work practices which have translated into a diversity of successful careers.
Mia Westcott
Glenaeon K-12
Bachelor of Medicine, Newcastle University
Remote Medicine Placement, Solomon Islands
Paediatric Registrar, Newcastle Hospital
Zac Cohan
Glenaeon 1-12
International Studies, Macquarie University
Apple World Developers Award 2007
Co-founder: Picturesque, Soulver
Software designer
Lucy Minter
Glenaeon K-12
Trained as carpenter (Master Builders Association)
Law degree at UNSW
Organised building projects in disadvantaged areas of Brazil
MEDIA RELEASE
DIANA DRUMMOND APPOINTED GLENAEON’S NEW HEAD OF SCHOOL
Education leader Ms Diana Drummond has been appointed the new Head of School at Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School. Announced by Peter Candotti, Chair of the School Board at an all staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Drummond will commence in the role in January 2023 taking over from Mr Andrew Hill who has held the position of Collegiate Chair and Head of School for the past 14 years.
Ms Drummond joins Glenaeon having completed more than 15 years in school leadership roles, most recently at Wenona where she has been Deputy Principal (Teaching and Learning) since 2018 and is currently Deputy Principal (Professional Practice and Leadership). Diana’s prior experience included Vice Principal of the co-educational International School Bangkok, Head of the Junior School MLC Burwood, Junior School Deputy at St Catherine’s School, as well as senior leadership roles at the AIS NSW.
Of the appointment, Mr Candotti said, “I am delighted to welcome Diana to Glenaeon. She is a committed, passionate educator and leader whose values align with Glenaeon’s holistic, nurturing, and creative approach to teaching and learning. Her experience has demonstrated that she is an innovative, collaborative and future-focused educational leader who listens and invests energy into building relationships with individuals and groups. She is well experienced in leading learning communities, in strategic thinking, and the professional development of teachers and support staff. Building on Andrew’s outstanding legacy, Diana will capably lead Glenaeon in the next exciting phase of the school’s growth and development.”
On her appointment, Ms Drummond said, “Glenaeon presents an outstanding and unique educational offering. By developing each young person’s academic, cultural and emotional capacity through a focus on knowing students deeply, age-appropriate and integrated learning experiences, and strong community connection, Glenaeon is a school of choice for “thinking” parents. I am excited by the opportunity that a move into Steiner education brings with its focus on teaching as an artform and where the education of young people is imbued with meaning and purpose.”
Outgoing Head of School Andrew Hill said, “It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead Glenaeon. We have achieved so much over the past decade and a half, and I am extremely proud of the united and enriching community that has developed around our school. Diana brings long experience, enormous expertise and great personal qualities that will build on these foundations and take Glenaeon to new heights as a vibrant centre of Steiner education.”
Mr Hill will work with Ms Drummond to facilitate a smooth transition into 2023.
The Board wishes to thank all the candidates who applied and warmly congratulates Ms Drummond, and kindly acknowledges Andrew Hill’s significant contribution to the School, its teachers and staff, parents and students over the past 14 years.
(as voted by site visitors)
Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, Middle Cove NSW