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"The eleventh grade is a turning point in the adolescent's Waldorf experience. Out of the richness of the courses teenagers are placed in touch with their inner resources and higher selves. " - Betty Staley in "Waldorf High School"

The Class 11 year is one in which the students explore the relationship between the self and the other. It is a time to look inward and ask the question “Who am I?” and then to look outward and ask, “How can I relate to you?”

The main events of the Class 11 year are the Parzival journey, the social practical and the final Eurythmy performance. The Parzival journey takes place early on in the year, and takes the form of a class camp. During this journey, the class is told the medieval story of Parzival, a young man in search of truth. Mirroring the inward journey of the story, the class is challenged physically with daily hikes. This experience gives the students an opportunity for introspection, as well as creating in the class a sense of community and common purpose.

The social practical is an opportunity for each student to go separately into the greater community and give help to people in need. This awakens in the students’ awareness of their place within the greater social sphere, and of the difficulties that others face.

For the final Eurythmy performance, the students work singly and in groups to choreograph movements to chosen music and poetry. This performance and the work leading up to it is an exercise in individual responsibility and in teamwork.

The main lessons in Class 11 reflect this theme of ‘the self and the other’.  History covers medieval history, with the moral ideals of knighthood and the clash between East and West. Physics and chemistry look inward, to the atoms of which we are composed, and the potentially devastating power that atoms contain. Biology explores plant cells and the relationships between plants and humans. Projective Geometry is the branch of maths that deals with points and lines, creating wonderful shapes and bringing up questions about the nature of infinity.

“Whose word could be truthful enough for the stone to accept it? Who could have beauty enough to speak for the rose?” Whose word is grounded in love enough to sound what is most deeply Human?” – Paul Matthews

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