High School
14 — 18 years | Class 8 — 12
In the High School, Michael Mount seeks to address the unique needs of young adults in the 21st Century by providing them with the space to discover who they truly are.
The Main Lesson
As they enter High School, Waldorf students continue to start each day with a morning Main Lesson, where they spend time concentrating on one subject for 3-4 weeks. The subject matter varies across all academic subjects, from history and literature, to science and mathematics. Having a main lesson allows students the opportunity to become thoroughly immersed in a specific topic, creating a space for holistic learning.
During Main Lesson, students make their own workbooks, personally compiling the knowledge imparted by their teacher. This instils within each student a sense of purpose, responsibility, and satisfaction and allows them to comprehend the information in a format that suits them the best. This form of notetaking is a skill that gives Waldorf students the edge after school when they move on to tertiary education.
A Path to Independence
The content taught gradually becomes more complex, and is directly connected to the subject matter required to prepare our students for writing the IEB Matric examinations. In this period of preparation, imaginative learning gives way to rational, complex, and independent thinking.
Our students are given increasing autonomy over their learning, practising discernment and critical thinking. They are introduced to formal assessment, and are placed under the guardianship of teachers who are specialists in their fields and who are well-equipped to guide their students on their path to independence.
A Multidisciplinary Approach
High school education at Michael Mount is distinctive in that the focus continues to be practical. The sciences are taught using active methods of experimenting, discovering, and observing. These are then applied in context with the necessary theory. Concepts are explained first as a whole and are then broken down into the parts that make up the full picture. To ensure that education does not produce one-sided individuals, Michael Mount uses a multidisciplinary approach to learning and continues to use the arts and practical skills in order to educate the mind and to nourish and guide our students into becoming healthy, self-reliant individuals.
Each year of High School meets the developmental needs of the students, and is a time for profound self-discovery where they are able to gain direction in their lives while being challenged physically, intellectually, and mentally.
A look at our curriculum
Alongside the developmentally specific Main Lesson content discussed below, our students also have running lessons for their chosen First Additional Language (Afrikaans or isiZulu), Mathematics, English, the Sciences, History, Geography, Computer Science, Life Orientation, Sport, Music, Drama, Art, Handwork, and Eurythmy (a form of rhythmic movement).
