During 1987, a shared vision was brought to fruition to establish a Steiner school in the Castlemaine area and to begin with a kindergarten – truly a ‘children’s garden’ which would be the gateway to the school.
The Castlemaine Steiner Kindergarten then, began life in 1988 as ‘White Gums’ in White Gum Road, Barkers Creek, in a studio on the property of one of the children. Later the school moved to The Penny School (a National Trust classified, old school building in Maldon) and again in 1996 to its current location on the outskirts of Castlemaine.
The current site was purchased in 1995 as eighteen acres of flat grazing land, undernourished by its use as a sheep paddock. There were a few mature trees, and one salt affected dam. With Permaculture design from David Holmgren (one of our past parents), sound bio-dynamic methods and with generous input from parents and friends, the transformation of the land has been miraculous.
Well in excess of 2000 trees have been planted and tree-planting continues to be an integral part of the development of our grounds. The school itself is architect-designed by Des Cullen, an ex-parent of the school, and the classrooms and the Multi-Purpose room are beautifully constructed of rammed earth.
The parent community built the Kindergarten space and this distinctive building was designed by Bow Thompson, a parent at the school at the time. It has its own beautiful children’s garden and play area including sandpit, mud pit, hill, flow-form, and chooks.
In 2005 the school extended to Class 8 and in 2006, Castlemaine Secondary College commenced a Years 9 and 10 Steiner Stream. Students make a very successful transition to any of the local secondary schools, as they are well motivated and strong students across all curriculum disciplines.