Escuela Rural Dendê da Serra
Founded in 2001 by a group of parents and professors, the Pedagogical Association of Dendê Serra transformed the Waldorf School dream into reality by opening a centre adapted to the local community. Currently, the school mostly comprises of a majority of low-income students from Dendê da Serra and the rural zone of Serra Grande county in Uruça, South Coast of Bahia. With a fine team of operational managers and engaged teachers, Dendê da Serra School offers distinctive education with democratic and notable methods, through the mission of transforming the local settings, reducing inequality and creating opportunities.
The concept of development, initiated by Rudolf Steiner, is the main foundation of the Waldorf Ideal, which has the purpose of developing clarity of reasoning, emotional equilibrium and initiative of action in children and young adults. Looking at it with a broad perspective, an anthroposophical approach tends to create the necessary conditions for the students to not only develop their intellectual capacity, but also their hands-on skills, whether artisanal and artistic. This allows the students to value diverse areas of knowledge and local traditions, to experience the constructive intimacy and relationship with nature, as well as to practice their solidarity and respect differences. This way, following the principles described, Dendê da Serra School presents an integrated curriculum, whose main concern is the integral development of a human being.
The School’s approach is focused on the collective and its integration, considering that education is to maintain the social aspect of things and that it is inserted within the community. As a result, the students exercise their respect and contemplate diversity as they promote and value one’s unique experiences and potential – favouring an enriched and privileged receptive environment. Co-working is evident from the employees, students, parents and members of the community, to the School itself in order to guarantee the best practices and functioning of the association itself. This is visible through the operative of the association to all the activities developed in class.
