School History
Journey School was first chartered on February 14th, 2000 by the governing board of Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD). It was the first start up, parent initiated charter school in all of Orange County. The school opened that fall, serving approximately 90 students in grades K-3. During the subsequent years, Journey School added a grade each year until it was serving grades K-6. In June of 2005 the charter was renewed, and by 2007-08 the school was fully implementing kindergarten through eighth grades.
Since the school opened, enrollment has grown steadily. In 2009, the charter was once again renewed. The school now serves approximately 600 students, double tracking to 8th grade. Substantial wait lists have been established across most grades.
Our Independent Study program was launched in 2017. The program offers home-based and hybrid classes. Read more about Independent Study >>
Educational Roots
Waldorf education was born in post World War I Europe, when socio-economic, political and technological circumstances were shifting rapidly. Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, began working with social leaders to develop an education that would cultivate in young people the basis on which to develop into free, moral, and integrated individuals who could meet the challenges of the 20th century. Steiner put forth the premise that human beings have a threefold nature: physical, social-emotional, and intellectual. Hence, in his educational model, the heart must be reached as well as the mind and body.
Since Steiner’s time, Waldorf education has engaged all aspects of a child’s being. Journey School adheres to this holistic educational picture. Learning is balanced in these three realms to enable each child to fully develop physical will and artistic sensibility alongside intellectual capacity. Addressing the threefold nature of children allows them to move gradually into adulthood as healthy human beings. Journey School is a member of the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education and is guided by the Core Principles of Public Waldorf Education. As a progressive public charter school in Orange County, Journey School is committed to ensuring that more children and families have access to this type of education.
Journey School is an evolving institution rooted in the Core Principles of Public Waldorf Education. We acknowledge that the founder of Waldorf Education, Rudolf Steiner, expressed racist beliefs and ideas that are offensive and incorrect. As a school, we vehemently reject those theories, passages and statements in Rudolf Steiner’s work or otherwise that characterizes individual human beings as superior or inferior based on racial, gender, ethnic, or other group identity. Journey School prioritizes and values diversity, equity, and inclusion in the daily academic lives of all students and faculty members in our community.
