The Blue Mountains Steiner School - along with nearly 3,500 other Steiner schools world-wide - has celebrated 100 years of its educational program this year.
The school believes now is an excellent time to offer children the opportunity to play, to pretend and to create.
'Steiner' is named for the creator of the educational method, Rudolf Steiner, who set up the first school for children of the workers at the Waldorf-Astoria factory in Germany in 1919.
In the chaos after World War One, Steiner questioned the senselessness of war and the need for new social forms. He concluded that to meet the needs of the future, individuals needed to be educated differently.
He designed a school to meet the developmental stages of childhood and to encourage the imagination and creative thinking. Steiner education is known for providing a sound and practical basis for working with children, enabling them to find their creativity and to become free individuals who can think for themselves, make their own judgements and find their own purpose and direction in life.
Mr Steiner's intentions for educating children have stood the test of time and, thanks to him and thousands of trained teachers like him, Steiner schools understand the need to allow time for the development of the unfolding child.
Unfortunately, local plans for a picnic to commemorate the centenary had to be cancelled this year because intense bushfire smoke in the area raised safety issues.
The Blue Mountains Steiner School is located on three hectares of Darug land in Hazelbrook.
Students spend time in bush play, exploring their own capacity and limits, as well as developing skills in all the traditional streams such as mathematics, cultural studies, creative writing, science, music, arts and outdoor education.
It offers places for students from pre-school through to year six.