Who's Who » South Shore Waldorf School

Early Childhood

MONIKA WILDEMANN – Kindergarten Teacher/Forest Fridays Teacher/Faculty Co-Chair/ECE Program Chair
monika.wildemann@waldorfns.org
Moni came to the South Shore Waldorf School as a parent, a trained artist, and puppeteer. She worked in professional theatre and taught art and theatre to young people for many years. Her appreciation for Waldorf education grew as she watched her own daughter blossom as she moved from kindergarten to the upper grades. Monika’s life long passion of puppetry and story telling, working with young children and the community made the decision to become a Waldorf teacher a perfect fit. Monika gained her Waldorf Early Childhood Certification through the Rudolf Steiner Centre in Toronto. She has been teaching full time in the Kindergarten at SSWS since 2009 and prior to her current position was a specialty and supply teacher for 5 years.

Emma de Leeuw – Kindergarten Assistant/ Parent and Tot Leader
emma.de.leeuw@waldorfns.org
Emma started her career as a Self Employed Full Spectrum and End of Life Doula in Ontario. She then continued her education attending the Personal Support Worker at Mohawk College. After graduating she began working in hospice settings working with people experiencing death, dying and grief providing bedside care, while working in a men’s shelter providing care to folks with acute medical needs.

During the pandemic Emma and her partner decided to make the move to Nova Scotia to be closer to family. Along with the move focuses shifted and Emma began working with children in a daycare setting. Through providing intersectional care to people starting with birth all the way to end of life Emma has learned how to support for individual needs. She translates her experience for compassionate care to education with respect for children’s individuality. She recognizes the importance of creative play, appreciation for nature and relationship building.

Grades

Jacob Doucette – Grade 1 & 2 Teacher
jacob.doucette@waldorfns.org

Mr. Doucette is a native Nova Scotian from Halifax. He earned his B.A. from the University of Kings’ College (2009) and his B.Ed. from the University of Calgary (2016). He has taught in charter and private schools in Alberta, and the kindergarten position at the Calgary Waldorf School was his most recent placement before returning to the Maritimes. He has three children ages 4 to 8.

Vienie McShane – Grades 3&4 Teacher
vienie.mcshane@waldorfns.org

Vienie McShane moved to Nova Scotia in 2021 from Cape Town South Africa where she worked at Gaia Waldorf School for 15 years. Vienie comes with a wealth of experience and is a dedicated elementary grades teacher. She is passionate about Waldorf education and brings creativity and singing into all her lessons. Vienie loves storytelling, art, walking on the trails, and cooking for friends and family. She has also taught Kids Clay and Summer Art Camps over the years. Vienie qualified in South Africa with a BEd Degree, a Diploma in Waldorf Education, and a Diploma in Jewellery Design and Manufacture.

Camille Wilkins – Grade 5&6 Teacher, French Language Teacher
camille.wilkins@waldorfns.org

Camille studied Art Education at Concordia University in Montreal and has enjoyed a diverse
and bilingual career teaching in a variety of settings including public and private elementary and
high schools, community art studios, seniors residences, homeless shelters, summer camps
and early childhood education centers. Camille completed the Waldorf World Language Teacher
Training program at the Sunbridge Institute while teaching English as a second Language at
l ́École Rudolf Steiner de Montreal.

KERRY EADY – Grades 7&8 Teacher / Pedagogical Coordinator/Faculty co-chair
kerry.eady@waldorfns.org
Kerry attended York University and the Ontario College of Art and Design where she discovered Waldorf education as an extension of her interests in Goethe, Rudolf Steiner, Chekov, Hilma AF Klint, and Joseph Beuys. She was a Waldorf inspired homeschooler for many years and coordinated several Waldorf homeschool co-ops in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia before moving to Lunenburg County to enroll her children at the South Shore Waldorf School. She was invited to teach handwork and run the aftercare and summer programs in 2013 and then joined faculty as a class teacher in 2016. She is currently finishing her Waldorf Teacher Training through the Sophia Institute. She is keenly interested in fostering the arts as a way towards creating truly inclusive communities.

Subject Teachers

MARGOT ALDRICH – Music Teacher

margot.aldrich@waldorfns.org

Margot was first introduced to Waldorf at the age of 7 and experienced Waldorf handwork every summer as part of her musical training programs. She has had a distanced experience of Steiner’s philosophies and the Anthroposophic Community throughout her life. Over the past 3 years, as a result of extensive travel and exposure to Waldorf schools in far-flung parts of the world, Margot has felt an increasing calling to become more immersed in Waldorf and to educate herself on the teachings and philosophy of the method, as well as to delve into Foundation Studies.

As a life long professional violist, playing in orchestras all over the world and many chamber music groups, as well as teaching violin and viola, Margot thinks creatively and music is the backdrop for everything she does and is. She feels particularly strongly that musical rhythm is a solid vessel for all types of learning and for measuring the flow of our days.

COURTNEY TROWSE – Movement Teacher, Horse Block Teacher, Childcare Coordinator

courtney.trowse@waldorfns.org

Even before her children came into being, Courtney dreamt that they would be able to attend the South Shore Waldorf School. When their family moved to the South Shore they made the transition from homeschooling in 2021 and found everything they had been hoping for in the community here.

Courtney grew up surrounded by experiential learning, living it in work and play, through life on the farm, athletics, and equitation. Many of her most treasured learnings have happened alongside a horse or during a workout. Now she holds space for the children as they explore the ever-evolving capabilities of their bodies and work with her herd of wonderful horses. She takes great joy in watching the children discover their strengths, embrace hard work, and soften into the loving space of the relationships with the horses.

Courtney is also passionate about the ocean, the power of nature to teach and to heal, weird and wonderful animal facts, delicious food, poetry, songs, stories, and laughing until your cheeks hurt, preferably all enjoyed atop a horse or beside a campfire.

RUTH LILLINGTON – Choir Leader

Ruth is a recent transplant to Nova Scotia, having come from Ontario with her family in 2019. She
has taught music for over 30 years and maintains a private studio in Bridgewater where she teaches
voice, piano, and guitar to students of all ages. She has sung with lots of groups over the years,
including the Amadeus Choir of Toronto, the Peterborough Singers, and the Canadian Chamber
Choir, and accompanied many adult and youth choirs. Since arriving on the South Shore, Ruth has
been involved with the South Shore Chorale, the Maritime Concert Opera, and the Kinship
Performing Arts Centre.

Administration

CAITLIN ROONEY – School Development & Enrolment Coordinator:
caitlin.rooney@waldorfns.org
Caitlin first encountered Waldorf Education while studying interdisciplinary fine arts and design at NSCAD university. When her eldest child was approaching her third birthday, Caitlin and her growing family moved to the South Shore so that the children could attend SSWS. Caitlin became immediately involved in the life of the school, having been asked to organize a Parent Association to start formalizing the parent body as one of the pillars in the organizational structure. Caitlin joined the staff of SSWS as Administrative Manager in July 2015. She has a diverse background and a passion for Waldorf education. She is a mother of three children, a member of the Anthroposophic society, an active gardener, animal lover and artist. She is currently completing an MBA at the Rowe School of Business.

Franziska Fenselau- Business and Administration Coordinator:
franzi.fenselau@waldorfns.org

Bio to follow.

Board of Trustees

ROSS BUNNELL
As one of our longest-standing association members, Ross has supported the South Shore Waldorf School as a member of the board and as board chair and through many fundraising efforts for over twenty years. The school receives ongoing financial support from the revenues of the Airstream Café, which Ross and Rita Landgraf run solely to raise funds for the school. Ross also continues his support through ongoing work on the Buildings and Grounds Committee and overall as an elder in our community.

ROBERT TILSLEY

Robert moved to the South Shore in 2018 with his family from the UK. They chose Nova Scotia in order to join the South Shore Waldorf School and to start a farm that practices Biodynamic methods.

Prior to moving to Canada he worked on a Biodynamic community farm for 10 years and in that time established a viable vegetable enterprise on the farm and was part of the farm’s senior management team and a board member.

Robert hopes that his experiences living and working in an Anthroposophical community will add a useful perspective to the school’s board.

JUDY KING

Born and raised in England, Judy settled in Cape Breton Island NS in 1972 aged 25, with her husband and first child. Two more children were born and Judy found and self-studied anthroposophy and Waldorf education. Homeschooling with Waldorf curriculum 1974-83 she regularly visited Waldorf schools. Judy led a Waldorf-inspired nursery school (in CB) which turned into little neighbourhood school from 1988-95. Throughout this time, she was attending New England summer courses 1990-95 and in 1993 became a member of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada. Judy completed a full-time Teacher Training Certificate program from Rudolf Steiner Centre Toronto 1995-96 and was hired by South Shore Waldorf School in fall 1996 to teach 18 children, 9 in kindergarten, nine in grades 1-4. Judy moved to South Shore for the school year and continued to spend her summers in Cape Breton. Judy was the founding teacher of SSWS, and she taught at SSWS from 1996-2010, from KG to grade six. From 2009-16 Judy served on the Anthroposophical Society in Canada, national council. After stepping back from full-time teaching, Judy remained on the South Shore and the SSWS board until 2013, when she moved back full time to Cape Breton. Judy has continued to support our faculty members with regular visits to provide professional development and or mentoring at SSWS, and anthroposophical activities, until 2019. Judy rejoined the SSWS board in Oct. 2019 when invited by Kaitlin Brown.

What a year to choose! Although I would very much like to see younger members on the board, and although I had planned to resign from the board because of my age and distance from the Waldorf School (5-hour drive), I am offering to re-join the board at the AGM 20 Jan 2022 in the interests of continuity in these challenging times. I hold the school dear in my heart, and have some energy to focus there, and am hoping for new board members with creative energy on the board in the coming year (so I can gracefully resign at AGM Fall 2022!) I am grateful to my present fellow board members for their/our combined efforts towards the Waldorf school.

ANDRAS KOCSIS
Andràs is part-time faculty and PhD scholar in Educational Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University. His research focuses on lifelong, in-depth learning, and critical thinking. Prior to entering the academy, Andràs was a Waldorf teacher for fifteen years, during which time—next to teaching—he undertook various projects within the anthroposophical movement that had impact on curriculum development and leadership frameworks. He sees Steiner’s holistic approach as a means to humanize society and a platform to promote rich learning experiences; critical, clear, imaginative, and flexible thinking; art, excellence, creativity, engagement, and ethics in education.

RITA LANDGRAF

Rita has been a part of the Waldorf community in Nova Scotia for over 25 years. When the South Shore Waldorf School opened in 1996, she first joined as a parent in search of a holistic, arts-integrated education for her daughter. She loved the way, how – e.g., in handwork – the students were given the time to complete each step before moving on to the next, and able to feel the satisfaction and excitement of completing a project. Upon her daughter’s graduation, she joined the board for five years, serving as Treasurer. Rita has over 15 years of experience serving on the Tuition Assistance Committee and has served on the Finance Committee for 5+ years. In 2012, she and her husband started the Airstream Café as a fundraiser to support the school. Her background is in business administration, bookkeeping and non-profit management. In 2022, Rita re-joined the board and was elected Treasurer.

The Board of Trustees also includes the following staff members:
VIENIE MCSHANE and KERRY EADY.

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