School concepts, Waiheke

A proposal for discussion · Waiheke Island

Three concepts for a small school on Waiheke Island

A proposed one-room [Steiner-based] school for fewer than ten children of different ages, on Waiheke.

Working titles. Prototype for discussion.

Each concept has its own line. Choose a name to see it.

See the three concepts

Stand-in photographs only. They are not our school, students or classroom. Credits are on each concept’s moodboard.

The whole school at one table.

Working titles. Grounded, Connected and Tideline are names we are testing, not names the school has chosen. They have had a preliminary screen only. Nothing here is registered, cleared or published, and details marked as placeholders are still to be confirmed.

Choose a concept to explore

Each concept page shows everything: the idea, the words, the identity, a poster and a homepage. The three sit side by side in no particular order of preference.

How to choose

Six questions

Score each concept 1 to 5 on each of these six questions, then talk it through before you vote. Tell us why, not just which.

  1. Feels like usDoes it sound and look like this school and this island?
  2. TrustWould I trust my child with this school?
  3. DistinctIs it clearly different from other island and Steiner options?
  4. InclusiveWould every family feel welcome?
  5. Works smallDoes it work in one room, on a gate sign, on a phone?
  6. Will lastWill it still feel right in ten years, with fifty children?

How we got here

Five steps, in this order, before anything was shown to parents.

  1. Benchmarks

    We compared 46 schools (benchmark list supplied by the founder, read 5–6 Nov 2026). The land is the category’s common hero, so on its own it is not what sets a school apart. What no one else on the island can claim is scale: one room, fewer than ten children.

  2. Strategy

    One shared idea, “the whole school at one table”, and three routes built on it. Each promise is rewritten as something a parent can check on a visit.

  3. Naming screen

    A preliminary knockout screen of the three names. It is not legal clearance. Nothing is registered, and every name is a working title.

  4. Claims check

    Every factual line was checked. Vetoed lines were replaced, and lines that need evidence (“OK once”) keep their placeholders until it is on file.

  5. Creative Council

    An outside read from philosophy, anthropology, sociology, biology, visual art and composition. It is advisory. Two factual corrections were made to Tideline’s copy.