About Chrysalis
 It would be hard to find a more beautiful environment for children. We are situated in the Thora Valley on a spectacular site of 10 hectares, twenty minutes from Bellingen and 25 minutes from the Dorrigo Plateau. Through our creative and dedicated building program in our pioneering years, we have a campus that features buildings of exceptional architectural beauty.
Each classroom has been designed and built to take into account the outstanding natural environment and to create a nurturing and beautiful learning environment.
Education at Chrysalis is based on the stages of the child's development. A child's being and destiny are seen as part of an evolutionary process in which lawful development steps ripen into freedom.
The school also aims to develop, through the curriculum and the way it is taught, a sense of appreciation and respect for life. Accordingly, students can grow and truly become 'caretakers' of the world in which we live.
Underlying all lesson preparation is a picture of lifelong human evolution which helps foster a sense of meaning and purpose in life.
Kindergarten
The world of the small child is an imaginative one. The children live in a world of fantasy and will and this expresses itself in the serious activity of play. To the small child everything is good; small children are in sympathy with the world.
The true kindergarten spirit is one which embraces the child in a home-like atmosphere of warmth and security, playing a transitional role between home and school.
The Kindergarten at Chrysalis School sets out to create a warm, loving, home-like environment in which wonder, beauty and goodness pervade everything. Although there is no formal education until Class One, there is gentle preparation for learning through domestic, practical and artistic activities such as painting, modelling, cooking, woodwork, handicraft and gardening.
Class Teacher Period
 A distinctive feature of Steiner Primary Education is the role of the Class Teacher. The teacher meets the children in Class 1 and together they share the journey through the curriculum. The growing child experiences a greater depth of learning, when authority is established with someone they know and trust. This intimate relationship between teacher and child provides continuity and a strong sense of security through the middle phase of childhood.
The class teacher plans and sees the gradual and sensitive transition from this stage to the Class Guardian Period in the High School.
Class Guardian Period
In adolescence, the student develops his or her rational thinking capacities. The healthy idealism and individuality of the adolescent needs to be nurtured and protected during this period of life in which sensitive inner feelings and experiences unfold.
Teachers are respected as friends and guides, but also for the love of their subject and the integrity and commitment with which they represent their specialist field. In the High School, the student's individuality and potential is recognised and consciously developed. Academic rigor is fostered and a greater independence is encouraged within a holistic framework so that our young adults evolve into a sensitive awsareness of themselves, one another and the world in which they live.
Excursions
 Excursions are an important part of the curriculum, providing children with the opportunity to interact with a range of people with varying skills and experiences to share. Students also have an opportunity to visit features of the unique landscape both locally and in other regions.
Children visit National Parks and other natural environments and participate in cultural and sporting events in Bellingen, Coffs Harbour and further afield.
Music Program
Music is an integral part of the Chrysalis School curriculum. Children learn recorder from Class 1 and participate in our Strings Program, learning violin from Class 3. Further to this, the children participate in music classes, ensemble and choir and perform at a range of venues and for a range of audiences.
The range of instruments taught at Chrysalis includes recorder, strings, guitar, percussion and ensemble. Further to this, the children have the opportunity to listen to performers from a range of cultures and musical genres as a part of our cultural visitors program within the school.
For enquiries about the educational programme at Chrysalis please call us on 6655 8616 or email chrysalis_education@bellnet.com.au
 Chrysalis School is an independent, co educational, non denominational Steiner School ( limited by guarantee).
As a Steiner School, we have a College of Teachers which is responsible for educational matters and philosophical impulse of the school. Chrysalis school does not have a principal.
Administration, legal and business issues are the responsibility of our Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is elected each year from the School Community and College of Teachers.
The Operational and Educational Administrators and administrative staff support the work of the School Board and the College of Teachers.
An active Parents & Friends Committee provides a forum for parents to support the school through volunteer work, fundraising and social activities.
Each class is supported by a Class Carer and the community of families within that class.
 The celebration of the seasonal Festivals is an enriching part of the school's cultural and community life. Through art, music, story and poetry, the children are helped to identify and recognise the changing rhythms of the earth. This in turn builds and encourages a stronger connection with nature and the cosmos. Each festival has its highlights:
The Autumn Harvest Festival sees a bounteous gathering of mother nature's treasures and the celebration of the "Michaelic" spirit as we move into the cooler months.
The decorated lanterns that the children have prepared in anticipation of the Winter Festival are carried through the darkness to a special place where a candle-lit spiral emerges, to light and spirits as the school community celebrates the winter journey.
The Spring Festival is celebrated with colour and dancing. This cheerful event sees the children weaving wreaths of delicate flowers to wear in their hair and gives the upper primary children an opportunity to share their recorder playing with the whole school community as we dance and weave mysterious patterns on the Spring-time maypole.
At the end of the year, the children work to prepare for our Summer Festival of Plays. Each class prepares a performance to share with other students and the wider school community, as the culmination of the year's learning.
High School students celebrate the festivals, either with the Primary School or in celebrations designed and prepared especially for the older students.
Other cultural festivals such as theJewish Hanuka celebrations and the Indian Diwali festival are celebrated throughout the year at Chrysalis School.
These Festivals provide indispensable nourishment to the soul of our School community..
 Of all the activities at Chrysalis, one of the most memorable is the Class Camp. Some classes prepare all year for this event with lessons devoted to studies that will enhance the experience.
In the early years, Classes 1-3, camps are a short time of social interaction where the children learn to live with and care for each other, with emphasis on observing the natural world from which their lessons are drawn. By Class 4 the children are studying local geography in their Main Lessons and this is a time of focussing on longer bush walks and overnight outings close by.
 From Class 5 on these excursions extend further afield and link in with exploration, geography, botany, farming and industry lessons. Examples of these could include trips to the western mining area, the Snowy Mountains, the Great Barrier Reef, tracing river systems from source to sea, and trips to cities to study architecture and culture.
In the High school, class camps involve physical challenge and an experience of our historical, artistic and political culture. In these campes students are required to show an increasing sense of responsibility, cooperation and independence.
Over their schooling not only will the students cover many geographical regions but also meet people from all walks of life. This time away as a class strengthens the relationships between students and the teacher to create a strong identity as a class group, working and growing together. Through the Class Camp Program the teacher is provided with many opportunities to observe and learn about the children, observations that are invaluable in the years and months to follow.
The children themselves learn resilience, sharing, cooperation, reverence for nature, the excitement of exploration, interest in the world around them, independence and many outdoor camping skills. Both past and present Chrysalis students fondly remember class trips and all agree they have gained enormously from the experience.
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In adolescence, the student develops his or her rational thinking capacities. The healthy idealism and individuality of the adolescent needs to be nurtured and protected during this period of life in which sensitive inner feelings and experiences unfold.
Music is an integral part of the Chrysalis School curriculum. Children learn recorder from Class 1 and participate in our Strings Program, learning violin from Class 3. Further to this, the children participate in music classes, ensemble and choir and perform at a range of venues and for a range of audiences.
The children themselves learn resilience, sharing, cooperation, reverence for nature, the excitement of exploration, interest in the world around them, independence and many outdoor camping skills. Both past and present Chrysalis students fondly remember class trips and all agree they have gained enormously from the experience.