Why Choose Daylesford Dharma School?
Nurturing Minds and Hearts: A Holistic Approach to Education
In our classrooms we foster an approach where educational excellence and social-emotional learning are integrated to establish compassionate and resilient learners.
Our commitment to Low Fees and being accessible for families
Accessibility is central to our philosophy, and so we keep our fees low to support all families to be able to attend. Our school community works together to ensure that everyone at our school has an opportunity to learn, grow and flourish.
Read more from our School Principal here
How we Nurture Creativity and Wellbeing through the Australian Curriculum
Mindfulness Practices
Compassionate Teaching
Social-Emotional Learning
Programs designed to enhance students’ social skills and emotional intelligence.
Nature-Based Learning
Our Vision
Founded in 2009, Daylesford Dharma School is Australia’s first independent primary school that delivers the Australian Curriculum through the lens of Buddhist philosophy.
As a not-for-profit independent primary school, we infuse the national curriculum with Buddhist practices of kindness, compassion, self-awareness, meditation and mindfulness for our students, offering a unique, heart-led, and experiential learning environment.
At Daylesford Dharma School, our community engenders a tangible sense of belonging and acceptance amongst all our students. We believe that fostering this sense of community is critical during the early years of a child’s development as it strengthens a child’s understanding of themselves in relation to the world.
These social and emotional understandings are based on self-awareness and compassion for themselves and their community, and we see our students and alumni successfully transition into secondary education with resilience, moral character and a deep understanding of themselves and how to self-advocate and communicate.
My greatest hope is that all school systems will teach the four R’s: reading, writing, rhythmatic, and self-regulation. That from K–12 all kids will be taught to experience how they can regulate themselves though their breath, movements, and synchronized interactions with others, and learn how their bodies, brains, and minds react to overwhelming stress with recognizable patterns that can be managed through self-regulation practices, more than with drugs or alcohol.
Discover Our Inspiring Learning Community
Explore how our unique approach to education nurtures your child’s growth in a supportive and mindful environment. Join us for a tour to experience firsthand the compassionate and holistic learning that sets us apart.
The Five Precepts – Our School Values
At our school, values and rules are expressed in a genuine and non-punitive way to instill self-reflection and growth in our students and our community. We provide students with a vocabulary to describe how they are feeling and set behavioural expectations that enable self-reflection and growth. In this way, language guides the child’s social intelligence to understand what the experience of others might be as they develop their intrinsic wisdom and character. The Precepts are a useful lens through which students can develop their inner resources and examine their community, and our staff practice and uphold these values through daily meditation and mindfulness practices.
Reverence for Life
We care for them in a way that we would like to be cared for ourselves,
We respect all life.
Deep Listening and Loving Speech
We speak truthfully, using words that inspire confidence, joy and hope. We speak and listen in a way that can help ourselves and others.
Body Responsibility
We are committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of our energy and cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness.
Mindful Consumption
We contemplate interdependence and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy and well-being for all living things.
Generosity
We believe that being generous and honest allows us to truly connect with the best in ourselves.
Discover Our Inspiring Learning Community
Explore how our unique approach to education nurtures your child’s growth in a supportive and mindful environment. Join us for a tour to experience firsthand the compassionate and holistic learning that sets us apart.
