Waldorf Steiner Schools

I think they have strange attitudes to science and religion, but I can’t say I know in any detail. Might be worth checking.

A relative looked into it but decided against it as there is a lack of use of technology which does not prepare a child for the world today. From what she said, there is also a lack of testing so the students are not prepared for any formal exams they may need in the future.

There was quite a well known school where students didn’t have to attend lessons or take exams. Not sure if it was a Steiner school though

Just remembered the school was Summerhill

www.steinerwaldorf.org/steiner-education/what-is-steiner-education/

Hmmm …

GSM , Hmmm indeed!

I think I would sum it up as laissez-faire and arty farty. Apologies to anyone here who or whose children/grandchildren have gone to one of these places.

Summerhill was not a Steiner school.
I do know 2 families who sent their children to a Steiner School, this would have been 80s-90s. The school did have structure, and was not 'laissez faire' at all, but did work around individual children. I also knew one of the teachers slightly.
The school was happy to co-operate with older children studying for formal exams. By that I mean that there were subjects the school had no expertise in, and the parents effectively home educated them for external exams in specific subjects. This suited them.
It was very good for one family whose children would, I think, have struggled in mainstream school. The children grew up to be happy and productive people, but not maybe 'achievers' by most people's standards.
There have been some criticisms of Steiner schools as they sit outside mainstream thinking, and some feel uncomfortable about the philosophy. I am guessing that your son's family think it would be a good fir for your GC?

What subjects did the school have no expertise in? If they were mainstream subjects that sounds worrying.

No Summerhill was a one off. Just checked and it’s still going strong in Suffolk

Grandma70s

I think they have strange attitudes to science and religion, but I can’t say I know in any detail. Might be worth checking.

well my son went to a Steiner School and then did Astro Physics at Uni, followed by an Msc and has has an extremely successful career. As far as I know so have his classmates.. it was a really lovely schooling.. much more focussed and academic than people think..

My grandson went to an Irish Steiner school where you had to have both regular teaching qualifications and Steiner ones.
It was a great school and I was very impressed.

I know another (in England) where a friend's daughter was happy when she was struggling at a mainstream. That one was not so good academically (in my opinion) but it was kind and nurturing. She did get GCSEs though so was not so bad tbh - and she probably would not have done this at a regular school.

I'd say, like any other "sort" of school, they are not all the same!

Summerhill is nothing to do with Steiner - it follows A. S. Neill.

Kilquhanity House School (set up by the Aitkenheads) and a couple of others were also set up influenced by Neil. Summerhill isn't quite a one-off.

There was also Sands in Devon, Sherwood in Epsom and Kirkdale School (maybe in London).
Perhaps only Summerhill is left?
I know people (my age) who were students there. It appears to have done no harm!

Not Steiner though!

Two of my 3 DDs went to the Steiner school in the village we then lived in - but only for parts of their school careers. The school is now funded by the state - the first in the country. I also taught singing at the school for a few years.

Like most things in life there was good and bad.

The education was established by Rudolf Steiner, based on his philosophy/religion "anthroposophy." It is broadly Christian and theist. I did not buy into any of this, but recognised that some of the educational practices that stemmed from it had great merit.

He believed that children are "incarnating souls" and as such should be nurtured tenderly and not thrown into life too harshly. He would have been horrified by our phone culture and its influence on children. Children at these schools are not taught letters till they are in class one at the age of 7. I can see no harm in that, because what they pursued in nursery and kindergarten was wonderful - my DD danced, sang, painted, went on nature walks, baked bread, learned to knit, enjoyed festivals, made little felt gnomes, listened to stories - she recalls all of this fondly, and indeed makes little gnomes with her children, which they place on my OH's grave. Some of this is being adopted by mainstream schools now in the form of Forest Schools, and the primary where I am governor has a pizza oven built by the children.

DD3 left when she was nearly 8 - she was at Brownies locally and was interested in the local primary school where some of the others went - she asked if she could see it, so we of course said yes - she went along and thought she might like it so she went. She was ready for something new and did well there, but has no regrets over the joyful time she had at the Steiner school.

I have enormous sympathy with the idea that we should not start formal learning too early - it is quite unnecessary. And children do need the chance to be children and spread their imaginations before this gets quashed. At a Steiner school the children have more formal learning at 7, but even then it is linked to art - as is the bulk of the Steiner curriculum, which does not make the same distinction between science and art, but sees both as interconnected. The science books in a Steiner school are beautiful. There is a real sense of wonder, rather than just dull facts, and there could be poems in science books.

The children do take on basic national curriculum subjects: languages, sciences etc., but it is presented in a more imaginative way - always with fluent speakers and often nationals for the foreign languages. And the local Steiner school has an extensive computer suite where the older children learn all the stuff that is taught in a state school. There is an emphasis on beauty: the computer suite is built of carved wood with the computers behind the gently curving wooden doors - the idea of avoiding what is harsh and crude is central.

Music is also central - they all learn recorders from tiny; and they all take part in "Eurythmy" which is basically dancing to music.

DD2 went there at the age of 9 because mainstream school was destroying her. She was a bit of a late starter academically - a degree of dyslexia - and was thoroughly miserable, as were we all with this sad little soul at home. The Steiner teacher said he was not planning to try and teach her anything formal to start with but to let her relax and get over her bad experiences, and play to her strengths: she sang, painted, did drama etc. and began to blossom, which was when them academic stuff kicked in. At 15 she went to a rural comprehensive where she took her GCSEs (she was not behind in any way there), then A-levels at sixth form, a degree at a Russell Group uni and an MA.

All Steiner schools in the UK now take GCSEs and go on to colleges - of DD2's cohort there are plastic surgeons, a brain surgeon, arts outreach workers, theatre directors, scientists, entrepreneurs etc. In no way were they held back academically - but they were streets ahead in confidence.

Steiner schools are as one might expect hot on environmental issues.

There are some downsides of course (as there are with state schools). I can only speak of the school where my girls went of course. There is a bit of a tendency for the school community to be cliquey - to feel that what they do is the only right way - and there is a bit of a hippy vibe. The education does not suit all of course; but it is not the airy fairy do-what-you-like place that people might think. The curriculum is very structured (not to say rigid in some ways) and if you went in to any Steiner school internationally the same year group would be doing the same things in the same term. There is a tendency for the school community to stick together, and I think some parents kept their children there in order not to lose the community and what it meant to them - our view was that we had to look at our children and what was best for them at the time. When my DD2 left one parent said to me: "What will you do for a social life now?" - suffice to say, I coped!

A long discourse - but you did ask! On balance my experiences have been good, and I am sure that your GC will gain a great deal from their education.

An old friend of mine was a boarder in a Steiner school years ago and used to tell us how the kids build some of the school buildings themselves and spent a lot of time making clay pots. The grandchildren of another friend recently attended a state funded Steiner primary school in Somerset which was closed by Ofsted as it was deemed inadequate. The kids weren’t taught formally, lots of arts and crafts and dancing which the children enjoyed, but the 7 year old hadn’t even started to learn to read.

Following from vegansrock's post, the Steiner school here is rated excellent by OfSted.

The fact that the children you speak of had not started to learn to read when they were 7 is part and parcel of what Steiner education is about, and in general the evidence is that this does not hold them back in their futures.

Thing is most children in Europe don’t even start school until They are 7 so none would be able to read unless they learned at home,

Hear Hear! Luckygirl

This is similar to my experience too
My DD was at the kindergarten but left for the state school when she was 5. I taught pottery in the upper school there for a few years and then for a longer time at a Steiner school for young people with Special needs.

The school is fee paying so with 4 DC I was not in a position to send my children there but we also wanted them to go to the local schools. With hindsight I am not sure that was the right decision.

From what I have seen and experienced from many friends who were there it sets you up for life with skills, interests and an ethos you never lose.

Like any school though, it's only as good as the people involved with it at the time.

I hope your DGC thrive StacyAnna

DD' friend's son went to a Steiner school until he was 11 and she said it suited him very well, but she thought he needed a bit more structure at senior school level. He must be about 14 now and I don't think it held him back at all going to a more laissez-faire school.

Other DD shared a house with some Steiner students when she was taking a more traditional teaching course. She found the ethos very interesting.

I can see why they would stick together - a seven year old who hadn’t learned to read would probably not fit in with their peers in other schools. Does this not make friendships and mixing with others difficult?

edinburghsteinerschool.org.uk/

Thank you for your long reply, Luckygirl - very helpful - and yours, Grammaretto. The family are going to look round the school tomorrow, and I shall see them on Sunday, so will find out a bit more.

Germanshepherdsmum

I can see why they would stick together - a seven year old who hadn’t learned to read would probably not fit in with their peers in other schools. Does this not make friendships and mixing with others difficult?

Well - their peers are all in the same boat with them, so no problem. It is mostly a very happy boat to be in. My experience is that these children are very confident and mix well in all settings. It is the parents who are more cliquey!

And to pick up on another poster's comment about it being laissez-faire - it really is far from that. I was amazed at how structured it is. Almost rigidly so.

Luckygirl3

Germanshepherdsmum

I can see why they would stick together - a seven year old who hadn’t learned to read would probably not fit in with their peers in other schools. Does this not make friendships and mixing with others difficult?

Well - their peers are all in the same boat with them, so no problem. It is mostly a very happy boat to be in. My experience is that these children are very confident and mix well in all settings. It is the parents who are more cliquey!

And to pick up on another poster's comment about it being laissez-faire - it really is far from that. I was amazed at how structured it is. Almost rigidly so.

I said laissez-faire because that is how it was described to me by the mother of a pupil. She said that if he felt like skipping a lesson and going to climb a tree instead he could.
That was not in this country.