Hereford Steiner Academy gets go-ahead

Schools Minister, Andrew Adonis, has given the go ahead for the Hereford Steiner Academy to open in September 2008.

The Academy is sponsored by the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship and will be the first school in the UK to offer free Steiner education. The Hereford Steiner Academy will replace the Hereford Waldorf School and will have around 290 pupils aged three to 16 years on its roll when it opens in September. The school will benefit from significant capital investment from central government which will be used to refurbish much of the school's existing site as well as developing new teaching facilities.

The Principal of the new Academy, Trevor Mepham, said:

"We are delighted to become the first Steiner school in the UK to offer publicly-funded Steiner education and we look forward to opening in September. This is an opportunity for us to participate in the broader educational discourse; to listen, to learn and to contribute our own ideas, approaches and experiences."

Sylvie Sklan, chair of the transitional board of governors and lead representative for the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, said:

"We are very pleased that the Academies programme has enabled us to make the Steiner curriculum more open and accessible. The new Academy will provide greater choice for the parents of Herefordshire and enable more children to benefit from this creative education."

Schools Minister, Andrew Adonis, said:

"The academies programme is all about raising standards and offering choice for parents, so I'm delighted that the first state funded Steiner school can now open as an academy.
"Academies are allowed a flexible curriculum and an independent governing board, which is where they fit with the Steiner ethos. Academies are popular with parents, with on average three applications for every place and I'm sure the Hereford Steiner Academy will be no less popular."

There are currently 26 schools teaching Steiner education in the UK and Steiner schools are part of mainstream state-funded education in the majority of European countries. Founded in 1919, Steiner curriculum puts equal emphasis on emotional and academic learning and Steiner schools welcome pupils from all faiths and backgrounds.

News from Ireland

To all Friends of Raheen Wood & Mol an Oige Steiner Schools, CountyClare, Ireland

Dear All,
We have now received letters from the Irish Department of Education and Science informing us that Minister Mary Hanafin has decided to grant provisional recognition to the proposed Raheen Wood and Mol an Oige Steiner National Schools with effect from 1st September, 2008.This is an historic moment in the 21 year old path of Steiner Education in Ireland, and it is significant for the worldwide Steiner Waldorf movement as a whole that another sovereign state has today agreed to recognise what we bring to the education of young minds and hearts.As is the norm for new schools, what has been granted intially is provisional recognition, in this case for one year. The question of permanent recognition is considered then when the Department is satisfied that the long-term viability of the new schools has beendemonstrated. At Raheen Wood, an All School Meeting on 28th February will consider the question of acceptance of the Department's offer.
Alan DickeyFor Raheen Wood School Transition Group

Press Release 8th February 2008

Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship: Statement in Response to Reports from the Cambridge Review and the National Foundation for Educational Research (08-02-2008)

The Steiner Waldorf Schools Movement (UK) welcomes the reports that have been published by the Cambridge Primary Review and the NFER concerning the issues of school-starting age, pupil testing and school league tables.

Along with others, we consider the child's first years of learning and educational experiences to be of crucial importance and value for the child, the child's future health and development and the emerging society, which we share.

In Steiner schools across the world, the young child is enabled to develop sure foundations for learning. In our settings we provide an environment in which young children can immerse themselves in creative, experiential, social play. This play is not scripted or determined by narrow 'academic' learning outcomes. In this way, children develop skills and learning dispositions for life and for living: thoughtfulness, care, responsiveness, enthusiasm, a lasting interest in the world and one another. These human qualities and values elude attempts at quantification, yet are the life-blood of meaningful individual and community life. Our educational approach aims to develop a full range of competences through providing a blend of cognitive, practical and aesthetic experiences. This approach is founded on the principle of meeting children in their development, rather than pushing and prodding them towards artificially constructed targets and goals.

While tests and league tables are ephemeral and arguably insubstantial, aptitudes and attitudes are lasting and potent forces for social renewal and progress. 'Earliness', 'competitive acceleration' and relentless testing lead to pressurised learning and have questionable purposes except in their own terms. As concepts they are qualitatively different from 'readiness', 'suitability' and 'authentic assessment', or respecting the child and their learning.

The Steiner Waldorf Schools Movement supports the NUT's call for a considered review of current arrangements for the testing of primary school pupils. Steiner educators are ready to contribute to such a review and to join the debate about the most effective ways for children to be educated and cared for in our times.


8th February 2008

SWSF Statement on Early Years Foundation Stage

The recent media focus on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) that becomes law next September has required the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship to make clear its view of the EYFS, as in the statement below.

SWSF statement regarding the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The SWSF respects the sincerity with which the government has tackled issues around childhood and education over the last ten years and does not support a blanket condemnation of the EYFS.

We recognise that the new EYFS introduces a much needed single body of regulation for the care and education of young children from birth to five and that this integrated framework is the result of a fundamental overhaul of the regulation that followed the death of Victoria Climbie.
We also recognise the progressive nature of the 4 principles that the EYFS framework is based on and that these principles have the potential to bring improved practice into the care and education of all young children.

We acknowledge that the EYFS is not a curriculum and that the Minister has given assurance that the implementation of the EYFS will accommodate and encourage different approaches to the care and education of young children.
We are concerned, however, that the progressive nature of the EYFS is overshadowed by
· the statutory nature of the learning and development requirements
· the statutory nature of the requirement to submit data about each child’s learning and development in the Early years foundation stage profile
The fact that the EYFS contains certain statutory requirements that are in direct conflict with the Steiner Early Years curriculum is causing alarm. The concern is that, without a legal solution, the statutory nature of these requirements has the potential to undermine the very basis of the Steiner curriculum which is recognised world-wide. We therefore are continuing to seek reassurance from DCSF and OFSTED that the implementation of the EYFS will not compromise the Steiner EY curriculum. We intend to explore with the DCSF how the regulations pertaining to exemptions might be drafted to resolve these two issues without jeopardizing the right to funding. A legal solution of this nature would uphold the principle of diversity of approach and parental right of choice

The Guardian - Letters

Tuesday November 6, 2007

The Guardian

Alternative perspective

It was a delight to read Nikki Schreiber's fair and down-to-earth depiction of Steiner education (Not a Guardian-reading weirdo in sight, October 30). Alas, those of us who work in the Steiner movement are commonly the recipients of all manner of negative projections, often from those who know next to nothing about it. What is so refreshing about Schreiber's article is the unaffected ordinariness that it conveys - accurately communicating the spirit and ethos without a hint of the preciousness of which we are sometimes accused. In an era where the poisonous audit and surveillance culture continues to swamp mainstream education, viable and tested alternatives such as Steiner will surely continue to gain in popularity.

Dr Richard House
Norwich Steiner school and Roehampton University (Research Centre for Therapeutic Education)

I went to a Steiner school (in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire), and agree with Nikki Schreiber that it's much harder to stereotype a Steiner child or parent than many think. There was quite a mix of people at my school - although the requirement to charge fees inevitably results in a middle-class bias.

My Steiner education brought out an artistic and musical side to me that would otherwise have been overlooked. Teamwork and mixed-ability teaching is encouraged at Steiner schools, while individual competition is avoided. This helps to build a spirit of cooperation and friendship. However, our school also got very good exam results.

Unfortunately, the lack of state funding in the UK prevents Steiner education from being a choice for most parents, and has contributed to its niche status. This is despite successive governments declaring that education policy is all about "choice".

I believe wholeheartedly in the principle of state education, but would find it difficult to send my children to a state school, because of their strong focus on academic achievement at the expense of all else. The years that I spent at a Steiner school were some of the best of my life.

Oliver Knight
London

source:http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2205523,00.html