Thecaty no you have not answered my questions. I will include them all again from 29-30 October 2009 (saving you having to hunt them down).

You wrote - "They may not have had a proper hearing which is not good enough, and we need to learn from that."
I asked - *Are you saying that there is an impartial governing body within the fellowship to which the schools are answerable to?*
....The Fellowship has experienced advisors and can make more than strong recomandations to any school within the uk.

You wrote - "They may have been dealing with an inadequate teacher which is not good enough and our schools need and do learn from that."
I asked - *How are they dealt with, who measures them and how do you avoid past mistakes?* .......Teachers get sacked or disiplined,The College , trustees and Personell departments are responcible for measuring ( whatever you mean by measuring)
This differs slightly from school to school.

You wrote - "If you are saying we need to improve in some areas then I would agree with you."
I asked - *Which areas do you think the schools need to improve in and how would they be implicated and measured?*
...look above!!!

You wrote - "They are seductive in the sense that they sound so convincing but if you actually look at each one (story) and find out what really happened on both sides you will often find the language used by the critic OTT." ^what Thecaty means here is that ex-parents who criticise the system are 'seducing' potential parents and readers into believing their 'OTT stories'.^
I asked - *Can you back this statement up with impartial evidence please?*
.....Their language is seductive not the parents. For evidence plough through MN blogs on Steiner Education.

You wrote - "I am closely involved at our school and 6 out of 12 families that have left the school in the ten years did not talk to the teachers directly about their concerns but launched formal complaints about petty things that then got blown out of proportion because they were formal complaints and the School takes formal complaints seriously."
I asked - *What 'things' did you consider to be petty, trivial, their fault?*
I never said its their fault. please do not put words into my mouth! and also I never said trivial. I sugesst you read my statement again and will find it really does not require an answer.

I also asked - *I am aware that steiner schools refuse to offer SAT tests but how does the school measure my childs learning and correct any areas of weakness?*
I have answered this question in earlier blogs but here we go again for your benefit.
Classes get screened once a year at our school by our experienced SENCO. Our teachers keep daily records of each childs progress, weak areas, need for exta practise etc. As math and literacy get practised daily this is not difficult and totally stress free for the children. Please refer to the Handbook for Waldorf teachers published by the felloship.
Ofstead are very happy about our schools record keeping.

Thecaty no you have not answered my questions. I will include them all again from 29-30 October 2009 (saving you having to hunt them down).

You wrote - "They may not have had a proper hearing which is not good enough, and we need to learn from that."
I asked - *Are you saying that there is an impartial governing body within the fellowship to which the schools are answerable to?*

You wrote - "They may have been dealing with an inadequate teacher which is not good enough and our schools need and do learn from that."
I asked - *How are they dealt with, who measures them and how do you avoid past mistakes?*

You wrote - "If you are saying we need to improve in some areas then I would agree with you."
I asked - *Which areas do you think the schools need to improve in and how would they be implicated and measured?*

You wrote - "They are seductive in the sense that they sound so convincing but if you actually look at each one (story) and find out what really happened on both sides you will often find the language used by the critic OTT." ^what Thecaty means here is that ex-parents who criticise the system are 'seducing' potential parents and readers into believing their 'OTT stories'.^
I asked - *Can you back this statement up with impartial evidence please?*

You wrote - "I am closely involved at our school and 6 out of 12 families that have left the school in the ten years did not talk to the teachers directly about their concerns but launched formal complaints about petty things that then got blown out of proportion because they were formal complaints and the School takes formal complaints seriously."
I asked - *What 'things' did you consider to be petty, trivial, their fault?*

I also asked - *I am aware that steiner schools refuse to offer SAT tests but how does the school measure my childs learning and correct any areas of weakness?*

I have answered your question

Ok my post was deleted, probably for the reasons restlessnative states as i had mentioned the unmentionable website?

I don't get it, how does it work? Does someone have to complain to them to get something deleted or is it just mumsnet themselves that gets worried about libel claims?

Any road the gist was, I decided against sending dd to steiner school as they were evasive in answering some of our direct questions in the open morning; I started checking criticisms out online & my friend who does send her child to the school has concerns over bullying, cultish behaviour & is generally made to feel like a bad parent! We decided that steiner is not for us & definitely not for our dd. Shame as I had been so enthusiastic.....

I myself have no access to posting anything on the Waldorf Critics website, which is anyway difficult for anyone on mumsnet to find as every time anyone posts a link to it or even the website address, or says they found it useful, their post is deleted.

Instead I recommend anyone who cares about libel law in the UK read today's article in the Independent by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: How libel laws silence our democracy

Deleting this post would be ironic

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

thecaty, would it make sense to answer my questions?

Still waiting!

Interesting speculations going on here but where is the link to the original Question?
Would it make sense to post on Waldorf critics website!

It's on the front page of news

Restless, there is a new article on butterfliesandwheels.com that explains in much more detail what Plymouth is up to.