Steiner Schools? Any experience of them?

[Pastarito]

I am about to move house and I'm looking at schools for my two boys, 7 and 3.5.

I am considering the idea of a steiner school. Does anyone have their kids in steiner schools and if so, how is it?

My experience of schools and national ciriculum so far has been a bit mixed. DD1 goes to a supposedly good school in West London but I feel it doesn't cater for his learning style (quite touchy feely, very active/fidgety, gets concepts early but unable to transfer this in practise to his schoolwork etc). DS2 looks like he is developing in a similar way minus the fidgeting but he is young for his year group which brings other problems.

Any advice?

[Pastarito]

curriculum even

[brimfull]

there is a steiner school in my town.Don't know much about it ,but have visited the shop/cafe linked to it.THe kids are always ,polite,calm,happy so much so they stand out for being very friendly.It's hard to explain but it's a good feeling there.

My dd is in yr 9 and a girl has just started at the local senior school having transferred from the local steiner,as it only goes up to age 14.She is settling in very well.

Sorry ,no first hand experience ,just thought I'd add my thoughts

[satine]

I love the Steiner approach to education and would love to send both my children but we don't have one anywhere near us. We're about to move house, though, and I hoping that wherever we end up there is one close enough. The ones I have visited are so different to normal schools - no riot of plastic and chaos, just calm, routine and a real effort to make the most of the wonder of learning and growing. My neice is a teacher in a big secondary school and the stories she tells of mainstream state education make me more determined to find an alternative. It's such a sausage factory, now, with the national curriculum and constraints on schools and teachers. Sorry, I'm not really answering your question, am I?!

[brimfull]

pastarito-have you searched in the archived messages.There has been a few threads about steiner education on here before.

[zippitippitoes]

I haven't had children at Steiner but know people who have..it's much more of a whole lifestyle and philosophy which is adopted by some parents..more so at some schools than others

[Pastarito]

No but those thoughts echo mine. I am concerned that the remit schools have currently is quite narrow. I see that DS1s school is quite uninterested in any abilities he has other than those which can be recorded. As one main weakness he has is handwriting, this makes life difficult for him and he has already started feeling a failure - at 7!

My dh is Italian and we are constantly hearing about the system over there where kids do a kindergarten for 3 years until they are 6 and then they are really well prepared for formal schooling. My ds1 went in a happy, bright child and now he is already fearful and more resistant to learning than I feel he should be. His reading is ok but I supplement his ORT train of books with other, more interesting books and that is the only thing which keeps him reading. What of parents who don't have the time to do that? He has been in a very formal classroom environment with what seems to be very little provision for kinesthetic learners. Ok for academic kids, but what of the rest?

I am going to East Midlands/Derbyshire border btw. There is a steiner school within about a 30 min drive. I am also looking at local state primary which is very small. That might also be the answer but I am trying to work it all out.

[Pastarito]

no, haven't searched the archive - they've temporarily turned it off.

Marlorytowers. I think they do study that eurythmy whatsit. Is it really wacky then? I wouldn't mind my kids just enjoying learning which would lead to them fulfilling their own potential (whatever that might be). The Steiner system sounds potentially like it would suit my ds's well.

[satine]

Isn't eurythmy a music/dance based thing? One of my good friends went to a Steiner school and he's the most calm, sorted bloke I know. Not at all whacky! I do get the impression that at Steiner schools, progress is dictated by the child, rather than the child having to fit in or be forgotten.

[Pastarito]

Yes, I think that's what I want satine. Going with abilities of child rather than trying to ram a square peg in a round hole type of thing.

[Pastarito]

what are the disadvantages of going to a Steiner school?

[satine]

I guess it might be a little harder to adapt to a large secondary school if you've only ever been in Steiner education but the Steiner kids I've met have all seemed happy and confident, which makes things easier. And you might be thought of as a little flaky, I suppose!!

[Mummyvicky]

Hi, Im sending my ds to a steiner school this year, and my mum teaches at one.
They don't believe in learning to read/write until the age of 7 ( when secondary teeth come through) I think that's the most radical thing.
They have the same teacher from the start until the end. Its very music/art based, and they don't believe in strict displine. All very focused on feelings and the world around them.
Natural playthings and musical instruments- no plastic toys etc. Lots of crafts and things.
Any more questions please ask !!

[Mummyvicky]

OOps Forgot- they dont take any GCSEs unless they specificaly want to- so may not have paper qualifications at the end.

[Pastarito]

mummyvicky. Does learning to read later disadvantage them at all? Or do they just learn a lot faster. I have heard both theories the predominant one seems to say that if they learn at 7 they learn a lot faster. or? malory - it terms of wacky it can't have any worse effect than strict catholic primary? I'm pretty flaky myself after that kind of education I can tell you!

[sibdoms]

I think you need to check out individual schools - my dd2 went to a steiner kindergarten, which was fantastic, but the woman who ran it had a realistic, sorted approach to the whole philosophy - she knew most of us used tv and computers, and that some of our children ate NON ORGANIC food on occasion, whereas another steiner school we looked at was completely wacko. Some of them do go for the whole Christian, rosicrucianism, esoteric godhead stuff which is imo just barking - others just do the holistic education thing. So trust your insticts and talk to the parents as well - parents have a big hand in shaping the ethos of Steiner schools as they are so involved - so the feel of the school will depend on the demographic that informs it iyswim.

[getbakainyourjimjams]

I like the Steiner approach, but in common with everything individual schools vary widely. Have a look at your local one.

[Pastarito]

oh - and what kinds of qualifications do the teachers have to have?

[getbakainyourjimjams]

PMSL sibdoms- I posted my message without reading yours- but had kind of come to the same conclusions :o

[getbakainyourjimjams]

They are usually Steiner Waldorf qualified. For an example of the training have a look at ummm I think its Plymouth University Exmouth campus that runs a course.....