Steiner / Montessori

[tall1234]

Does anyone have any experience of Steiner / Montessori schools for kids struggling to cope in mainstream?

That's also interesting @strawberryjess
Did you think it would have suited children that are a bit more anxious? I thought it looked a bit more gentle than the massive school he's in just now, that were already streaming academically within the first week of starting... (he did well incidentally but got stressed and anxious).

My nephew has ASD and can only function in very small classes, even with headphones on to limit distraction. His parents sent him to a school of an unpopular religion (not UK and not their own religion) because the classes consisted of 5-7 pupils. Guess who is going to uni next year? He is doing really well.

Yeh the small class sizes and same class for all subjects is appealing

What I would say @tall1234 having had an ASD child go through a very similar situation is that you have to balance another transition with the likelihood of success. I did have a look around in S2 as it was all going to pot but there wasn't anything that was so much better that would make it worth the upheaval of another huge transition, if that makes sense.

My goodness me, there is a lot of absolute rubbish being written about Steiner schools!
I know of one near here, and one in Belgium, and I don’t know about the school or people being ‘cracked’ according to one poster or ‘Lord of the flies’ by another! I’m shocked by these attitudes!
The Steiner schools have much smaller classes, are very welcoming and warm, a hell of a lot of work is being done to treat the children as individuals and it most certainly is not a one size fits all philosophy.
There is strong emphasis on the arts, outdoors, music, drama, growing and planting, crafts, geography, the natural world, etc. Not everyone has to be academic to belong in the world. Not everyone has to go to University to be accepted in society.
I’ve seen some very vulnerable young people blossom in Steiner schools, where the ‘mainstream’ let them down very badly.
I wouldn’t call that cracked, would you? Treating your child as an individual with individual needs? One size doesn’t fit all.

It does seem quite one sided, but nice to hear stories from both sides of the fence. The smaller classes + arts, outdoors, music, drama, growing and planting, crafts, geography, the natural world appeal

schoolissues1234 I was obviously there a few years ago now (90s) so may have changed a lot but yes I would definitely say my school would have suited an anxious child. It may well be different now but we didn't have any tests and learning was at each child's pace. I learnt to read a lot later than is expected today for example. Classes were very small and the school had a family feel. Reading, writing and maths were seen as equal to art, music, gardening etc rather than more important. I did join a state comprehensive in year 9 when we moved house and it was a huge shock to the system in many ways but I adapted quickly.

@feckoffbrian would you be able to recommend any Montessori schools that do 6-12 in the uk? I saw you’re not based there, so perhaps not…

We are considering moving back to the uk and to an area that (happens to) have a Steiner, but I have always felt more closely aligned with the Montessori way than Steiner.

I am looking for a progressive school, and there don’t seem to as many of those in the uk as I expected!

Hello @Cornersofa8 as I am not in the UK I wouldn't be able to offer a personal recommendation, sorry!

What I would do is to contact the AMI and find out which schools are registered with them.

montessori-ami.org/about-ami/affiliated-societies/montessori-society-ami-uk

But do keep me up to date with your findings. I would love to visit the uk next year, and some
Schools, to observe.

(Montessori schools often encourage visitors to come and observe their classrooms, it is an important practice for the pedagogy).

Is there an American/international school near you? Our DD absolutely blossomed at an American curriculum school. We found them nurturing and inclusive.

This is terrifying. I’ve just been offered a place at a Steiner school and feel really apprehensive about accepting now.. can I ask which school this was? Or whether it was a London Steiner school ? Thanks!

@trancepants this is awful! I’m contemplating accepting a place at a Steiner school but feeling less confident about it by the day… was it a London Steiner school by any chance?

No, it wasn't a London school. I cant tell you what to do. Maybe that school is great but my experience really is that I'd never advise anyone to go near a Steiner. I am still in touch with one family who attend DS's old school and I know things haven't changed at all since we were there. I don't know if my friend forgot who she was talking to or what, because we have a mostly unspoken agreement to never talk about the school stuff. But she spoke about how under-stimulated her son is, that he's constantly bored, then starts acting out because his mind isn't engaged. A mutual friend has told me that her heart is broken by the issues in the school and everyone who talks to her about the place advises her to pull her kids out. But she just can't.

My DS is doing fantastic, now thankfully. He's pretty much caught up in all subjects, is excelling in maths, english and history. He's just happy nearly all the time in school. He goes to coderdojo and before the end of the first session he was put in the advanced group with the older kids. He's started playing two musical instruments and has a couple of sports he's enjoying. He still struggles a little socially and hates any setting that gets too wild. Which is something that never bothered him before he was at Steiner.

He has a LOT of anger about the school. He's so angry about what he experienced. How he and the other kids were treated. The more time he spends in his current school, the more and more aware he becomes that how his Steiner teacher behaved was not normal or acceptable. And the more he becomes aware that he was missing out on vast amounts of learning. Currently his anger is directed mainly at his former teacher and the school management. I'm preparing myself that at some point when he's a bit older that he will direct some of that anger at me for sending him there in the first place and sticking it out when he was clearly not ok. Because if that does happen, it will be normal and healthy and he won't be wrong.

Actually, one of the reasons I'm especially pleased about how he is doing academically is that his academic performance is how the Steiner teacher and BoM tried to undermine me. They decided that I was angry that my son wasn't doing well in their school because I had an inflated idea of his abilities. That instead of accepting that he just wasn't particularly smart, I had concocted lies about how I saw the teacher treat some of the children as revenge. So while obviously, I'm mainly just glad that DS is doing well, it's also really gratifying that he is not only in a class a year ahead of where his Steiner teacher tried to insist he needed to be. But that he's excelling in most subjects.

I would always warn people away from Steiner.