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Original poster

If Stiener Schools are so good why doesn't the state sector embrace it's principles

57 replies

hebetalbot · 25/05/2007 10:58

Have no opinion either way at the moment as I don't know enough about their principles. But it niggles me that if it was that good wouldn't every school be doing it ?

OP posts:
Idreamofdaleks · 27/05/2007 14:01

OP implies that the government know what education policies are the best...a strange starting point!

I think there is also the matter of choice...one approach to education may not be "best" for all children or all families.

glitterfairy · 27/05/2007 14:02

My kids primary school has adopted some of the priniciples and is a state school. Kids learn at their own pace and so my dd who is 8 is learning year 5 stuff at the moment.

THey use something called rockface and kids progress depending on whether they can reach the stages. There is no literacy or numeracy just maths and english in mixed age groups.

They also have one afternoon a week learning skills (again in mixed year groups) such as ,morse code, how to light a camp fire safely, how to have silver service in a restaurant and how to clean their rooms and cook.

They have no homework and the school had the most outstanding ofsted in my region and numerous awards. The kids mostly come from very working class backgrounds but can go to any place and hold their own. There is no shouting at them or telling them off in the usual way but negotiation.

wheresthehamster · 27/05/2007 14:11

Wow, glitterfairy, that sounds fantastic. I like the bit about campfires etc.

How do they fit it in to the national curriculum and is this a new innovation or well-established?

glitterfairy · 27/05/2007 18:02

THe head is fab and just hs decided to buck the trends. THey have badges for their endevours classes bronze, silver and gold and they even learn to tidy their rooms!

They do not have collective worship but the school council chooses topics for considerations and it is debated for the last 20 minutes of school. SO stuff like Iraq, Blair leaving office etc.

As I said ofsted have chosen them to become one of their testing schools trying out new methods and things and their ofsted was incredible. It just shows that if it is done right schools can still do their own thing regardless of the current prescriptive trends.

TheodoresMummy · 27/05/2007 19:25

Where's this Glitterfairy ?

DimpledThighs · 27/05/2007 19:29

because they are not so good.

glitterfairy · 27/05/2007 19:32

Lancashire state primary school.

LoveAngel · 29/05/2007 12:05

I have mixed feelings about Steiner schools. I don't think they suit all children (and I think that's probably the point - there ISN'T a style of education that suits ALL children, and its a shame our FREE education system doesn't reflect that and that parents have to pay for choice...but that's another debate...)

Anyway - my cousins went to Steiner school and had a generally excellent experience of it. I also have a friend who's children attend a Steiner school and are getting on fabulously well there. I did a lot of research into it at one stage and was considering Steiner for my son. Then I visited our nearest Steiner school, and my mind was completely changed. I really, REALLY didn't like the atmosphere there at all. I found the staff borderline evangelical about the Steiner approach in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. The woman who showed us around was horrid - a judgemental bitch who didn't approve of the fact I was working full time (at the time). I also thought that although the daily 'approach' for younger children sounded fab, the older children's sounded boring. I really don't think focusing on the whole child has to necessarily conflict withe some more traditional methods of 'teaching' a child, and I felt that the staff at this particular Steiner were very close-minded and almost as bad as state schools in their beleif that one blanket appraoch fits all children. I dunno...it just wasn't what i had expected / hoped for at all.

TheodoresMummy · 29/05/2007 18:15

LoveAngel - which one, if you don't mind saying ? I am still keen on a Steiner School for DS if I can find a really good one, so this would prob rule 1 out easily .

LoveAngel · 29/05/2007 19:03

Its in Islington. St Paul's I believe? (Horrid bitch woman from the school - please don't sue me!) lol.

mimsum · 29/05/2007 21:09

and don't go near the south-west London Waldorf (Steiner) school in Streatham either

drosophila · 04/06/2007 18:20

Mimsum Why do you say that about the Streatham one?

mimsum · 04/06/2007 18:48

because ds1's six months there were an unmitigated disaster and the alleged teacher who was allegedly responsible for my son's well-being was as crazy as a loon

drosophila · 04/06/2007 19:22

I know two people who use it now. One very unhappy and one happy ( I think). Interesting.

Twiglett · 04/06/2007 19:24

because its not that good for everybody

because some children never learn in a Steiner environment

because the entire family has to embrace the Steiner concept

Steiner education system is completely wrong for my family

binker · 05/06/2007 20:08

You might like to check out a friend's blog which tells of their tales of woe in the Steiner system - I'll see if I can do a link ! look at this page
hope it works !

binker · 05/06/2007 20:09

scroll down the page to see the Steiner posts !

NKF · 05/06/2007 20:11

Other educational systems are good too. Steiner doesn't have a monopoly.

TheodoresMummy · 05/06/2007 22:38

BTW the gov are supposed to be making the Hereford Steiner School an Academy, so will be state funded, apparently....

fennel · 06/06/2007 09:58

This thread has inspired me to go and google about Steiner schools. it's quite interesting, especially all the links with Anthroposophy. I didn't realise the schools are based on a religious movement.

That's apparently why the stages of learning are in 7 year blocks - so no reading or formal teaching before 7, and another shift in emphasis at 14. because those 7 year phases correspond to stages of spiritual growth.

ungratefuldaughter · 06/06/2007 10:19

There is also this stuff about not learning to read until the milk teeth have been lost, what would I do about DD (age6) snatch Harry Potter out of her hands or get to work on the teeth with a pair of pliers.

Oh and no football or ballet as you learn from the head downwards so all sports and games are those with the hands (basketball etc)

3andnomore · 06/06/2007 10:32

Haven't really followed this thread, but the last message made me lol....es is 11 on Friday and still has a fair few milkteeth to loose....hm...maybe that is why he always found reading so difficult ....
Do Steiner schools really not teach reading until they lost their milkteeth, or am I misreading something?

3andnomore · 06/06/2007 10:34

Sandy, are Steiner school Waldorf schulen, or is that yet another thing? Am rather ignorant on this field, I must admit.

3andnomore · 06/06/2007 10:41

ooops, just read mimsmums post and I suppose Waldorf/Steiner is one and the same

ungratefuldaughter · 06/06/2007 10:42

Heard it somewhere, perhaps here on mn maybe just that bulk of teeth changing happens around seven well the front ones at least as part of the spiritual growth change
Sounds quite nice education for a gentle and artistic child (mine aren't) but probably harder to get back into mainstream for an older child if you decide that it is isn't really your cup of tea (herbal of course)

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