Montessori or Steiner - anyone have any thoughts?

[Roz]

I've probably come in a bit late on this - but what the hell.
My nephew, who is now 9, went to a Montessori for his first 2 or 3 years of education. He didn't get on with it at all. It seems that it was very much about learning and not enough about having fun and playing. It could have just been the particular one he was at.
I am very interested in sending my daughter to a Steiner school at least for her primary years - but the difficulty is that they are so few and far between. Two friends of mine (adults) are products of Steiner schools and say they are fabulous for the first few years as they focus on motivating children and building up their self esteem. The down side is that they do not focus on academic achievement at all - these friends had to have extra tuition at 'A' Level standard.

To weepootleflump: fees at the london steiner schools are lower than other independents, with some bursaries available. They expect a lot of blood and sweat from parents though. Also, shorter school day for younger kids and longer hols. than other schools, so very hard to have a proper job. £3.5 - £4K per annum I would say.

Sorry, it's more like £4.5K per annum for the over sixes (i.e. those no longer in kindergarten)

wow, that sounds like great value Steinermum! DD isn't actually at school age yet but have always wanted her to go to a montessori nursery but unfortunately don't have one anywhere near us. Had never heard of Steiner and am really interested in the concept.

Look on the Steiner Schools Fellowship website and you'll find info. about the Steiner philosophy and where the schools are.

It's a bit of a lifestyle choice being a steiner parent - be prepared to do a lot of fundraising, and make sure you're comfortable with your own choices re tv, eating meat, etc, as you might find you're not in the 'top stream' iyswim; some steiner schools are more cliquey than others, I believe. But strong community if that suits you, and all the steiner kids I know are lovely.