How our School is run

The Waldorf School of South West London is a registered charity with a board of trustees. The School is a community based school. It is run on a day to day level by its teachers and staff, who work as a collegiate. Parents play an active role within the School, usually joining one of the many working groups. Whole School Meetings, attended by parents and teachers, are held approximately once a month, where a whole picture of the School can be gained and a vision for the future put forward.

An affordable education

As a community based school, we ask for a fee/contribution towards the cost of running the School. This contribution is worked out at about 40%-50% of an average independent school’s fees. In addition between 30% and 40% of children at our school are on a bursary scheme. This all reflects a commitment across the school to making Waldorf education a viable choice to families who wish to make that commitment. Please note that these are intended to be contributions to the cost of providing the entire education. Parents are not being asked to pay for the education of their child, but to contribute collectively to the cost of keeping the school going.

Waldorf Education

The focus of Steiner/Waldorf education is to educate the whole child, based on the insights into child development by the Austrian scientist and philosopher, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). The emphasis is not only on the intellectual development of the child, but focuses equally on developing the child’s feeling life (artistic and emotional) and also its life of will (the ability to carry through ideas into a finished piece of work, incorporating all the steps in between). In this way we try to allow the child’s potential to unfold, allowing them to grow into a self-motivated, content adult.

There are currently approximately 30 schools in the UK and approximately 1000 in over 50 countries of the world. There are also many independent Steiner/Waldorf kindergartens.

Waldorf Education is recognized as a viable alternative to mainstream by many.

Our School Community

We are proud at our school to have an extremely diverse faculty and student body in terms of socio-economics, culture, religion, gender and race. This reflects the vibrant and diverse community that surrounds us in South London.

Our School and the Community which surrounds it

We recognise the responsibility that comes with being part of a wider community. For this reason we strive to support families and individuals in our local area with a weekly offering of affordable indoor and outdoor parent and child groups for those with pre-school children, craft workshops accessible to the general public and termly education workshops, where parents and local adults can experience Waldorf lessons directly from a child’s eye view.
We have a school fair every summer and advent, with music, activities, food, crafts and books that reflect the feel of our whole community.

Our School and the Environment

Steiner/Waldorf schools have had gardening as part of the curriculum for over 90 years. As an example, the 9-year olds work outdoors and learn hands-on about farming and weekly gardening lessons are introduced for 12, 13 and 14 year olds. As involvement with nature is part of our heritage, we have naturally gone for Green School status and, of course, we take most seriously our duty of stewardship to our present natural site here at Woodfields.
Steiner/Waldorf schools by nature have a strong interest in the environment.

Last updated: November 2009

This text was approved by teachers in November 09