Prospective Families: Meet The Head of School

Edinburgh Steiner School offers a distinct education within the independent sector in Scotland’s capital, which uniquely accepts admissions all year round from both resident and international families, allowing pupils to start at any point in the academic session. Prospective families can now book a one-on-one meeting to hear from our Head of School, Nick Brett, and to ask any questions you might have.

• In contrast to Edinburgh’s other independent schools, our admissions procedure means we welcome pupils of all academic abilities and value them for what they bring to the school community. There is therefore no entrance exam.
• At a time when most young people become specialised as a result of their exam choices, pupils at Edinburgh Steiner School continue to study a broad spectrum of arts, sciences, crafts and humanities in addition to their national exam subjects through our Waldorf Main Lesson Programme. As a result, irrespective of whether pupils veer towards the arts or the sciences in their exam choices, they continue to receive a valuable grounding across all subjects.
• Despite not selecting on academic ability, our pupils consistently achieve above-average results in their Nattional 5s, Highers, and Advanced Higher exams. In 2024, 96% of Highers candidates passed, 3-in-5 at the top ‘A’ grade.
• Our school is a centre for the innovative Integrative Education suite of qualifications derived from the Acts Project whose patron is Nobel Laureate in Neuroscience and Waldorf graduate, Thomas Sudhof. The portfolio-based Certificate (equivalent to three GCSEs) cultivates eleven creative thinking skills.
• ESS is situated in a city viewed as a miniature Silicon Valley, with an ambition to become the data capital of Europe. Similar to our sister Waldorf school in the heart of Silicon Valley where three-quarters of the parents work in technology in some way, we offer an environment in the younger years that positions blackboards, paper, and pencils over iPads to enhance the engaging transmission of education from teacher to pupil. Mobiles are put away on school grounds by pupils, teachers, and parents – creating a community that interacts in person.

 

There is an option to visit classrooms ‘in action’ and hear from our Upper School pupils on our school tour. You can join the next one here: Visit Main School).

If you are interested in our Early Years provision for children aged 2-6, we invite you to also visit our Seedlings and Kindergarten. This individual tour can be booked here: Kindergarten Tour. Read on: ‘Individual Early Years Tours Available Now‘