Sponsoring Us To Grow As A Beacon Of Steiner Education In Scotland

Growing Spaces Petition for Sponsorship (ENGLISH)   Growing Spaces Petition for Sponsorship (GERMAN)

Increasingly valued for its kinaesthetic, broad, age-appropriate approach, Edinburgh Steiner School became an educational flagship in Scotland with the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence. We are providing an important alternative to mainstream independent education that is holistic, spiritual and responsible – with a deep respect for the changing world we live in and share.

2019 marks eight decades of Waldorf Steiner education in Scotland’s capital; coinciding with the 100th year of Waldorf education worldwide – now with 1,100 schools and over 2,000 kindergartens in 70 countries. The Centennial is an occasion to further develop Waldorf education for our time. With the growing need for our young people to practise the necessary skillset required to meet an ever increasing array of social, political, economic and natural challenges, from disaffected youth to climate change, we are becoming a provider of an innovative qualification that has the potential to put Edinburgh Steiner School at the center of high school educational debate in Scotland for a second time in a decade.

We are taking into the classroom a portfolio-based (non exam) qualification that arose out of a 3-year Steiner Waldorf research project that has Nobel Prize Winner Thomas Sudhof as Patron. Designed to develop creativity, it combines the highly-focused, analytic thinking and memory training often involved in formal education with the softer focus, non-verbal experience of interconnections and context that can be found in non-formal and informal learning to encourage the development and recognition of a spectrum of creative thinking skills. Now Ofqual registered at GCSE level in the UK, it is being made available to any schools that are interested in delivering them anywhere in the world.

Our programme ensures that whilst our pupils consistently obtain above average exam results, appearing in the Sunday Times top ten schools in Scotland in the most recent year SCIS schools taking Highers were included in the table, all pupils receive a broad education which encompasses science, art, crafts and the humanities, irrespective of their exam choices.  ‘The school has successfully maintained high standards of academic achievement over recent years’ (Education Scotland Report, May 2019).

Excellence flourishes in inspirational spaces. However, whilst Waldorf education is standing the test of a hundred years, our 19th Century listed buildings are rapidly deteriorating. We have embarked on a ten-year strategy to repair dilapidation, improve energy efficiency and build child-friendly architecture so we can be a school that is sustainable.

Each of the grant bodies and companies recognized here are contributing to Growing Spaces Project in their significant way.

JOIN our sponsors in supporting our mission, reinforcing the teaching of sustainability and the belief in self-reliance.