Protected: Now We Are 6

Collaborate with us in calling from our schools’ rooftops how cultivating curiosity and wonder builds a lifelong love of learning in young children. Play is the way.

The UK is an outlier regarding school starting age, with only 12% of the nations worldwide starting school before age six. All but two are former members of the British Empire.

Dear fellow Steiner Schools,

Energised by the efforts of thousands of campaigners successfully putting ‘play’ on the political agenda north of the border, including neuroscientists, educators, play-specialists and early years teachers, we have raised £1,000 towards the making of a 4-minute documentary to show parents in the UK how Steiner Waldorf education provides an important alternative to mainstream schools. We will visit three Class 1 classrooms: New School Canterbury, founded by parents and to be filmed by our Director, Saskia Ansley-McCallum pro-bono; Edinburgh Steiner School, the only one offering a Steiner Waldorf education in Scotland (established for over 80 years); as well as our sister state-funded Steiner Academy in Hereford.

The film will include interviews with leading voices in early childhood education, including Upstart founder Sue Palmer, international Waldorf consultant Trevor Mepham, Play Specialist Julia Whitaker, a mainstream and Froebel advocate of play Julia Manning Morton,  and SWSF Early Years Coordinator Sam Greshoff, speaking about how the foundation skills are embedded in a Kindergarten environment; alongside those at the chalkface, parents faced with the decision to send their 4-year-old to school, and reflective Upper School Steiner pupils and alumni.

With a production budget of £2,500, we are seeking to raise the last bit of money with collegial support from UK Steiner Schools of £150 each (as well as the fervour of your PR person!) so as we can create a timely, professional, insightful marketing asset to equip us all to call ‘There’s another way on your doorstep!’ across the country in the months ahead of the next school year.

Now We Are Six will strive to stir the curiosity and interest of prospective parents in an educational approach that provides them with the opportunity to give their child a learning experience based on the simple but profound insight that children learn in different ways at different stage of their development, where imaginative play is a superfood ingredient that affords lifelong nourishment.

The film will be made available to all to host on your individual website; and will be spearheaded online by a trailer produced specifically for a social media ad campaign (included the budget). Collaborating, using the shared url SteinerWaldorfUK.org/ to link to the host channel on YouTube, will galvanise our collective organic reach, helping both the trailer and film rank higher as the algorithms favour user engagement. Its title aims to engage a wider audience beyond those already familiar with the Steiner Waldorf movement. YouTube’s description will link to the Fellowship’s website, providing the list of all the schools in the UK.

This production is scheduled to start filming on the 29^th April; and be out of the edit suite by the end of May, 2021. We hope this to be the first of many future collaborations.