Children are more likely to thrive when there is a close relationship between home and school. Every Class in the School is composed of children who come together daily from a wide variety of families, homes and cultural and religious backgrounds. What we experience as a group is the Steiner Waldorf curriculum, as interpreted and presented to the pupils by their teachers.
The PTA are focussing on two key projects over the coming months, identified as vitally important to enhancing the School:
Fiona’s children are in Classes 9 & 7. She has been a parent of the school for over a decade (holding the wealth of knowledge of organising the Christmas Market). She joined ESS staff in 2023 as the After School Club Leader
Parent to a Lower School pupil and Class 3 Convenor, Julie has kindly taken on the role of Secretary for the PTA. She joined the PTA Committee formally in January.
Stephen Cumming, a Chartered Accountant, is a parent of the school with a daughter in the Upper School.
Nick has been a long-time teacher of the School, is a member of Management and was recently appointed Interim Head of School.
Lindsay’s son joined Middle School (Class 8) in 2022, coming from a parent-led school.
Peter Sheen is the Movement Education/PE Teacher at ESS and has been instrumental in setting up the popular Circus Arts and other Extra Curricular Clubs. His daughter graduated from ESS in 2019, and his son is in his final year.
Deirdre has a decade of PTA experience as a former parent. She is also a long-serving teacher in the Upper School. She has taught Anthroposophical Studies on the Teacher Training Course; is on the School’s Festival Group and a member of the College of Teachers.
Attends PTA meetings as a non-member in his capacity as Education Manager.
All parents and/or carers of pupils and teachers attending the School are automatically a PTA Member.
ESS PTA Constitution (Updated November, 2024 at AGM)
It is recognised that parental / carer participation in the educational process at ESS is foremost through supporting your child’s learning at home, which looks at education from a different standpoint to mainstream schools. We have only to look back to our own childhood to recall the important part that home life played in our own growth and development.
A well-directed Parent Teacher Association can strengthen the spirit of what makes this approach to education critically relevant in instilling a lifelong curiosity for learning, whilst equipping them to meet the ever-increasing array of social, political, economical and natural challenges.
Joining the PTA is one of the many ways parents are an engaged part of the school community. Other areas include being part of a PTA Working Group (such as the Friday Market, Extra Curricular Clubs), Trip volunteer, member of the Board of Trustees, contributing to the parent-led Christmas Market (the School’s largest annual fundraiser) and sitting on the Christmas Market Investment Group.
The PTA meet monthly, with the Minutes of each meeting made available to the wider PTA members (i.e. all parents / carers of enrolled pupils) here once approved. (Read here). Contact: pta@edinburghsteinerschool.org.uk