Steiner School looks to future

A Coffee Afternoon held recently in the Kildare Steiner School, at Rathargid outside Kilcullen, was aimed at providing parents of prospective pupils with an overview of what the very individual school system is all about.



In particular the event targeted the kindergarten level, the foundation stone of an educational movement that believes it has a more holistic attitude to the development of children than perhaps the standard school system does.

The Kildare Steiner School was founded in 1987 and uses the educational approach developed by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). It is one of 900 or more such schools internationally.

The school currently has 19 kindergarten pupils and about 25 in the second level, equivalent to primary school. It completed its first permanent facility last summer, a building being used for the second level pupils since September.

Steiner school parents are quite committed people, not least because they have to fund the education of their children themselves. The only Steiner school in the State so far accepted for Government funding is in Raheen Wood in Co Clare, and that only happened recently.

That commitment is also reflected in the catchment area of the Kildare Steiner School, which has pupils from as far away as Prosperous, Baltinglass, Newbridge, Athy, Straffan as well as from parts of Wicklow.

Indeed, the only other large Steiner School is the one in Raheen Wood, while there's a Steiner kindergarten in Tallaght in Dublin. The only High School on the island is in Holywood in Northern Ireland.

So what's the attraction? Well, at kindergarten level the Steiner system doesn't put an immediate emphasis on what Americans rather illiterally call the '3 R's' -- reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

"Ordinary schools emphasise reading and writing from a very early age, whereas we don't concentrate on this until the age of six," says local kindergarten teacher Viola Laumans, pictured above on the right with colleague Sophia Pedersen. "We don't ignore it, but what our pupils learn first is the physicality around them, how their bodies work and balance, and social interaction and boundaries. We also deal with what they see in nature, like the seasons. There's so much happening out there that they can learn from."

Viola admits it's difficult for parents to consider the Steiner system, because standard education can be more geared to ensuring that children keep up in a competitive world. "Our way is at a much slower pace. At Christmas, for instance, a project might be that each child makes a Christmas stocking. It isn't an issue who makes the best stocking, the important thing is that they are all making the stockings."

But the really important thing is that the school at Rathargid is actually there. "And we are growing. It's a good thing that we can concentrate on that, in getting our new buildings up. We're trying to follow the school in Clare in planning to have our own recognition from the State by next year. They worked hard for it, and proved that it can be done."

The Kildare school is working towards getting a grant from the Childcare Committee of Kildare County Council, to extend further. "If we get that, then we can provide another building," Viola says. "There's a joy in creating a new school, but we can't do it without the parents. When we hold an event that brings them here, like a barbecue, everybody who comes helps, like doing a little weeding, or building a swing that we might need. We have the same dream, the same vision."

Brian Byrne.