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Image of Steiner School Early Years

The SWSF is the membership organisation for all the Steiner schools and independent Steiner Early Years settings in the UK and Ireland.

Our aims are:

  • to safeguard the ethos and identity of Steiner Waldorf education.
  • to support our member schools in their efforts to provide a high quality and distinctive education.
  • to represent the interests of Steiner education in the wider educational, academic, social and political context.

Steiner schools form the largest group of independent non-denominational private schools in the world. The first one opened in Germany in 1919, the first in the UK in 1925. There are currently over 1,200 Steiner schools worldwide and 2,000 Early Years settings in a total of 60 different countries, 38 in the UK & Ireland. Steiner education is state funded in most European countries as well as in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. In the UK there are currently two state-funded schools, a third is due to open in September 2013. The rest are privately funded but aspire to make their education available to as wide a community as possible.

Steiner education is based on an understanding of child development that has its roots in a philosophy known as 'anthroposophy' (download the pdf file Steiner-Anthroposophy-background.pdf). The educational content of anthroposophy informs the work of the teachers; it is not a belief system and is not taught in our schools. Since the first school was established the education has steadily evolved in response to changing times. It is known as Waldorf education in many European countries and in North America but is more frequently called Steiner education in the UK. It has a proven track record (see our 'Does it work? Alumni and Testimonials' page for more details). for providing a sound and practical basis for working with children, enabling them to find their creativity and to become free individuals who can think for themselves, make their own judgements and find their own purpose and direction in life.

2013 SWSF Spring Newsletter

2013 SWSF Spring Newsletter
(2013SpringNewsletter.pdf - 1110kb)

The 2012 SWSF Summer Newsletter is available to download. The contents include a variety of items including 'How Do You Run a Steiner School? A conference report by Priya Mahtani, Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL)'; 'New Plans in Ireland'; 'School Readiness at the Goetheanum'; 'Steiner Parents International Conference (INSWAP)'; and more.

For previous editions of the SWSF & Living Education Newsletters please see our Archives page.

Our Latest News

Below is a selection of our latest news items:-

To view all of our news including our full archives dating back to 2005 please visit our SWSF News area.