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An Overview of the Hereford Steiner Academy Project Each Steiner school is unique and yet shares core values and inspirations. In the UK this commonality is expressed through a national organisation – the Steiner/Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF) – which offers advice and support to its member schools. For many years the UK Steiner schools movement has dreamt of achieving better recognition and wider acceptance, and over the years various attempts have been made to explore how Steiner schools might be State funded. When New Labour came to power in 1997, the moment seemed right to begin a more focused lobbying effort for public funding. The case received a sympathetic hearing and in March 2000 the Secretary of State for Education, David Blunkett, announced the intention to look at how Steiner schools might join the maintained sector. In the following July the then Minister for Schools, Estelle Morris, instigated efforts to establish three pilot voluntary-aided Steiner schools. Read more...

Academy Update (13th March) (Click here for previous Academy Updates) On the 11th March we were informed that the appeal against the refusal of our planning application had been dismissed. This is very disappointing news, but we have been assured by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) that we can still proceed with plans to build a new school hall (including classroom and administrative spaces) based on an existing planning permission granted in 2004 before we began the Academy Feasibilty Study in 2005. We are therefore still on track and very excited about opening as the first publicly funded Steiner Academy in September 2008.   16th November 2007 The Public Inquiry into the refusal of planning application commenced on the 13th and 14th of November. There are 4 parties involved in the appeal:   * The Local Authority   * Much Dewchurch Parish Council   * The Much Dewchurch Society/CASE (The Campaign Against School Expansion)   * Representatives for the Hereford Waldorf School including:     - The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)     - Fielden Clegg (the Academy Project Architects)     - Other consultants appointed by the DCSF Due to the number of witnesses to be heard from the Appeal is being carried over till the 1st and 4th of February 2008, and possibly the 11th February if needed. The Inspectors decision will be known within 8 weeks of the last day of the hearing. Our special thanks go out to the many people working on our behalf.   14th September 2007 The dates have now been set for the Appeal on 13 -14 November and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has instructed a legal team to represent us. The Inquiry will be decided on the basis of expert evidence and a review of the planning issues which led to the application being refused. Hopefully the decision will go in our favour and we can move swiftly on to the next phase of the Academy project.   25th June 2007 On Wednesday the 20thof June our latest planning application to extend the buildings and car park to enable the Government to fund us as an Academy was rejected. The main objections were that we are getting too large for this size of village, that the proposed car park is not suitable, and that we would not actually use it. The planning committee was reminded that we already have planning permission to expand the school that is valid till 2009. If we went ahead with this existing permission we could have more children at the school than the limit of 330 specified by the Academy plan without offering any solution to our traffic and parking issues. Read more...   27th April 2007 The re-admission of our planning application was submitted on the 4th of April and should be heard at the Planning Meeting on the 20th of June. To accompany this application we had to complete two major pieces of work:    1. A brochure clearly explaining the Academy project and the scale of the proposed buildings and car park.   2. Our School Travel Plan. Read more...   19th March 2007 As many of you will be aware, our plans to renovate our old school buildings and build new facilities for the school and the local community have recently been rejected by Herefordshire’s Southern Area Planning sub-committee. As we re-submit those plans we are acutely aware that, despite our good intentions, we have not done well enough in inviting the village community to be part of this project, and in explaining what we are trying to achieve by becoming a state-funded school under the Academy legislation. The planning decision was a surprise for us as we’d worked hard on the consultation process. We had the support of planning officers, the Local Education Authority, English Heritage, Welsh Water and the Highways Department. And we know we had support from many in the village community. However, we hadn’t realised how strongly some others, including the Parish Council, felt against the project. Read more...   24th January 2007 On Wednesday the 24th of January we were disappointed to learn that our planning application for new Academy buildings was refused. Although Planning Officers recommended the scheme for approval, Herefordshire Council's Southern Area Planning Sub-Committee voted against the officers advice. Read more...   19th January 2007 We hope to have our application for planning consent for the new Academy Buildings heard on Wedneseday 24 January 2007. Mark Evans, representing the DfES, will speak at that meeting on behalf of all of us to give a clear and concise message as to why this project is important. All being well, we're hoping for a successful conclusion to the Feasibility Study around February/March 2007.   1st December 2006 Planning Thank you to everyone who wrote or signed a letter in support of this application. We are hoping to have a decision on 20 December, but it may slip over into January’s meeting. There is a huge amount of work being done by the buildings group on the detail of the buildings. The key work that is being done right now is the planning on the various phases of construction and how we can continue to run the school safely while fitting everyone in. Read more...   20th November 2006 The Feasibility Study has reached a very exciting as well as challenging stage. Approval for planning permission for the project has now been submitted and we hope to hear the results either just before Christmas or early in the new year. While waiting for planning permission, much work is being done by the Design Build group trying to sort out the detail of the finishes/classroom shape, lighting etc. Read more...   16th October 2006 This project is in the detailed feasibility stage and at the moment, we are working to resolve challenges around planning permission prior to signature of the funding agreement. We have been developing the governance structures and matters relating to the new trust and continue to develop the designs to ensure we have a sustainable solution which meets the needs of the current school, the Fellowship and the community. Detailed plans will shortly be submitted for planning approval and we hope to hear the outcome by the end of December. Read more...   Steiner Academy Project Team Visit Norway The design for the Hereford Steiner Academy must reflect the uniqueness of its location, its curriculum and the communities it serves in the 21st century. This was the clear outcome of the flying visit to Norway to see the Stavanger Steiner School and meet its architect, Espen Tharaldsen and members of the school’s staff. Read more...   10th March 2006 ARCHITECTS REPORT - STAGE A-B Fielden Clegg Bradley have produced an initial briefing document for the Hereford Steiner Academy. A bound version is available to look at in Church Farm and we are hoping to get hold of a further copy to go in the Parents Shed. Please note that neither of these should be removed from school. We are also planning to put a version on the web site which should be available shortly. Read more...   13th January 2006 A big thank you to our teachers who continued to work up to and over the Christmas break with Sylvie in preparing our statements on SATS and Admissions. These will be presented to the DfES as part of the Feasibility Study. A great deal of time, thought and pedagogical discussion has gone into the final papers. Read more...   13th December 2005 We now have a Design Team (i.e. the architects) on board. The interviewing process went well, in fact it was apparently very difficult to choose between two of the four contenders but finally Fielden Clegg Bradley Architects won through. Those who turned up for the evening community meeting heard a report from the interviewing team and - with a sigh of relief - gave their blessing to the decision. The Project Steering Group confirmed the appointment a few days later, so it’s all systems go. Read more...   24th November 2005 The last bulletin included reports from three community groups (Community, Design/Build, Governance), please note that the report from the fourth group (Pedagogy) was printed in the Friday Flier a few days later. Although this group is mainly being held by the teachers they do welcome input or questions from anyone; David Donaldson and Karin Hines are the representatives on the Project Steering Group (PSG). Read more...   11th November 2005 As reported in the last Friday Flier, the community focus groups are now up and running; just to remind you, the four groups cover: pedagogy (mainly being developed by College), governance, community and design of buildings. The process we are all adopting is for these groups to meet independently of each other but regularly come together on Forum evenings. Read more...