Inspect all Steiner schools, ministers urged
Threat of closure for second school over safety concerns prompts calls for Ofsted to expand checks
MINISTERS have been urged to order fresh inspections of all Steiner schools in the country, after a second school was threatened with closure amid “serious” concerns about child safety.
The Steiner Academy Exeter was warned by the Government this week that it could have its funding cut off, after Ofsted discovered severe safeguarding and governance lapses.
Following the inspection, the regional schools commissioner took the unusual step of instructing it to close immediately while the issues were addressed, so it can ensure a “safe environment” for its pupils. It reopened a week later.
It comes after the The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL) was ordered to shut down, following a series of Ofsted inspections which uncovered a raft of safeguarding failings. Steiner schools base their curriculum on the spiritual philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, called anthroposophy, which emphasises child creativity.
There are fears that the safeguarding failures unmasked at two Steiner schools raise questions about the movement as a whole.
Most fee-paying Steiner schools in England are inspected by the School Inspection Service (SIS), whose inspectors are trained in the Steiner ethos. There is mounting concern about the suitability of the SIS to inspect Steiner schools and hold them their shortcomings, The Sunday Telegraph understands. RSSKL used to be inspected by the SIS, but as safeguarding fears mounted, ministers ordered Ofsted to take over. Ofsted can only inspect private Steiner schools when commissioned by the DfE to do so.
“It is clearly the case that RSSKL were getting away with inadequate safeguarding under the SIS,” a source close to the Steiner movement said. “It may be that other Steiner Schools have failing safeguarding cultures that the SIS have also not identified. Ofsted should definitely step in to make sure that children are safe in all Steiner Schools.”
Mike Tomlinson, the former head of Ofsted, said: “If I was chief inspector I would be urging the department to give me a brief to inspect them all, not necessarily for everything but particularly for safeguarding.”
Richy Thompson, of Humanists UK, added that ministers should “urgently review whether similar issues are at play in the all Steiner schools”.
A spokesman for the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF), the umbrella organisation which runs 35 Steiner schools in the UK and Ireland, said it was taking action to ensure there was no “pattern” of safeguarding issues across its schools. “The SWSF has appointed a team of quality care advisers to complete its own independent compliance checks, in line with standards set out by the Government,” they said.
A spokesman for the Steiner Academy Exeter said: “We want to reassure parents that we as a school are doing everything possible to address the concerns raised by Ofsted.”
The SIS said it was approved by the DfE as an independent inspectorate.