South Devon Steiner School

An all-through Steiner Waldorf school (3-19 years), recently rated 'Good' by OFSTED. Situated in the South Hams area of Devon, between the rolling landscapes of majestic Dartmoor and the famously alternative town of Totnes. South Devon Steiner School is a unique and warm school with a committed and thriving community.

Our Purpose: (Why we exist)

To support students to realise their full human potential and to engage meaningfully in the world, through healthy relationships, directed by independent thinking.

Our Educational Vision: (What we aim to do)

To provide an education from age three to nineteen using Steiner’s image of human development that supports every student to become as complete and capable a human being as possible, able to use their own skills and ideas in meaningful and purposeful ways as co-creators of the social, cultural and spiritual life of the world.

Our Mission: (The principles behind how we will do it)

We adapt our approach as needed to enable individual learning and development and consciously recognise everyone’s right to their own path towards adulthood.

We respect and support each child’s unique human journey in the context of the school and class group society they are in.

We engage creatively with Steiner’s insights into the stages of human development, conduct our own educational research and study other educational approaches in order to better understand and support the needs of today’s children.

We equally acknowledge and address the three core faculties of the human being: conceptual thinking, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships and practical and creative skill.

We balance academic rigour with artistic creativity, practical work and social engagement. We provide healthy learning environments that encourage creativity and independent thinking and nurture empathy, respect and resilience. We work closely and in partnership with parents and carers (and outside agencies as necessary) to ensure that there is an effective, collaborative and supportive team around each and every child.

We view education as an artistic practice, which requires teachers to have the right to be independent and free to create learning experiences that meet the needs of a child at a particular time, and to have the responsibility to work within the vision of the school, uphold the educational rights of the student and meet legislative requirements.

We constantly strive to enable our students to:

Think independently Evaluate reflectively Relate respectfully Engage responsibly Create dynamically