Langley Hill
June 22, 2019
SEEKING SILVER
AMID THE GLOOM
The Anthroposophical news service NNA — Nexus News Agency — has posted an article about the current travails of Steiner schools in the United Kingdom (UK). While suggesting that some good may emerge from the crisis, the article strives to present a reasonably balanced, accurate account of the events that have transpired thus far.
Every cloud has a silver lining –
the future of Steiner Schools in England
By Sylvie Sklan
As the school year draws to a close, it is a good time to take stock of the situation regarding the English Steiner schools. The bright light of the schools inspectorate Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) has been scrutinising all of the schools in England [1] over the past months and now many of them find themselves having to confront an unfavourable judgment...
This whole episode began in November 2018 with an Ofsted inspection of the Steiner Academy Exeter [2]. Academies are publicly funded independent schools which can follow their own curriculum [3]. Inspectors were alarmed by what they found and this resulted in the school being closed for a few days...
There was an explosion of media interest ... It didn’t take long for inspectors to turn up unannounced at the three other Steiner academies, as well as at five independent Steiner schools [4]. The outcome was that a further four schools (two academies and two independent schools) were judged “inadequate” and three “require improvement” [5]. Only one school (Steiner Academy Hereford) was judged “good” [6].
This sudden spate of inspections caused serious alarm [7]. There was much speculation about whether the anti-Waldorf lobby [8] had had a hand in what some saw as a witch-hunt. It also triggered a debate about why so many of the schools seem to be in such a poor state of health.
On the one hand, there are those who see it as the failure of Ofsted inspectors to understand properly what they are judging [9]...
On the other hand, there are those who are broadly in agreement with Ofsted’s findings...
Since [the initial inspections], all the other Steiner schools in England have been inspected. A further five have been judged inadequate, including two of our longest established schools, and further three “require improvement”. There is some good news though: four have been judged to be good. Two more reports are still to be published...
As regards the independent Steiner schools that are funded by parents, with nine having been judged inadequate and seven that “require improvement”, these schools urgently need to demonstrate that they do have the capacity to turn themselves around...
As regards the three Steiner academies, they will be taken into a multi-academy trust (MAT) [10]. The hope is that this MAT will be the Avanti Trust [11], the same Trust that is opening a new Waldorf-inspired school, Langley Hill, on the site of the former Kings Langley Rudolf Steiner School [12]...
[T]hese three Steiner academies would be likely to become “Waldorf-inspired” schools [13], like Langley Hill...
The jury is out as to how authentic a Steiner school a “Waldorf-inspired” school can be under Avanti ... What is certain is that without Avanti the future of these three state-funded schools would be very bleak.
So at this moment we don’t know what the future holds for the English Steiner schools; but there is always a silver lining to every dark cloud, even if right now that silver lining it is not entirely obvious. [14]
[6/22/2019 http://www.nna-news.org/news/article/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=2754&cHash=40e61d9b952c7ce4bb45dee4bf456e21 This article originally appeared on June 21.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes:
[1] I.e., all Steiner schools in the UK. [See "Steiner School Crisis".] Saying that Ofsted shines a "bright light" on Seiner schools is, from an Anthroposophical perspective, generous. Many proponents of Steiner (Waldorf) education consider outsiders incapable of understanding the Steiner/Waldorf approach or the Anthroposophical underpinnings of Waldorf education. Some, indeed, suspect cold-eyed inspectors and critics of Steiner/Waldorf education to have nefarious — possibly even demonic — motives. [See, e.g., "demonization of opponents by Anthroposophists" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BW/SE).]
[2] For coverage of events at that school, see "S. A. Exeter".
[3] These academies are, according to British terminology, "free schools." Operating almost like private schools, free schools follow their own educational philosophies. But free schools receive government financing, which enables students can attend for free. In The USA, such schools are called charter schools.
[4] These are private Steiner schools, institutions that follow their own educational philosophy and depend on their own fund-raising efforts.
[5] "Inadequate" and "Requires Improvement" are the two lowest assessments issued by Ofsted. They are equivalent to failing and near-failing grades (F and D/C-).
[6] An Ofsted assessment of "Good" is equivalent to a grade of B. (The highest assessment issued by Ofsted is "Outstanding" — equivalent to a grade of A. None of the Steiner schools received this assessment.)
[7] I.e., alarm in the Steiner/Anthroposophical community.
[8] Rudolf Steiner urged his followers to believe that they are surrounded by pitiless, conspiratorial enemies. [See "Enemies".] The NNA article seems to confirm such a belief, referring to "the anti-Waldorf lobby," as if such a lobby unquestionably exists.
[9] This is, perhaps, the prevalent view from within the Steiner movement: Outsiders cannot properly understand or judge Anthroposophical thoughts or actions. (Thus, for instance, many Anthroposophical publications have carried this prefatory note: “No person is held qualified to form a judgment on the contents of this work, who has not acquired — through the School of Spiritual Science itself or in an equivalent manner recognized by the School of Spiritual Science — the requisite preliminary knowledge. Other opinions will be disregarded....”) The School of Spiritual Science is the esoteric institution, trafficking in secretive spiritual teachings, created by Rudolf Steiner for his devout followers. [See "School of Spiritual Science" in the BW/SE.]
[10] Multi-academy trusts are educational organizations that run two or more schools in coordination, under a single board of directors. When a struggling school enters such a trust, the directors work to improve that school.
[11] From the Avanti website: "The purpose of Avanti is to contribute to society through the systematic pursuit of human values and spiritual development ... Our vision was for a family of schools based upon our core principles of educational excellence, character formation and spiritual insight. We now have close to 2,700 students and 250 members of staff across our family of 7 schools ... Our current schools all have Hindu faith-designations and the next exciting phase for Avanti is to develop our group of non-denominational schools, underpinned by Avanti’s purpose to contribute to society through the systematic pursuit of human values and spiritual development." — https://avanti.org.uk/about/.
[12] For coverage of the events at the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley, see "RSSKL".
[13] "Waldorf-inspired" schools emulate Waldorf schools. Whether they also adopt the underlying Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, varies from school to school. When non-Anthroposophists run a school that simply adopts certain Waldorf methods [see "Methods"], the school should not be considered representative of Waldorf schools generally — it is not a real Waldorf school. But when Steiner's devoted followers run a "Waldorf-inspired" school, Anthroposophy will be central to their thinking, and the school will likely be in all ways except official designation a thoroughgoing Waldorf school.
[14] Writing from an Anthroposophical perspective, and aiming to boost Anthroposophists' spirits, NNA works hard to find a glint of silver in all this. ("There is some good news though: four have been judged to be good." Four Steiner schools got grades of B.) Take what comfort you can from that. In the end, though, the truth is less than spirit-boosting. If these events hold a silver lining for Anthroposophists — and for supporters of Steiner/Waldorf education — it is difficult if not impossible to spot. "[R]ight now that silver lining it is not entirely obvious." No, not entirely.
— R.R.
July 1, 2019
STEINER SCHOOL INSPECTIONS:
WIN SOME, LOSE SOME (CONT.)
Official inspections of Steiner schools in the United Kingdom (UK) have been taking a toll. Many of the schools have received sharply critical assessments, with the result that the Steiner-Waldorf movement in the UK appears to be in some jeopardy [1].
Here are two new reports about inspections of Steiner schools in the UK. In one case, the news is positive for the Steiner-Waldorf movement. In the other case, the bad news of recent months continues and deepens, threatening the efforts of a failed Steiner school to reinvent itself.
1.
From the Salisbury Journal [Salisbury, England]:
Ringwood Waldorf School
retains ‘good’ rating from Ofsted
By Katy Griffin
RINGWOOD Waldorf School [2] has been praised by education inspectors for making "considerable improvements" over the past year.
Ofsted [3] rated the Folly Farm Lane school "good" [4] in all six inspection areas, which look at the effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for pupils; and early years and sixth form provision.
It retains its "good" overall inspection rating.
The report said: "This school has improved considerably in the past year..."
It said pupils in the lower school make "good progress" in reading and writing which were inline with other pupils nationally. And the attainment of pupils in the upper school in English and maths at GCSE level [5] was "above" the national average, adding attainment across a range of other curriculum areas was "strong".
The leadership of provision for special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) was "effective"...
[T]eaching is "typically well planned"...
Staff were praised for being "motivated" and having "good subject knowledge".
Inspectors said efforts to improve pupil attendance rates had "not had enough effect" and that attendance "remains too low".
Ringwood Waldorf’s chair of trustees Esbjorn Wilmar said the inspection had been a "highly positive experience for the school", adding: “We are delighted to have been awarded Good by Ofsted. All the staff deserve to have their hard work and dedication celebrated and recognised…." [6]
[7/1/2019 https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/17738792.ringwood-waldorf-school-retains-good-rating-from-ofsted/ This article originally appeared on June 30.]
2.
From the Hemel Gazette [Hemel Hempstead, England]:
Steiner Waldorf: New school
fails Ofsted just three months
before it is due to open
By Ben Raza
A new private school has failed its Ofsted inspection — three months before it is due to open.
Langley Hill School is the successor to Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL), which was forced to close last year after long-standing failings with leadership and student safeguarding [7].
Now Ofsted inspectors have given their verdict on [the] new school, based on the same site and expected to follow a similar curriculum — and say that it too is unlikely to pass muster.
The report says that:
• There are "no plans in place for two-year-old children" — despite the school’s proposal to admit two-year-olds;
• There is no curriculum plan for A-levels [8], nor are there plans for careers guidance;
• Neither the assistant headteacher nor teachers have been recruited;
• The school’s leaders had significantly underestimated how much work was needed before classrooms were ready to be used again;
• Staff from the former school were on site during the inspection, "with little convincing explanation as to why".
The report adds: "The headteacher has not yet been confirmed in post, even though the school has advertised to parents that a headteacher has been appointed…."
Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley closed in the summer of 2018 following a two-year saga.
The school repeatedly failed inspections by Ofsted…
Although Langley Hill is a new school, it is expected to follow a similar curriculum, and around half the staff will be former RSSKL employees [9].
However, the new school will be part of the Avanti Schools Trust [10], and is set to charge far higher fees of up to £15,000…
Neither Langley Hill School nor the Avanti Schools Trust returned our calls this week….
[7/1/2019 https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/education/steiner-waldorf-new-school-fails-ofsted-just-three-months-before-it-is-due-to-open-1-8980194 This article originally appeared on June 28.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes:
[1] See "Steiner School Crisis".
[2] The school, which enrolls students from kindergarten through upper school, is on the border between the counties of Dorset and Hampshire.
[3] Ofsted is the UK government's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills.
[4] "Good" is the second of four evaluations issued by Ofsted; it is equivalent to a grade of "B". (The highest evaluation, equivalent to an "A", is "Outstanding". The lowest evaluation, equivalent to an "F", is "Inadequate". The remaining evaluation, falling between "Good" and "Inadequate", is "Requires Improvement"; this is equivalent to a D or C-.)
[5] GCSE is the General Certificate of Secondary Education. Passing this examination indicates a student is making acceptable progress in secondary education. Students usually take the exam about halfway through their secondary schooling.
[6] Meeting standard educational goals is often difficult for Steiner or Waldorf schools, which typically direct their focus elsewhere. [See "Here's the Answer", "Academic Standards at Waldorf", and "Soul School".] If they attempt to meet standard goals, these schools may end up straying from the objectives, curriculum, and methods mapped out by Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner. [See "Spiritual Agenda", "Curriculum", and "Methods".] The question becomes, then, whether the altered institutions remain real Steiner/Waldorf schools. [See, e.g., "Non-Waldorf Waldorfs".]
[7] The school is located in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England. [For coverage of the events leading to the closure of Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley, see "RSSKL".]
[8] "A-levels" is an exam taken at the end of secondary schooling; it is the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A level). Passing this examination indicates a student successfully completed her/his secondary education.
[9] Inspectors and others clearly are concerned that Langley Hill will be the old RSSKL in a new guise, in which case the problems found at the old school may persist. (This, for instance, is presumably why inspectors objected that "Staff from the former school were on site during the inspection, 'with little convincing explanation as to why'".) The inspectors' concern may prove valid if Langley Hill follows "a similar curriculum" taught, in many instances, by "former RSSKL employees."
[10] Avanti is a multi-academy trust, an educational organization that operates multiple schools in conjunction with one another under a single board of directors. To date, all of the schools run by Avanti have been Hindu institutions. From the Avanti website: "The purpose of Avanti is to contribute to society through the systematic pursuit of human values and spiritual development ... Our vision was for a family of schools based upon our core principles of educational excellence, character formation and spiritual insight. We now have close to 2,700 students and 250 members of staff across our family of 7 schools ... Our current schools all have Hindu faith-designations and the next exciting phase for Avanti is to develop our group of non-denominational schools, underpinned by Avanti’s purpose to contribute to society through the systematic pursuit of human values and spiritual development." — https://avanti.org.uk/about/.
— R.R.
August 9, 2019
"NEW" STEINER SCHOOL
OFF ON WRONG FOOT
As one of the many Steiner schools in the United Kingdom found to have serious deficiencies, Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL) was ordered to close. [1] Supporters of the school reluctantly complied with the closure decree, but they also set to work looking for ways to revive the school in some slightly modified form (the slighter and fewer the modifications the better). The result is Langley Hill Independent School, which is scheduled to open soon on the same site as RSSKL, with much the same curriculum, and many of the same teachers. [2]
But there is a glaring problem. The official inspection service that brought down RSSKL — the government's Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) — has reported that Langley Hill seems set to repeat the mistakes committed by RSSKL. [3]
The following is from The Watford Observer [Hertfordshire, England]:
Langley Hill Independent School
may not be free of failings of previous
Kings Langley Rudolf Steiner School
By Daisy Smith
A new private school is unlikely to meet all standards when it opens in September, Ofsted has said.
Langley Hill Independent School will open in place of the former Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley.
The troubled school closed earlier this year after Ofsted inspections in November 2018 and December 2016 rated it inadequate [4] and pointed to leadership and student safeguarding issues [5].
Langley Hill Independent School will be a new Waldorf-inspired school [6]...
An Ofsted inspection in May found the new school is “unlikely to meet all the independent school standards [7] when it opens”.
It will retain around half of the former Rudolf Steiner School employees. But Ofsted inspectors said the school had not considered how staff from the former school will be well supported and trained [8]...
The report also found it was not clear how teaching will be monitored and supported by senior leaders [9]...
Ofsted inspectors said they thought the welfare, health and safety standard of pupils is unlikely to be met [10].
Despite the shortcomings, inspectors said the new school has a clear vision [11] and has created policies about how it intends to support pupils’ development...
Langley Hill Independent School had been contacted for comment. But no response was received at the time of publication.
[8/9/2019 https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/17824915.new-langley-hill-independent-school-may-not-meet-standards-ofsted-says/ This article originally appeared on August 8.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes:
[1] See "RSSKL".
[2] See "Langley Hill".
[3] For an overview of problems found during official inspections of UK Steiner schools, including RSSKL, see "The Steiner School Crisis".
[4] "Inadequate" (equivalent to a grade of F) is the lowest rating Ofsted issues — it indicates that a school is seriously deficient.
[5] Poor leadership and failure to adequate protect students have been prominent findings in many Ofsted inspections of Steiner schools. Poor teaching has also often been cited.
[6] The term "Waldorf-inspired school" is somewhat amorphous. It may be applied to a school that adopts a few Waldorf pedagogical methods without adopting the underlying mystical Waldorf worldview, Anthroposophy. [See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.] But the term "Waldorf-inspired" may also be applied to a school that seeks to become, sooner or later, a full-bore Waldorf/Steiner institution, wedded to Anthroposophy.
[7] Independent school standards published in draft form by the UK's Department for Education in 2018 include
1. Quality of education
2. Spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of students
3. Welfare, health, and safety of students
4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors
5. Premises of, and accommodation at, schools
6. Provision of information [to parents, pupils, applicants, agencies, etc.]
7. Manner in which complaints are handled
8. Quality of leadership and management of schools
[See "The independent school standards: advice for independent schools" https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/operating-the-independent-school-regulatory-system/supporting_documents/180214%20%20ISSAdvice%20v13.0draftforCS.pdf.]
Ofsted seems particularly concerned that Langley Hill, like RSSKL, may fail to meet the first, third, fourth, and eighth of these standards (quality of education, safeguarding, suitability of staff, and management). Supporters of Waldorf/Steiner schools would likely argue that Langley Hill will be particular strong in meeting the second standard (spiritual, moral, etc., development of students). Critics, however, would likely argue that the school could be particularly censurable in this area, if the school effectively leads students toward embracing Anthroposophy.
[8] If Langley Hill is to be different in any significant way from RSSKL, teachers held over from RSSKL will presumably need to be retrained at least to some extent. Ofsted indicates, however, that no provisions seem to have been made for such retraining.
[9] This point covers both the management of the school and the quality of teaching the school will provide.
[10] This is the issue of safeguarding, which has been prominent in the inspections of Steiner schools and in the media accounts that have resulted. Here Ofsted indicates it doubts that Langley Hill is making adequate efforts to protects its students.
[11] Steiner or Waldorf schools usually have a clear vision, derived from the purposes and educational practices originally propounded by Rudolf Steiner. [See, e.g., "Waldorf's Spiritual Agenda".] The underlying question about Langley Hill is whether its purposes and practices will diverge to any significant degree from Steiner tradition. (I.e., the question is whether Langley Hill will be a thoroughgoing Waldorf/Steiner school like RSSKL, or whether it will be merely "Waldorf-inspired.")
— R.R.
November 2, 2019
FAILED STEINER SCHOOL
LIKELY TO FAIL AGAIN?
From The Hemel Gazette [Hertfordshire, UK]:
New Waldorf school in Hertfordshire
- but same old failings?
By Ben Raza
A school which is the successor to Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL) [1] has failed a SECOND Ofsted inspection [2] before even opening its doors to students.
Langley Hill Independent School was visited by inspectors on September 18-19, and found to be "unlikely to meet" multiple independent school standards.
And two key areas were safeguarding [3] — which played a key part in the closure of RSSKL last year — and the number of former RSSKL staff who will be employed by the new school [4].
According to the report, Langley Hill is unlikely to meet the required standards in multiple areas, including 'Quality of education', 'Welfare, health and safety of pupils', 'Premises of an accommodation at schools' [5], 'Quality of leadership in and management of schools', and the 'Statutory requirements of early years foundation stage' [6]...
Full story to follow [7].
[11/2/2019 https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/people/new-waldorf-school-in-hertfordshire-but-same-old-failings-1-9127180 This article originally appeared on November 1.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes:
[1] For the tale of RSSKL's downfall, see "RSSKL".
[2] Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education. A department of the UK government, Ofsted inspects a range of schools in the United Kingdom. Ofsted has found serious problems at several UK Steiner schools. [See "The Steiner School Crisis".]
[3] "Safeguarding" at schools is the protection of the students, ensuring their safety while at school. Previous inspections faulted RSSKL for poor safeguarding, but inspectors also found problems in numerous other elements of the school such as quality of teaching and competence of management.
[4] The concern is that the large cohort of former RSSKL staff may intend to recreate their old school with few substantive changes below the surface. The "new" school would then simply be the old school disguised by a few cosmetic changes.
[5] I.e., preparation to provide accommodations for students with special needs.
[6] Waldorf schools are often particularly weak in early-childhood education. Rudolf Steiner said that children should not generally receive basic academic instruction until they are at least seven years old. [See "early-childhood education" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]
The inspectors evidently anticipate that the new school would fail in almost every way a school could possibly fail — ranging from quality of instruction to safeguarding to school management.
[7] We will report on the full story when it becomes available.
— R.R.
NOVEMBER 4, 2019
FAILED STEINER SCHOOL
LIKELY TO FAIL AGAIN - II
News accounts indicate that the school intended to replace Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL) may not open soon, if at all. RSSKL closed after receiving several highly critical inspection reports from British education officials [1]. Leaders of the school have attempted to create a "new" school that would fill the void left by RSSKL.
The new school, which is still in the planning stage, has been named Langley Hill Independent School. But now the preparations being made for Langley Hill have received two harsh inspection reports [2]. Langley Hill cannot open until it satisfies the inspectors.
The Hemel Gazette — a newspaper in Herfortshire, England — has industriously followed the developments at RSSKL and Langley Hill. Recently, we considered excepts from a brief update published in the Gazette [3]. Here are excerpts from a further, longer article in the same newspaper:
Why has the new Steiner school
in Kings Langley failed another Ofsted [4]?
By Ben Raza
A new school in Hertfordshire has failed its second Ofsted before it has even opened its doors — and it is not clear when it will be able to start teaching students ... [I]t is unable to open without receiving the green light from a pre-registration Ofsted inspection.
The school is the successor to Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley, which was based on the same site, employed many of the same staff, and closed 17 months ago following multiple failed Ofsted inspections.
The new school has now failed inspectors in both May and September [5]...
One major issue in May was "a complete lack of coherence in leaders’ planning about how they were preparing the site to open." The new report says that many of these weaknesses have since been addressed...
Plans for teaching personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, and e-safety [6]...are described as being improved...but are still "poorly planned".
There are "genuine improvements" in curriculum planning — but "there remain too many weaknesses".
The behaviour policy [7] has been improved, but training has not been organised.
And some areas of the inspection which the school previously passed have now been failed [8]...
Is Langley Hill a completely new school?
...It is on the same site, follows a very similar curriculum, and the report states that "many" of the new school's teachers will be former employees of RSSKL as well as around half of all staff [9].
The report [says] "There are not sufficient plans about how leaders will ensure that teaching and the quality of education are better than that provided in the school that was previously on the school site..."
Although RSSKL is no longer a school, it continues as a legal organisation — and is landlord to the new school...
The lease agreement between RSSKL and the new school allows people from RSSKL, or anyone commissioned by them, to gain access to the site [10]...
Avanti Foundation Ltd [11] has...long been seen as the main force driving the opening of the new school.
However the Ofsted report states this is a "service-level agreement", which either the school or Avanti could terminate in April [12]...
Ofsted remain unconvinced about some long-term issues...
The report states: "Leaders do not provide convincing evidence that they have taken enough consideration of the precise and extensive failings of the school that was previously on the school site...
"Entrenched failings of the previous school have not been sufficiently considered... [13]"
Bosses [14] had been hoping to open the school after the half-term holidays, which would have meant from Monday (November 4). Now no new date has been suggested [15]....
[11/4/19 https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/education/why-has-the-new-steiner-school-in-kings-langley-failed-another-ofsted-1-9128552 This article originally appeared on November 1.]
Waldorf Watch Footnotes:
[1] See "RSSKL".
[2] See "Langley Hill".
[3] See "Failed Steiner School Likely to Fail Again?", November 2, 2019.
[4] I.e., an Ofsted inspection.
Ofsted is the UK government's Office for Standards in Education. The inspectors who have found so many problems at RSSKL and Langley Hill are Ofsted officials.
[5] For coverage of the inspection in May, see "Steiner School Inspections — Win Some, Lose Some (Cont.)", July 1, 2019.
[6] "E-safety," in this context, is protecting students from harm related to electronic devices and services, such as social networks on the Internet.
[7] I.e., the policy for dealing with student behavior and misbehavior.
[8] These include concerns about the safety of the school's physical plant, and renewing needed certifications.
[9] The concern here is that the "new" school would actually just be the old school under a different name. Given that the old school failed so many inspections in so many ways, the new school might be expected to embody the same faults and shortcomings.
[10] The implication is that RSSKL could control the new school. It would own the new school's buildings and grounds, and its representatives could be present throughout the school at any time they wished.
[11] Avanti is an educational organization that assumed a degree of control over the school, with the aim of improving it.
[12] If officials at Langley Hill terminated the agreement, the school would once again be guided almost exclusively from within (by teachers and staff who, in many cases, were holdovers from RSSKL). The implication is that Langley Hill could then become a virtually unfettered Steiner school, as RSSKL had been before Ofsted began finding so many failings in it.
[13] Again, the implication is that Langely Hill would effectively be a RSSKL in everything but name, embodying the same faults as before.
[14] I.e., the school's leaders.
[15] I.e., the opening of Langley Hill has been put off indefinitely.
— R.R.
October 25, 2020
REPLACEMENT FOR FAILED STEINER SCHOOL
IS STILL FAILING, INSPECTORS ALLEGE AGAIN
One of the UK Steiner/Waldorf schools that collapsed in recent months was the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL) [1]. After inspectors twice determined that the school was "inadequate" — that is, it was failing its students — RSSKL was ordered to close [2].
The most disturbing fault the inspectors found at RSSKL was the school's failure to adequately safeguard the students. But serious shortcomings were also found in many other areas of the school's operations. As the chairman of the school's trustees said at the time, "There are lots and lots of problems at the school" [3].
Supporters of RSSKL have subsequently pursued a plan to reopen the school — or a variant of the school — under a different name. Langley Hill Independent School would hypothetically make a fresh start, aiming to implement policies that would satisfy inspectors and, among other objectives, improve the quality of instruction offered [4]. The school would attach itself to the Steiner/Waldorf movement, but perhaps less overtly than RSSKL did. Langley Hill Independents's website offers this description:
"Langley Hill Independent School has a unique, engaging and modern curriculum. The curriculum draws upon the best of Waldorf principles and inspires citizenship, out-of-the-box thinking, wonder and creativity." [5]
Unfortunately, in the days since plans for Langley Hill Independent began to be formulated, inspectors have twice evaluated the effort and declared that the new school would likely fall below acceptable standards [6].
Now it has happened again. For the third time, inspectors have expressed grave misgivings about Langley Hill Independent as it is shaping up. Here are excerpts from an article appearing in The Watford Observer [Hertfordshire, UK]:
Langley Hill Independent School
fails Ofsted inspection for
third time before opening
By Daisy Smith
The Steiner School site before it closed
photo: Holly Cant
A private school is still not likely to meet standards before opening, an education watchdog has said for the third time.
Langley Hill Independent School, which had been expected to open in September last year, was supposed to replace the former Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley.
Inspectors found at the most recent inspection, which was carried out last month, that the school’s current plans for teaching early years topics such as phonics and reading were not sufficient to meet statutory requirements.
Steiner [7] closed last year after Ofsted [8] inspections in December 2016 and November 2018 led to 'Inadequate' ratings [9]. Inspectors said the closure was due to...safeguarding issues [10].
In May last year an Ofsted report suggested the school would not meet standards when it opens and a second report, published in October last year, took the same stance.
It was also found at a previous inspection that the board of trustees attached to Rudolf Steiner is still the landlord of the site.
Inspectors referred to this lease agreement and said it "remains unacceptable" as it does not allow school leaders to fully control their own safeguarding arrangements [11]...
The school has applied to teach pupils from age three to 14 and stated to inspectors that it does not intend to teach secondary-age pupils in the first year of opening.
For early years, inspectors said the current plans for teaching topics such as phonics, early reading and writing were not sufficient to meet statutory requirements.
The quality of the curriculum and plans had also not improved enough since last year. School leaders also didn't demonstrate how they will meet the requirements for supporting literacy and technology for three and four-year-olds well enough...
[The inspectors added] there still remains weaknesses in the leadership and management [12]...
Inspectors did acknowledge in their report some strengths and said the anti-bullying police [13], health and safety [14], first-aid training and the complaints policy were likely to meet standards.
Langley Hill was approached but said at this stage it has no comment [15].
[11/25/2020 https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/18815332.langley-hill-independent-school-fails-ofsted-inspection-third-time-opening/ This article originally appeared on October 23.]
To be continued?