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Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School

Independent mainstream through school – 3yrs to 17yrs
Case studies
Meet the team

Approach overview

Elmfield is a Steiner Waldorf school, and its curriculum seeks to educate the whole person in the three domains of educational purpose (Biesta, 2013) by enabling:

  • Qualification: how students acquire the dispositions, skills, knowledge and cultural capital to participate in and contribute to the world of work and civil society,
  • Socialisation: how students learn the dispositions, skills, knowledge and abilities to actively participate in their community and within a multicultural society and be able to establish and maintain coherent identities,
  • Individuation: how students develop agency, judgement, sense of coherence, a feeling for responsibility, ethical dispositions, the ability to orientate their lives, be creative and develop a relationship to spirituality (Biesta refers to becoming a subject , or the process of subjectification).

Signature practices

Elmfield sees education as reaching beyond academic qualifications and skills.  We aim for our pupils to:

  • Be equipped for the world with a strong sense of values, responsibility and confidence;
    attain good qualifications;
  • Be able to think freely and independently, with lifelong curiosity for learning;
  • Be able to find the place in the world where they can fulfil their potential.

 

As a Steiner Waldorf school we follow the international Waldorf Curriculum rather than the National Curriculum. You can read a comparison between Steiner Waldorf and the National Curriculum here.

Our curriculum has been developed from the internationally recognised Waldorf Curriculum introduced by Rudolf Steiner. This curriculum weaves through the entire school with subjects and topics carefully placed to meet the appropriate needs of the developing child. Everything is taught at a specific time for specific reasons, with subjects naturally evolving and building upon each other to form a cohesive whole as our students progress through Elmfield.

Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School's testimonials

Why we joined the Next Big 10

This exciting opportunity will allow us to share our expertise and connect with other schools committed to innovative learner engagement. We look forward to exchanging ideas and learning best practices. A particular area of interest for us is exploring methods for recognizing and representing the diverse range of skills and abilities demonstrated by our students. As a key component of our school development plan, we are committed to collaborating with other schools to strengthen the signature practices of Waldorf education.
Mags Davison, Principal
We are excited to partner with the Rethinking School project. We believe Waldorf education's holistic, child-centered approach, which prioritises creativity, critical thinking, and social responsibility, shares a common vision with Big Education's goals for transformative learning. We agree we should aim to foster transferable capabilities, values and qualities rather than just focus on a heavily knowledge-led approach. Our priority is to really see each individual child and enable them to become the best version of themselves. We also value the importance of staying informed of other pedagogical research outside of our own practice and recognise the need for all schools to evolve to meet the changing needs of today's children and young people. We look forward to collaborating on this project to reflect on and enhance our practice, ensuring we continue to foster both academic achievement and the personal and social growth of every individual—adults and children alike.
Lisa Westwood, Class 4 Teacher

Video case studies

Video case study 1

Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School's Change Team

Mags Davison

Principal/SENDCO

Lisa Westwood

Class 4 Teacher

Nick McDonald

Maths Lead

© 2025

Big Education Trust is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales.

Company registration number: 07648389.

VAT number: GB142676505

Registered Office: c/o School 21, Pitchford Street, London E15 4RZ

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