Beechtree Steiner Kindergarten

An experience of early development Steiner education...

I spent yesterday morning at Beechtree Kindergarten at Stainbeck Community Hall in Leeds, and absolutely loved it! It was such an insight into how Steiner education is actually put into practice; even though it's a very young age group, and some may argue that you can't really teach children between 3 and 5 anything as they're so young; but I think it's the principles of the environment and the way they spend their time at the Kindergarten is just as important, and evident of Steiner's ideals for an alternative way of education.

There were 13 children the morning that I was there, along with Francesca, who runs the Kindergarten, Faye, her assistant and Rebecca, a graduate who is training to be a Primary School teacher. I'll just offer some key things that I noticed about the Kindergarten and keep in mind the comparison to usual playgroup/reception levels and styles teachings, (of which I had some good conversations with Rebecca about).


First of all, the children are welcomed in for the morning and are left to do as they wish between 'free play' and 'activities'. The activities table is where Francesca and/or one of the assistant(s) will sit and start the days activity - painting/drawing/sewing; the children may join them as they wish... The free play involves all of the natural and organic toys presented around the hall; wooden furniture, hand sew dolls and dolls clothes, soft organic cloths and blankets, natural objects such as pine cones and shells. All the toys have a natural and/or have an unfinished look, which encourages the children's imagination and creativity; and the opportunity to take part in the optional activities also provides responsibility and interaction. The Steiner system strongly believes in learning through imitation rather than instruction and this was very evident throughout the whole day - particularly through the morning activity. I noticed the children were rarely asked questions or 'requests', and if they were, it was always in a very calm, mature and kind manner - even when misbehaving - and they were never told what to or what not to do.
It's quite inspiring to see how children are offered a sense of optional structure rather than a routine of one thing after the other as a usual nursery-
playtime.
numbers.
painting.
drawing.
reading.
dinner.
home time...
This Steiner system is not rigid; it's flexible, it's time to 'breathe in' and 'breathe out' as it's phrased on the website. There is of course a simple structure, but in no way is it formal or strict as a regular school day would be expected.

The nature of freedom also continues outside, the garden is behind the Community Hall, full of trees and mud and over grown hedges and random planks of wood, pulleys and buckets, a wood & rope swing and a wooden climbing frame were just some of the materials available to play with. Another thing I noticed was how the children weren't told off, or singled out as 'naughty', told to stop doing things that some nurseries/schools would object against.. Climbing on tables and chairs, running riot in the garden, or even controlled things like being allowed to handle knives and kitchen equipment when helping to prepare the lunch for everyone. Steiner's way encourages children to explore for themselves; if they slip over or fall off the chairs then they've learnt it's not sensible and it's a better form of discipline than being shouted at or told off sometimes.
Rebecca gave a great example of the difference between the children at the school where she's training compared to the Kindergarten; if someone falls over at the Kindergarten group, they'll usually just laugh it off or not react, where as at the school, because of the difference in reactions, systems and attitude, there's normally a drama, the waterworks, a full blown performance. The Steiner environment is much more grown up, even for 4 year olds!


There is definitely a great sense of building a community, enriching children with opportunities of interaction, responsibility, imagination and creativity. Even the healthy lunch of noodles and vegetables, (that the children help to prepare), is produced within their community; the green beans at lunch were grown in the group's garden, helping the children to appreciate the way things are in the world.


Hopefully this gives an idea of what Steiner stands for and how it is presented within a Kindergarten. There is a Steiner school, for up to the age of 14, over in York, and I'm planning on going along to their next available open day, (I don't think it will fall before the deadline of the comm tech brief, but I still feel this experience is relevant to my PPD module; it's helping me explore an area of a career I would definitely consider later in life). I'll update once I've been along and I would also like to compare the Steiner group to a 'standard' nursery/playgroup, and see the difference - I'm not too clear on my memories of nursery, so it would be interesting to go back to one to actually see how different the two practices are first hand.


More info on Beechtree..... http://leeds-steiner.org.uk/