Holywood Rudolf Steiner School

The Holywood Rudolf Steiner School is a Waldorf school located in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland which teaches children using methods inspired by Rudolf Steiner. The school is co-educational, serving ages 3 to 17 with an enrollment of more than 160 students. [ [http://www.independentschools.com/northern_ireland/the-holywood-rudolf-steiner-school_35610.html Independent Schools Directory: The Holywood Rudolf Steiner School] . Accessed 2008-03-23.]

History

The school was founded in 1975 in two rooms at the Glencraig Camphill Community at Seahill, just outside Holywood. In the early days the school moved site frequently before moving to the current site at Croft Road in Holywood in 1976. Initially the house at Croft Road which formed the school building was too large for the enrolment at that time and families actually lived in the spare rooms. In 1979 a new building which became the school hall was added. In 1993 a new block was built comprising four new classrooms. In 1997, with the help of the National Lottery, a new kindergarten was added. In 2000 another new block of classrooms was completed, again with National Lottery funding.

The school was granted provisional registration as an "independent school" in 1976 and final registration in 1993. [http://archive.nics.gov.uk/edu/061005e-edu.htm Application for maintained status turned down] , Department for Education News Release, 5 October 2006. Accessed on 2008-03-23.] The school's application for "maintained status" was turned down in 2006 because the school could not meet certain statutory and other mandatory requirements.

Integration

Holywood's School Website contends that it "has some claim to be the first fully integrated school in Northern Ireland since the troubles began as it has had children from different communities sharing their culture, gifts and abilities throughout the school's history."

More commonly [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ni/educ.htm CAIN Web Service Background Information on Northern Ireland Society - Education] . Accessed 2007-12-15.] this honour is bestowed upon Lagan College in Belfast, which opened in 1981 as a response to conflict between the Protestant and Catholic Communities.

The Holywood School opened six years previously in 1975, however its ethos is not so "directly" or "actively" based on integration. Also the school does not appear on the Department of Education in Northern Ireland's list of integrated schools. [ [http://www.deni.gov.uk/index/85-schools/10-types_of_school-nischools_pg/16-schools-integratedschools_pg/16-schools-types_of_school-listsofintegratedschools_pg.htm Department of Education Northern Ireland Website - List of integrated schools visited 18 September 2007] . Accessed 2007-12-15.]

References

External links

* [http://www.holywood-steiner.co.uk/ Official School Website]