School Anti-Racism statement

Global protests highlighting injustices and inequalities levelled against black lives have not gone unnoticed by the London Steiner School. We have seen, are listening and taking time to reflect deeply on how anti-racism and unconscious bias can be more fully incorporated in our curriculum and school community. 

In the 21st century, the Waldorf/Steiner movement is a global one. The education at a Steiner school encompasses all aspects of child development including the physical, emotional, intellectual and cultural with a focus on the cultivation of a deep level of empathy. It is with this empathy that we continue to reflect on valuing diversity and respect for the fundamental dignity of life, and on how we can help support all families within our community, school and wider environment. 

We commit to the development of curricula that emphasise dignity and equality, with the hope that we can raise children into a society in which no one is held back by, or treated as inferior, due to factors such as race, gender, religion, social position or sexual orientation. We are proud that our school has been working with this philosophy for a long time. We are determined to keep up the momentum, which turns tragedy into opportunity for progression in these current times. 

Creativity is at the very centre and core of our curriculum. Creativity cannot flourish without diversity, which needs to be valued and respected, forming an integrated part of lessons on a wide range of topics. In particular, the areas of history, literature and religion lend themselves to useful continued development. We will be sharing these with our school community and they are published on our website.                

We acknowledge that in some of Rudolf Steiner’s writings there are statements, which were made over 100 years ago, that are outdated and racist in tone. London Steiner School, as a school community and as part of a modern Steiner Waldorf movement, rejects discrimination in any form and supports and embraces in full the European Council For Steiner Waldorf Education statement on discrimination.   

You can find a further statement made by the Steiner Waldorf Fellowship here 

We very much welcome suggestions as to how our school can become more richly diverse.