Since our post on the proposed Fullfledge free school in Suffolk, our supporter and correspondent Esther Fidler has met some of the people who plan to set up this school, and has blogged about their lack of qualifications or credible objectives. On the influence of Steiner’s ideas and the responses she got to her questions, Esther wrote,

I began to get the impression that knowledge, unless gained specifically from a (possibly unqualified) class teacher was not encouraged; the idea of a mystical, esoteric belief system based upon reincarnation and karma being the foundation of a school which does not encourage finding out information through books, TV or the internet was beginning to make me feel distinctly uncomfortable. 

Now Francis Gilbert, author of ‘I’m a Teacher, Get Me Out of Here!’, has recommended Esther’s blog post on the Local Schools Network website, beginning:

Weve already highlighted at length the problems with Steiner schools on this site; their dangerous attitudes towards vaccinations, the racist beliefs of their founder and their very strange mysticism being chief among them.

This may not be a faith school in the sense that most people understand them – it’s not about an organised religion, such as Christianity or Islam – but it is about a cult in disguise, one that seems entirely reasonable at first glance, if you’re into green issues. The Fullfledge people were at an event that was organised by Suffolk Quakers today in Ipswich, a Festival of Green Ideas, where their speaker was Marisa Fovmicola. Unfortunately, we didn’t hear about it until it was too late to attend, or we might have gone and asked some pertinent questions about Steiner and his racism, etc.

If you’re interested in stopping the Fullfledge school from benefiting from Gove’s free school plans and getting public money, please get in touch.