Steiner school (Orana) in Canberra

@ earthrepair

Oh thanks for that too. Did a little research and found that Steiner was definitely anti-vaccinations. The schools these days and in the main have taken a for-and-against public education stance to the issue.

The huge rate of non-vaccination should tell you all you need to know about the intellectual atmosphere pervading Orana.

And just about every teacher in Canberra can tell you a story about getting ex-Orana students in their class and trying to repair the damage caused by the lack of actual teaching that goes on there.

Obviously I am referring to teachers/admin/school board as as parents we wouldn’t have a public policy on anything as such..

Well of course I do not come here as a convert but someone concerned and skeptical, especially when the Wiki article, has references like the following:

• Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and mysticism; Che?

• Germanic culture as representing the high-point of human evolution as of the early 20th century

• Steiner promoted full assimilation of the Jewish people into the nations in which they lived

@Tibbs
Never read the ABC transcript. Plenty of other articles that says Steiner teachings are a form of cult worship.

@Skip
Wiki is editable by all, including Steiner followers. Are you saying they have not bothered to correct a great misconception?

@Kuku
I scoff at anyone who believes in fermenting a couple of grams of stuff, burying it in a field in a cow horn thus protecting and nourishing hectares of crops.

If the school has a high academic record, all well and good and that is what I would like to hear from and see from readers. If it is a cult that converts others to its cause, then I am concerned. My concerns are based upon reading (for example):

http://www.waldorfcritics.org/active/links.html
or
http://sites.google.com/site/waldorfwatch/welcome

Wow, what an open mind!
I looked up Steiner on wiki. There’s nothing disturbing on there. If you google ‘steiner’ and ‘cult’ the second entry is from ABC’s Compass – which is almost entirely positive. From the whole transcript you selectively chose the one slightly odd sounding bit and took it out of context.
How’s this for cherry-picking to describe your stance: from Wiki – “massive defamatory press attacks against Steiner were undertaken by early National Socialist leaders (including Adolf Hitler) and other right-wing nationalists.”
For the record, I have no connection to Steiner schools. I just get annoyed by ignorance.

New information just in: Orana is actually a bogan school in disguise. Put a ‘T’ in front of the school’s name and you’ll see why.

Pandy said :

As the OP I looked at Steiner on wikipedia; Googled “Steiner” and “cult”; Looked at Steiner and Anthroposophy and thought it looked all like a dark art to me. And who believes biodynamics and buring cow horns with a certain potion according to the zodiac calendar will improve vegies?

Lots of people believe in planting by the phases of the moon. Why wouldn’t an organic potion work any less than a concoction of chemicals?

You are confusing Anthroposophy with the type of children that this school produces. There are things I find repugnant in religion but that doesn’t mean that education in religious schools are wrong. The same goes for Steiner education. The mythology I’m hearing here is quite interesting. The school has one of the most classical curricula that I have seen. My children have learned about Greek, Roman, Norse, Renaissance to name a few.

No, my daughter did not ‘learn’ to read until she was in 2nd class but she was read to constantly by her teacher. When she did learn to read on her own she was relaxed and loved it. She has a reading age above her level, as does the majority of her class. This was the antithesis of my son’s experience in mainstream, where in Kindergarten, he was stressed and upset because he thought he didn’t ‘get’ reading.

People send their children to Catholic schools who aren’t necessarily Catholic, or Grammar when they’re not Anglican. The plethora of ‘Christian’ schools that have reared their heads lately is testament to this. And these families don’t blink an eye when children have to worship a zombie that was his own father, by pretending to be vampires and cannibals. That Steiner was an Anthroposophist doesn’t mean that every family at Orana follows this.And nor do they spend hours at ‘chapel’, ‘mass’ or scripture.

It seems Pandy, that you are looking for the worst. So why didn’t you just google Steiner and Cult than post here?

“As the OP I looked at Steiner on wikipedia”

Ah Wiki, that irrefutable source of truth and accuracy. I don’t think I need to say much more about your research, do I?

As the OP I looked at Steiner on wikipedia; Googled “Steiner” and “cult”; Looked at Steiner and Anthroposophy and thought it looked all like a dark art to me. And who believes biodynamics and buring cow horns with a certain potion according to the zodiac calendar will improve vegies?

earthrepair said :

They wouldn’t have a public policy on it but most of them will tell you in private it’s not what they would do to their kids. It is left up to the parties concerned to review the evidence and decide.

Who are ‘most of them’??? Where do you get this information from?

My kids are fully vaccinated as well as up to date with their flu shots.

They wouldn’t have a public policy on it but most of them will tell you in private it’s not what they would do to their kids. It is left up to the parties concerned to review the evidence and decide.

What is Orana’s public policy on vaccination?

AME was still a much better school… despite the drugs, and the financial mismanagement, and the Nits…
…
Well, I enjoyed it dagnamnit!
…
…
Don’t Judge Me!

I believe any school is capable of producing good results for the kids, but different schools are good for different types of kids. If you find yourself struggling to fit in and learn in the public or more traditional private schools, maybe Orana is for you. Maybe not

Nits. It’s sooooo good to be out of that phase.

Sorry Pommy Bastard, “Rupert and Jasmine?” You obviously don’t know Steiner Schools or you would have said “Star and Moonbeam”.

My kids are at Orana. We are an Indigenous family. Perhaps someone should have told us about the Aryianism (and Christianity, Witchcraft and scientology)….. but we already know about the nits.

We moved our son to Orana after being told in the public school system that our son was failing because he was Indigenous (yes you’re reading correctly). There was also a scripture programme entrenched in this public school that was being run by a local fundamentalist Christian Church.

Orana works for some kids, it doesn’t for others. My two have thrived.

Oh yes Thumper, I think the Defence Against the Dark Arts post was filled last week but the Potions Professor is still vacant.

orana goes through the nits phase as well – no different to any other school

I have no problem with cult of witchcraft, Christianity, enviromentalism, Aryianism, with sprinkling of Scientology…BUT NITS,YUK!

[b>“Oh yes we had to send Rupert and Jasmine to Steiner school to unlock their full potential as creative people. And besides, the public school kids all had nits…”

orana goes through the nits phase as well – no different to any other school

Friends who are parents of ex steiner school students scared me with their stories. See http://www.waldorfcritics.org/active/FAQ.html (Steiner schools are also called Waldorf schools).

Steiner schools are just “middle class guilt” assuaging places for well off hippies who cannot bear to admit they are sending their kids to a private school…

“Oh yes we had to send Rupert and Jasmine to Steiner school to unlock their full potential as creative people. And besides, the public school kids all had nits…”

My two children go to Orana. One is in high school and the younger one is still in primary school. Like any school, it is not perfect but I can’t be happier with the general outcome so far. As far as I’m concerned, it’s money well spent. I’m not entirely sure what the OP meant by “free thinkers” but I can certainly say that the system of education there strives to make the children thinkers and doers. The teaching is overall very solid.

I would suggest to the OP to separate reality from myths. Doing some in-depth reseach usually helps. There is copious information on the net on Steiner education – some pros and some cons but, todate, I haven’t yet come across witchcraft (I think the brooms are kept under locks during daylight hours, at least).

My niece went to a private Steiner school in Melbourne for four years. It was emotionally very nurturing, but frankly the policies were straight out of the mid 19th century. I wouldn’t be surprised if they believed in phrenology. The kids weren’t taught to read until certain teeth came through. The school administrators illegally hid govt information about vaccines from the parent body. There was an atmosphere of passive aggression throughout the place – everything very “naice” but also very judgmental. Orana may be very different, but certainly my niece had a lot of catching up to do when she moved to a “straight school”. And yes, superstitious Christian tropes were embedded throughout the curriculum.
If my niece hadn’t been moved (at age 10) I’m sure she would have suffered academically (she is on a scholarship at Melbourne Uni and I would bet that wouldn’t have happened if she had stayed in the Steiner system). If kids are from a family home where there are lots of books and an “education atmosphere”, and they are VERY bright, I think they could do well on all fronts and withstand the disadvantages of Steiner. Anyone independently wealthy could luxuriate in Steiner, and the parent body at that Melbourne school was largely in that category. But if you would be disappointed if your child didn’t learn study skills at school, and you think a rigorous grounding is important, send your child to a public school – or save up for a “grammar school rescue” like my niece needed.

My problem with this is how do we know they turn kids into free thinkers? is just what we have heard people say, who have heard other people say it, who have heard other people say it and we just blindly believe it? ironic isn’t it seeing as though we want THEM to be free thinkers and we just follow the pack. Where’s the independent research to back up their claims? give me hard evidence not just the opinion of someone who works in a youth arts organisation who see’s these kids as amazing, hey…. maybe they were amazing before they went to Orana and the school has nothing to do with it, or maybe its a free thinking factory that produces diamonds from lumps of coal. There are amazing kids at public schools as well you know…. maybe we should all send our kids to a run of the mill public school…. some amazing kids come out of there.

HAHAHA that made my morning!! orana has nothing to do with scientology, witchcraft etc…….
read their website, and go on a school tour. it’s a good school – has its problems like any other school but hey i’d prefer my child went there than any of the other canberra schools. it’s a small school so the students get more attention and they are all very intelligent, happy, thoughtful, artistic kids from what i’ve seen.
once again – look at their website and thanks for the laugh

It’s just a matter if determining what and how the school teaches, and whether you think that will lead to balanced, responsible adults when the kids grow up.

I think it really depends on the student, These schools really suit some young people and really don’t suit others.

I work in a youth arts organisation and a most of the kids that I work with that have come through Orana have been amazing and I don’t think they would have the creativity and open out look that they do if they had been at another school. But on the same note I have worked with a few kids who I think the learning style really did not suit and may have been better of in a different school.

I love editing posts after Brumbies games, especially ones that use Christianity and environmentalism as derogatory terms, and come to think of it, whats wrong with the people who come from the Ayran plateau of India/Iran. Just don’t get me started on Scientology, we don’t want to be subject to fair game or an operation freak out.