Academy backers hit out at rejection

9:58am Monday 26th March 2007

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PARENTS, teachers and supporters of the plan to create the first state-funded Waldorf Academy have spoken out against a council decision that stopped them opening the proposed Herefordshire Academy's doors at Much Dewchurch this September.

The plans - turned down by Hereford-shire Council in January - had been submitted after a feasibility study sponsored by the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship. The rejection has put the future of the academy in jeopardy.

Steiner education is inherently ecological, inspiring students to respect the earth and their fellow human beings, and the Hereford Waldorf Academy plans to adopt land and the natural environment' as its speciality.

"What better county to create that in than Herefordshire?" says William Braid, the governor driving the £10 million academy plan.

Mr Braid believes that many people are unsure what is involved in Steiner education, the exact location of the new buildings and the extent to which facilities at the new academy would be available to the local community.

"The new buildings will go up on land that is already sloping away from the existing school and it is proposed that we dig down further, limiting the visual impact," said Mr Braid. "Ironically, we already have planning permission to build a new hall, a building which is taller and would be more intrusive than the buildings now designed.

"The car park will be built in the same way as National Trust car parks with mesh laid on grass which then grows through it, and plenty of planting. A pathway leading from the car park to the school will provide the main access to the school - the first thing we do every day at school is physical exercise and we want the children to walk some distance to school.

"The parents also intend to fund additional buses to minimise the number of vehicles visiting the site."

The plans will be re-submitted to be heard on June 20, but, in the meantime, says Mr Braid: "We are going for an appeal simultaneously."

The new buildings and re-organisation of the existing school would create invaluable facilities for the local community, it is claimed. The craft workshops in the converted barn are used in school holidays but the expansion would enable term-time use as well for evening classes. The old Victorian school would become a music centre and a small function room created.

"With its proximity to the church, it could be an ideal venue for a wedding reception," says Mr Braid.

Also in the plans are a cafe/kitchen and gymnasium, both of which would be available to the wider community.

Two years ago, the Department for Education and Skills gave the go-ahead for the feasibility study, but Hereford-shire Council said that making the Waldorf School at Much Dewchurch an academy put the future of other schools at stake. And last May, Councillor Don Rule, council cabinet member for education, said "a Steiner Academy would take pupils away from schools already at risk from falling rolls and the money is more urgently needed to upgrade the schools we've got".

Even with the additional capacity of 60 places that academy status would bring to the school, both Mr Braid and school adminstrator Nicky Makamura believe that this will have little impact on other schools in Herefordshire.

"The majority of families with children at the school - between 80 and 90% - have moved to Herefordshire specifically to come to the school," says Nicky. "And children travel from as far afield as Cardiff and Malvern."

The school already has a full waiting list of 50-60 children.

"If the £10 million pledged to the Steiner Academy by central government doesn't come here, it won't go elsewhere in the county," says Mr Braid. "Wouldn't it be great though for Herefordshire to have two new academies, Wyebridge and the Waldorf school, leading the way in education and diversification?"