Hereford is in line for the first state-funded Steiner Academy in the country.

In a groundbreaking decision, the Government has cleared the way for the Waldorf School in Much Dewchurch to join the mainstream.

The Department for Education and Skills has given the go-ahead for a feasibility study into building a new school that would open in September 2007 next to the existing Steiner building.

If all goes ahead, the Academy will be an independent but publicly funded, no fees, mixed ability school catering for children aged between three and 16.

At present parents pay up to £3,000 a year for a place but if the proposal goes ahead all children will be funded by the state.

The Waldorf School in Much Dewchurch was opened 21 years ago and teachers 200 students. An extra 60 places will be available if the Academy moves goes ahead.

Steiner Waldorf schools have their own curriculum based on broad-based learning programmes that claim particular success in providing innovative approaches to education.

There are 21 Steiner schools in England - all of them mixed sex and mixed ability with no selection or streaming.

Both the principal of Hereford Sixth Form College and the director responsible for learning and skills in the county welcomed the prospect.

"The college welcomes pupils from the local Steiner School. They are excellent students," said Dr Jonathan Godfrey, the Sixth Form College principal.

"We congratulate the school on its success in getting the Minister's approval to explore Academy status. The Learning and Skills Council supports imaginative approaches to learning," said Patrick Cosgrove, its director in Herefordshire and Worcester-shire.

William Braid, who chairs the governors at Hereford Waldorf School, described the prospect of state funding and Academy status as opening up new opportunities.

"The present school community and prospective pupils look forward to this development and hope this will provide new buildings and better facilities that, together with our dedicated staff, will encourage the outside world to take more notice of the underlying principles that this education is based on.

"It is like a couple learning that they are having a baby - very exciting but a bit scary. There is a long way to go.

"The feasibility stage before we can say that this will definitely happen is nine months - just like a pregnancy!"