Steiner Kindys & Schools

Funnily enough the owner of that website is called Steve Paris according to the Registrant details.
and Rubinia=Steve... hmm the mind boggles!

Why not just be honest? It is your site and if you had of just said so you probally would have gotten a bit of sympathy, but your actions make me a little skeptic now

Edited by Kellie

OK, my cover's been blown.

You're right I should I have been open but what's happened to us has affected us a quite badly (and I guess I may have become a little paranoid - gonna have to work on that).

But that doesn't change the fact of what happened and that the school has a dangerous side which cannot be ignored.

We even heard the other day from one family still speaking to us from that school, that one of the boys who bullied our daughter recently hit an older child from a different class in the face with a hockey stick.

Nothing was done about that except to say that "he's very boisterous".

I would actually appreciate it if someone could contact them and ask for their version of the events... because they never told us.

The only reason they ever gave us for expelling us like they did was citing our behaviour AFTER having been kicked out.

They did say that we were not in agreement with their behavioural policy but since our child was being bullied every day for four months (and the bullying happened before we got there and obviously still does), then it's apparent that that policy isn't effective.

But should that be a reason to expel children?

Edited by Rubinia

Rubinia wrote: arohanui wrote: you would have been far better off being honest. Hi Arohanui My wife was being honest in the earlier post on page 1 and all she got was "that's unfortunate". I mistakenly tried a different approach.

Well it was unfortunate wasn't it?

Sorry but this is the internet, I apologize for not starting to picket the school after her post but generally if I already have my own opinions on a subject it takes more then 1 vague-ish post to sway me.

I am really, really sorry that your family had such a horrible experience though. I would absolutely hate for anything like that to happen to my family.



Edited by Kellie

arohanui wrote:

Have to agree, she could have posted again and elaborated further, or you could have come on explaining you were the dad and elaborated that way.

What can I say, honesty is a big thing to me and I don't like it when people try to pull the wool over other peoples' eyes (ie pretending to be someone else).[/QUOTE]

Fair point. I'm terrible at subterfuge anyway.

As I said above, we're in a very bad situation at the moment still and sometimes, you just don't think clearly when under a lot of stress.

Let's ignore the subterfuge and stick to the facts:

The titirangi steiner school is a non-integrated school which means it isn't bound by the education act and as a result neither the parents nor the children have any protection from the ministry of education.

If they had, the management would not have been able to sweep us under the rug like they did.

Our daughters loved the education there and it was such a difference from regular state schools.

We didn't feel that getting hurt everyday was a price worth paying but sadly, despite the fact that management appeared to be open to our concerns, nothing changed in four months and on the day we were due to have a meeting with them, the trustees and teachers to discuss alternative methods of behavioural management, they cancelled the meeting and kicked us out.

We have nothing against Steiner education (we wouldn't have enrolled our kids there otherwise). We just wanted them to be safe like they promised us they would be.

Rubinia, on your website you state that your daughter originally went to the local primary school, and that they were unwilling to sort out the bullying, so you started at Steiner.
Did the same thing happen at Steiner?

SMoody wrote: I really wouldnt worry about the reading only when they are 7 part. In SA kids only go to school in the year they turn 7. So in whichever year you turn 7 you start school that year (in the beginning of the year, so everyone starts at the beginning). They also start reading a bit slower than they do it over here. And I am really perfectly fine with great scores ect. They are however moving to try and do reading a lot sooner ect with preschool stuff and all that. But I am all for kids to be kids. Sometimes we concentrate so hard on the actual academic stuff instead of the natural climbing, running and gross and fine motorskills they need to do all this academic stuff to the best of their abilities.

It is MUCH easier for children to learn to read when it's introduced at a younger age. Our levels of reading failure are high enough IMO and delaying literacy until 7 will not help this situation. It is those early years when the brain absorbs information much easier that is the best time to learn these skills and although it is of course possible to learn to read at a later age it is easier for the child when younger. I taught my DD1 to read at 3 - in a fun way... and she has always LOVED literacy and it has come naturally to her (she's 13 now).

I absolutely agree that kids need to be kids... but lots of skills can be taught in a play based environment that is engaging to children. Play is work for wee ones...

sorry not a completely relevant post but I believe it is one aspect of steiner schools that really needs to be considered...

Also sorry to read about the terrible situation you have encountered Steve. I can't imagine how awful it would be to know your child has been a target of constant bullying! I don't believe this would be representative of all steiner schools?!

Okay have had some feedback now.

Also a rep from the school has insisted on everything being put in writing only so is waiting for an email reply from me and wants to know your exact questions.

Pm me if you want Rubinia.
I would be wanting answers if I was you. Good on you for putting your story out in the end :P

Edited by Kellie

I will be in touch.

Why we are protesting

We are here because of the appalling way my family has been treated by the Titirangi Steiner School: my eldest daughter who was 8 at the time was being regularly bullied in her class by children who had been behaving in this way since Kindy.

We informed the teacher and management about it and after four months of us telling the school, them reassuring us that they took the matter seriously and nothing ever changing, they expelled our children, including my child at Kindy who never had any problems, and my little one at playgroup.

But we weren't the only ones this happened to: three other families had left the same class in previous weeks, also because of bullying, and we've since learned of many others who have suffered at the hands of this school over the years because of the management’s refusal to deal with bullying.

Our children, especially our eldest, have been severely affected by their treatment here, to the extent that we are seeking help for them.


What the school says to other people

The manager never gave us proper reasons why the school kicked us out, but here is what they say to anyone enquiring about this event:

"The school's policy with regard to bullying is one of social inclusion."

Setting aside the irony of being kicked out because the school believes in ‘social inclusion’, in the four months of communicating with them, the school never used that term. Not once. They only started mentioning it once they excluded us and we began making a fuss.

But social inclusion doesn't mean letting children bully others without consequences.

We never advocated expelling children, however. We simply wanted them to stop the bullying or separate the children. They have no such policy here.

“The behaviour of the parents became unacceptable to both the school and other parents.”

All we did was write emails to management and had meetings with staff. Many parents were in fact glad that someone was finally doing something about the bullying but I doubt they’ll be brave enough to speak out now having seen what can happen if you do.

We didn’t protest or complain publicly about the situation until after we were kicked out, when we were rightfully angry at the school’s inefficiency and its inability to protect children.

This is a school that told us that expelling a bully would be violent to the child. They had no such problem expelling a ‘sensitive child’ (as her teacher identified her) and her younger siblings.

"Our enrolment agreement with parents requires them to provide an ongoing commitment to Waldorf Education which, in our view, was not forthcoming in this case. "

Unless bullying is part of Steiner education, their statement is groundless: we were committed to their education system, even going to an anthroposophical doctor, on teacher’s advice, to help our daughter build her confidence up so she could cope with the bullying.

But even if what they say were true, is it the school's policy to evict people without notice or warning, suddenly, with no possibility of appeal?

Our eldest child loved the curriculum and we were determined to help her thrive there, by making her class the safe environment the school claims it was.

We were scheduled to have a meeting with management, trustees and teachers to discuss behavioural management. A meeting proposed by the manager himself. But on the day of that meeting we unexpectedly received a letter cancelling it and chucking us out instead.

When we went to the school to demand an explanation on the record for this sudden and violent action, they refused to talk to us, issued us with trespass notices and called the police within minutes of our arrival.

"The school has investigated all incidents reported by this family and has found them to be without substance. "

In all the correspondence detailing many events of violent behaviour, the school only questioned one, which was due to a case of mistaken identity on our part. If they queried one, you'd think they would’ve flagged up others if they had doubts. They never questioned any of our other reports while we were at the school.


Where you can find out more

Visit our website, which includes all the correspondence between us and the school as well as a few videos explaining the situation in greater detail:

http://www.titirangisteinermessenger.com

Having read the correspondence in its entirety, one of the trustees said the following:

“I am of the view that you and your family have been very badly treated. [...] You are being blamed for everything that is wrong in the school rather than seen as the catalyst of change that is needed [...] My wife & I discussed your situation at length and we questioned what we would do if we had been in your situation... we concluded that we would have not kept quiet either. “

Sadly, trustees are powerless at this school.


How can a school do this?

There’s an important loophole in the current Education Law that allows some New Zealand schools, Private Non-Integrated (PNi) ones like the Titirangi Steiner School, to operate almost entirely without safeguard or supervision by any Ministry Department. These schools are not covered by the vast majority of sections of the Education Act, including those covering protection of children from bullying and from damaging actions by the school. As a parent sending your child(ren) to such a school you need to be sure that the institution is up to the job, without Ministry support.

But at the moment PNi schools aren’t by law obliged to inform parents of the school's different status in law with regards to the children's reduced protection and rights, a situation that further puts children at risk through parents being ignorant about it.

We are calling for compulsory disclaimers in these schools that all parents must sign to show that they have been made fully aware of the implications for their children's safety and their rights in sending them to a PNi school.

If you agree with this, please sign the petition at:

www.ipetitions.com/petition/pni/

Thank you for your time.

Education is quite an important thing and its importance is very difficult to overestimate. I believe that it is worth giving education from an early age and then it will give real results.