Tracey Lucas takes up her new post

Taking up her post as Headteacher, Tracey shares her views on the benefits of a Steiner Waldorf Education and her vision for the future.To enquire about school places please complete our enquirers form here How long have you been involved in York Steiner School?As a family, we’ve been connected to the school for over 30 years, a long time! When my eldest was a baby, we came to a school fair. I remember we were so impressed by the teenagers around the school. They opened doors for us, and spoke to us and seemed so confident and happy. We thought, this is what we want for our baby.All four of my children went through parent and child, kindergarten and then the main school.  After a few years I did early years training and became a Nursery teacher, and then went on to train as a class teacher, taking on my first class in 2014. I took my class all the way through from class 1 to 8, now they’re all turning 18. We’re still in touch, in fact we have a reunion this weekend, as one of the class is returning to visit from overseas.What was it like taking a class group through from year 1 to 8?You become like a family in a way, you get to know one another very well. You have to work things out, you have to make your relationships work.And that’s the same for the relationships between children too. The children learn how to communicate well with one another, understanding different perspectives and how to reach compromise. Taking an 8 year journey with a class group helps to build very good social skills, and to understand that life is all about relationships.Over the 30 years you’ve been in school you’ve seen lots of children go on to their next steps. What types of careers have the children gone on to do?Banking, blacksmithing, medicine, teaching, architecture. A broad range of careers. People imagine that we’re good at the arts, and that’s true, many of our alumni have gone on to have successful careers in the arts, but just as many have gone on to have careers in finance and the sciences.We’re actually very good at producing entrepreneurs! The education encourages students to understand themselves as individuals, and develop a ‘can-do’ attitude.  Because of the breadth of our curriculum, they haven’t been restricted to a narrow set of skills. You might well be a maths genius, but you’ll continue to do art and woodwork alongside your maths. This makes for people who have well rounded skills, and the confidence that they can give anything a go.This education really supports portfolio careers, which we see so much of these days. People won’t just leave school and do one job for life. Across their lives they’ll need to be flexible and adapt and the education we offer supports individuals to do that well and with confidence, setting them up not only in their careers, but also in their life- long well-being.What do you think are the benefits of a Steiner Waldorf education?We allow children to learn through play, which is how they are wired to learn. We allow them to be children for longer. It is much more like the Finnish style of Education. Formal learning starts later, and there is no homework until the children are older. This means that family life is protected. It gives families more time to be together, to play games or go on adventures.  When they start doing homework, it is very often project based, about something they are passionate about. They are often eager to do it, and as a family we could share in their learning.There was also a lack of competition with their peers. And what I mean by that was, there is no ‘right’ way to be, no right way to dress, or right music to listen to, for example. My children and their peers celebrated each other for who they were as individuals, and as a parent that was incredibly reassuring.As an educator, I see huge benefits for children from a Steiner Waldorf Steiner education children develop a good deal of self-knowledge and inner confidence. This is in part due to the breadth of the curriculum, and the autonomy within it to explore. Because we don’t have to teach to pass a test, teachers are able to go on a journey with a subject. Having your curiosity celebrated in this way is incredibly empowering for a child. It also helps children to understand the connections between things, as you dive deeper into one subject and find yourself connecting into another. This is exciting for both the child and the teacher! A love of learning is nurtured and shared between the teacher and their class. Our teachers are totally committed, it’s a vocation for them, and the children benefit from their passion and excitement for their work.Confidence in public speaking is a significant benefit of a Steiner Waldorf education. From a young age children learn to speak out loud to the class, and all children take part in drama and performances throughout their education. We do a lot of voice work, with singing being an everyday part of our teaching. Finding and using your voice as a child is incredibly empowering. Bringing this to bear with the social skills that children learn, I would say a child educated within the Steiner Waldorf system has every chance of being a highly effective communicator.A Steiner Waldorf education is also very grounded in the practical. We learn to use our head heart and hands. We’re not anti-technology by any means, but we do feel strongly that school should be a smartphone free zone (which our school is!) and that learning through a screen can wait until children are older. We’ve had many, many children come through our school and build hugely successful careers in tech, even though they waited until they were older to use a computer in the classroom! In this day in age, we all know how over-exposed our children are to screens and technology, and I believe that makes our ethos and education more relevant than it has ever been.Finally, and it’s important, we don’t teach to a test. We don’t do SATs. That doesn’t mean we don’t have high expectations of our children, we do. And we trust our teachers to identify each child’s strengths and areas for development, and to ensure their progress.That said, this year, our first ever Class 10 will do two GCSEs, in Maths and English. They’ll do this alongside a level 2 diploma (equivalent to 8 GCSEs). We’re working incredibly hard with them to ensure they’re confident and ready, and I’m excited to see their success come to fruition over the year.Now that you’re Headteacher, what is your vision for the future of the school?There are things that I want to ensure we retain, that have been the core strengths of the school, throughout its 40+ years.Primarily that’s our broad curriculum, I am absolutely committed to ensuring that we continue to have a broad offering, and provide the opportunity for an education that is well-rounded and celebrates curious minds.York Steiner School has always been about the whole family. We have a strong community here and it’s fundamental to who we are that we work to keep our community strong and have the benefits of our school be for the whole family. Many things have changed over the years, but we want to remain as financially accessible as possible. We do that through our graduated fee system, and through our fee assistance programme. I’m committed to ensuring that we have a robust fee assistance programme, so that our school can remain the diverse and community minded organisation that it was always intended to be.Our Spring and Advent fairs are well known in York and this year we are planning to extend our amazing winter grotto so that more people have the chance to visit it.I also want to ensure that our children continue to be the confident and skilled communicators that they were when I first visited the school. We hear stories similar to my own from so many of our new parents to this day. Our children are really what sells York Steiner School. People come to visit and feel their kindness, their happiness and their strong social skills and they want the same for their own children.Importantly, I want to ensure that I am mirroring great communication with our parents and wider community and friends. I want to ensure the school feels like a place where people can find belonging, and inspiration. Listening to and nurturing our parents, and our wider community is fundamental to the healthy life of the whole school.Community is at the heart of our school, but I want to ensure that our children understand themselves as part of a global community. That’s why good citizenship and environmental sustainability are key to my vision for the school we progress forward from here. I want our next 40 years to be about ensuring that our children are prepared for the world as engaged citizens, actively participating in democracy, understanding their place in the world and how they can add value to their community. This will be a focus for me as Headteacher.To enquire about school places please complete our hereFind out more about our Upper School hereFind out more about Early Years and Main school here