Bristol Waldorf School

Inspection of Bristol Waldorf School Redland Hill House, Redland Hill, Bristol BS6 6UX

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

The proprietor does not check how effectively the school safeguards pupils. Some staff lack a firm understanding of the latest statutory guidance. The interim leadership has made effective changes to safeguarding procedures. Pupils feel safe. They know who to talk to if they have any concerns. Despite this, a weak culture of safeguarding exists, which puts pupils at risk of harm.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils experience a variable quality of education. They study an ambitious curriculum, designed to give them the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. However, staff do not implement the curriculum consistently well across the school. Therefore, pupils do not achieve as highly as they could in some subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Each morning, staff greet pupils warmly as they arrive. This creates a strong sense of belonging. Positive relationships exist between staff and pupils. Typically, most pupils behave well. Occasionally, a few pupils lose focus in lessons and do not engage well in their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take pride in contributing to charitable projects, growing vegetables and composting. Well-established routines, such as ‘rhythmic time’, support pupils socially and spiritually. It helps them to see the importance of teamwork. However, some pupils lack opportunities to broaden their understanding of life in modern Britain.

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better?

Since the previous inspection, the school has faced significant challenges. Many factors have impacted negatively on pupils’ learning. These include changes in leadership, staffing, staff absences and a period of financial administration. However, they are not the root cause of the decline. The proprietor body has not carried out its role effectively. It lacks a secure oversight of the school’s work, including ensuring that arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Furthermore, it has not ensured compliance with all of the independent school standards (the standards). The lack of improvement since the previous inspection demonstrates that the proprietor body does not have sufficient capacity to improve the school.

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better?

The proprietor body has not established a culture of vigilance across the school that is underpinned by effective safeguarding practices. It does not fulfil its statutory responsibilities by ensuring that the school’s safeguarding policy is understood and implemented consistently by all adults.

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better?

There are weaknesses in the quality of curriculum implementation, including in the Kindergarten. For example, the school has not agreed on the most effective approaches for teaching in some subjects. As a result, there is too much variation in how the curriculum is delivered. This prevents some groups of pupils from acquiring the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. In addition, the school and the 3 to 5 June 2025 proprietor body do not monitor closely enough what is working well and what needs improvement.

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better?

Some staff have not been trained on the school’s approach to early reading. This means that they lack the knowledge to teach phonics effectively. As a result, this slows the reading fluency of some pupils. Despite this, the school develops a love of language and books. This starts in the Kindergarten. Staff immerse children in songs, stories and rhymes. Children enjoy performing puppet shows using the story language they have learned. Older pupils have a positive view of reading. They act as reading advocates and proudly listen to younger pupils read.

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better?

The school has developed its curriculum in line with Steiner principles. It outlines what pupils need to learn in the Kindergarten Year and across subjects for pupils in the Primary Years. Pupils achieve well in certain aspects of the curriculum. For example, in art and woodwork pupils build their knowledge of drawing, painting and joining techniques progressively. They take immense pride in the quality of their work. In mathematics, some staff provide careful modelling and guidance to help pupils grasp new content successfully. However, this varies from class to class.

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better?

At times, the school does not identify the specific needs of some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) with sufficient precision. A few staff lack the expertise and guidance to be able to adapt learning effectively, including for pupils who struggle to manage their emotions. This makes it difficult for these staff to help pupils overcome any specific barriers to learning. Consequently, some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they might. Most pupils respond well to the school’s expectations of behaviour. Nonetheless, interim leaders recognise that a few staff would value further support to help deal with a minority of pupils with social and emotional needs.

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better?

Some pupils have a limited understanding of fundamental British values and of the protected characteristics, such as disability and religion. This hinders their readiness for life beyond school. However, the school fosters some aspects of pupils’ personal development well. Older pupils know how to keep themselves safe both online and offline. They can talk about the dangers to health from drugs. Younger pupils learn about fire safety rules. The school council has a voice in decisions such as introducing new sports to play at social times. Immersive experiences, such as during Whitsun and Candlemas, add to pupils’ spiritual awareness.

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better?

Very recently, the school has prioritised attendance. It knows who is absent from school and why. However, it is too soon to see the impact on absence rates. Persistent absenteeism remains too high for some pupils. Therefore, these pupils miss out on crucial learning.

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better?

Staff enjoy working with their colleagues in the school. They cite time for collaboration as having a positive impact on their workload. Subject leaders would value dedicated time to check how well pupils are learning in their subjects. Parents and carers value the nurturing environment that fosters confidence, creativity and social responsibility in pupils. 3 to 5 June 2025 The proprietor body has not put in place robust mechanisms to meet all of the independent school standards securely and consistently. During the inspection, the school promptly addressed some unmet standards related to the medical room and toilet access. However, several standards remain unmet. These relate mainly to safeguarding and the curriculum. For example, the curriculum policy is too vague. It does not specify the teaching methods to be implemented across the curriculum. Additionally, not all staff have the knowledge to implement the health and safety

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better?

regulations effectively. For example, an area which stores equipment and hazardous materials was left unlocked. This puts pupils at risk of harm.

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better?

The school meets the requirements of schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

The school’s safeguarding policy has not been implemented effectively. The proprietor body has failed to ensure that staff understand and follow the school’s safeguarding policy and procedures.

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Safeguarding

The school has lacked an effective system for reporting and following up on child protection concerns. This made it hard to spot concerns and risks, such as patterns in absence, or provide the extra support that pupils at risk of harm needed. Staff have not had the knowledge needed to challenge decisions leaders have made about pupils’ safety and well-being or when managing allegations against staff.

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Safeguarding

Interim leaders are using their secure knowledge of current statutory guidance to strengthen the safeguarding arrangements to keep pupils safe. T he school maintains an appropriate single central record. It ensures that safer recruitment practices are consistently followed. The school has introduced a programme of regular and up-to- date training on safeguarding practices, including commissioning support from external experts. Interim leaders have put in place systems to follow up any concerns appropriately. They track pupils’ attendance weekly and conduct welfare checks if any absences raise concerns. Nonetheless, these systems and processes are in their infancy. Interim leaders recognise that work remains to be done before the school can be confident that it has established a strong, effective culture of safeguarding.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Over time, the proprietor has not taken sufficient action to establish an effective culture of safeguarding. This puts pupils at risk of harm. The proprietor must ensure that the school systematically develops its understanding of statutory safeguarding duties and checks that the agreed procedures are implemented consistently throughout the school. 3 to 5 June 2025  The proprietor does not have the capacity required to ensure that the standards are met consistently. As a result, it has not ensured that the school meets all of the standards to promote pupils’ welfare, health and safety, as well as the quality of education. The proprietor body must ensure that the school has suitable systems, procedures and expertise to meet all of the standards consistently.  The proprietor and school have not checked the impact of the curriculum with enough rigour. This has led to some weaknesses in the quality of implementation

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

and gaps in staff’s expertise, including in teaching phonics. As a result, pupils do not build their knowledge securely in all subjects. The proprietor should ensure that school staff have sufficient guidance, support and expertise to teach the curriculum as intended. Furthermore, the proprietor and school should strengthen the systems to check and evaluate the quality of education that pupils receive.  Some pupils with SEND do not have their needs identified and met consistently well. Furthermore, some staff do not have the necessary knowledge to effectively adapt learning for pupils with SEND. As a result, this limits the progress that some pupils with SEND make. The school should ensure that all pupils with SEND have their needs identified early and met consistently well in all areas of the curriculum.  The school does not cater for some aspects of pupils’ personal development well enough. Some pupils lack an age-appropriate understanding of fundamental

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

British values and protected characteristics. The school should ensure that pupils have opportunities to develop these aspects of their wider curriculum, so they are fully prepared for life in modern Britain.  Too many pupils persistently miss school. This has a negative impact on their education. The school should act to further reduce persistent absence and provide effective support so that pupils attend school regularly.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 3 to 5 June 2025

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School details

Proprietor Waldorf School (Bristol) Limited

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £5,250 to £13,700

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School details

Email address headteacher@bristolwaldorfschool.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection 13 to 15 June 2023 3 to 5 June 2025

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Information about this school

 The school’s stated aims are in keeping with the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. It follows the Steiner education principles.  Several changes to leadership and teaching staff have occurred since the previous inspection. The headteacher started in September 2024. She was absent during the inspection. An interim headteacher took up their post in May 2025 and is currently leading the school. An interim special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENCo) also started in May 2025.  The school is made up of two mixed-age Kindergarten classes and five single-age classes in the main school. The Kindergarten is for children aged three to six years old. Pupils start at the main school in the September following their sixth birthday.  The school’s Kindergarten is exempt from some of the learning and development aspects of the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework, including the assessments at the end of the EYFS.

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Information about this school

 More pupils than usual leave or join the school at a time other than typical transition times.  The school does not currently make use of any alternative provision.  The school was last inspected by Ofsted in 2023. It met the standards in full, and its overall effectiveness was judged to require improvement.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school. The school has failed to meet the independent school standards. These are the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014. Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the interim headteacher, the interim SENCo, the school business manager and a range of staff to discuss aspects of the school’s work. The lead inspector met directors from the proprietor body, including the chair.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 3 to 5 June 2025  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  The lead inspector listened to a range of pupils reading to an adult.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors conducted a range of activities to confirm whether the school met the standards in full. This included health and safety checks of the premises, risk

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Information about this inspection

assessments, record-keeping for behaviour management and supervision during social times.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and the school’s arrangements for supervising pupils on their arrival at school, in classrooms and at lunchtime.  Inspectors considered responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Dale Burr, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Hilary Goddard Ofsted Inspector 3 to 5 June 2025

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if– – 2(1)(a) the proprietor ensures that a written policy on the curriculum, supported by appropriate plans and schemes of work, which provides for the matters specified in sub-paragraph (2) is drawn up and implemented effectively; and  3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school– – 3(c) involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time.

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

 7 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that- – 7(a) arrangements are made to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at the school; and – 7(b) such arrangements have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.  11 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that relevant health and safety laws are complied with by the drawing up and effective implementation of a written health and safety policy.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34(1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school– – 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; – 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently; and – 34(1)(c) actively promote the well-being of pupils. 3 to 5 June 2025 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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