York Steiner School

Inspection of York Steiner School Danesmead, Fulford Cross, York, York, North Yorkshire YO10 4PB

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Inspection dates: 16 to 18 September 2025

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at York Steiner School are polite and courteous to each other and to visitors. There are strong and positive relationships between pupils and staff that exemplify the warmth and care of the Steiner ethos. Pupils are happy at this school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know and demonstrate the school’s expectation to ‘be kind, be safe, be ready to learn’. This supports pupils to behave well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school follows the Steiner Waldorf curriculum. There is a holistic approach to education. Pupils value the practical education they encounter, alongside developing academic knowledge and skills. They embrace ‘heart first, then hands, then head’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils. However, some aspects of the school’s curriculum do not enable pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to access a sufficiently coherent sequence of learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn to be good citizens. Pupils show compassion and kindness by doing things for others, such as carol singing or litter picking in the community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know how to stay safe on and offline. Younger pupils know about road and river safety. Older pupils discuss social issues with understanding and sensitivity. Pupils consider others’ opinions with respect and debate in a structured, respectful way.

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better?

Some subjects in the school’s curriculum are taught discretely by specialist teachers, such as modern foreign languages and music. Other aspects are taught in a cross curricular way. Each class explores an age-appropriate theme. For example, one class may have a historical focus on revolutions. The school weaves other subjects, such as literacy and history, into this approach. While pupils learn about important themes, there are occasions where they do not build their subject-specific knowledge and skills sufficiently well.

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better?

The school has a phonics programme in place. However, some staff have not received appropriate training to deliver it effectively. This limits the ability to support pupils in developing early reading skills. The checks on the sounds pupils know are not used well enough to identify gaps or provide timely support. Some pupils at the early stages of reading have reading books that are not well matched to the sounds they have learned. This hinders pupils’ reading fluency. These weaknesses undermine the independent school standards that relate to enabling pupils to make good progress and the use of assessment.

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better?

The school’s early years provision (Kindergarten) caters for children from three- to six-years-old. The curriculum centres around a balance of self-initiated play and 16 to 18 September 2025 adult-led activities . Adults adapt activities to ensure that there is appropriate challenge for the different ages. For example, during a baking activity, younger children count out a small number of bowls while older children count beyond 10. The early years provision focuses on developing children’s language through rhymes, songs and storytelling. Children confidently retell well known fairy tales, such as ‘The Enormous Turnip’. Early identification of pupils with SEND begins in kindergarten. However, in other classes the identification and support for some pupils with SEND is not effective enough. For some pupils with SEND, their needs are not met consistently well. This means, they struggle to access learning alongside their peers.

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better?

The school has developed high-quality spiritual, moral, social and cultural development provision. The school encourages pupils to take on roles of responsibility, such as being a buddy to a younger child. Staff foster pupils’ creativity through the annual class play, in which everyone has a role. Pupils engage in project work, following their own interests to research and subsequently share findings with their peers. The school’s ethos supports pupils’ mental health and well-being. Pupils talk knowledgeably about diet, exercise and breathing techniques. Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning.

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better?

The school has a well-considered careers provision for pupils. The programme provides pupils with the opportunity to explore potential careers. It supports pupils to think about their strengths and interests. Pupils in the upper school receive appropriate information about local, national and international post-16 provision. This ensures that they are well informed and ready for the next stage of their education.

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better?

Staff enjoy working at the school. The school supports teachers effectively at the start of their career and those still in training. The school is mindful of helping staff to manage their workload and well-being.

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better?

The proprietor body has an oversight of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. The school has addressed some weaknesses identified at the last inspection. However, weaknesses remain in the teaching of phonics and in the provision for pupils with SEND. Some new subject leaders have not accessed professional learning and development relevant to their new roles. The current weaknesses means that some of the independent school standards are not met. The school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Some aspects of the curriculum are not sequenced well enough. Where this is the case, some pupils do not develop their knowledge and skills sufficiently well over 16 to 18 September 2025 time. The school should ensure that the curriculum is better sequenced to enable pupils to develop their knowledge and skills more effectively over time.  The school’s approach to the teaching of phonics is not implemented to consistent effect. This means some pupils do not receive high-quality phonics teaching and gaps in their phonic knowledge are not identified swiftly. The school should ensure that staff receive training to implement the phonics curriculum effectively.  The systems and processes to support some pupils with SEND are not rigorous enough. This means that some pupils with SEND do not receive the support or have the appropriate adaptations that they need to access the curriculum well. The school should ensure that teachers have the expertise needed to adapt

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

teaching so that pupils with SEND can access the curriculum successfully.  New leadership in some areas of the curriculum does not have sufficient oversight of the implementation of the curriculum. This means that the school does not have a consistently clear and accurate oversight of the school’s strengths and areas for development. The school should ensure that professional learning opportunities strengthen subject leadership.

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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. 16 to 18 September 2025

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School details

Unique reference number 121759 DfE registration number 816/6008

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School details

Inspection number 10374852 Type of school Other Independent School

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £3,500 to £10,444

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School details

Email address info@yorksteinerschool.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26 to 28 January 2022 16 to 18 September 2025

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Information about this school

 The school operates from Danesmead, Fulford Cross, York YO10 4PB.  The headteacher was appointed in September 2025.  A considerable number of staff were new to leadership roles in September 2025.  The school is registered to admit 275 pupils.  The school received a material change inspection in 2024 to include a new key stage.  The school follows the Steiner Waldorf curriculum.  The school has an exemption for some of the statutory early years learning and development requirements.  The school uses one unregistered alternative provision.

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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.

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Information about this inspection

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.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the second routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other leaders from the school.  An inspector met with the proprietor body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, modern foreign languages and personal, social and health education. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also considered other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the single

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Information about this inspection

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 completed a premises check.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and during social times. 16 to 18 September 2025  An inspector spoke by telephone to a local authority designated officer.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments. They also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff. Inspectors spoke with groups of staff and pupils to gain their views about the school.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Rawstorne His Majesty’s Inspector 16 to 18 September 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 – 2(1)(b) the written policy, plans and schemes of work- – 2(1)(b)(i) take into account the ages, aptitudes and needs of all pupils, including those pupils with an EHC plan; and  3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school- – 3(a) enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught; – 3(d) shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the pupils, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(g) demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess pupils’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that pupils can progress;

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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 16 to 18 September 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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