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When Catrina Thomasson was looking at schooling options for her eldest daughter, she wanted an option other than mainstream education.
She found herself drawn to Steiner schools, which are based on an educational philosophy of self-directed learning with a holistic approach.
With no Steiner schools in her town of Rockhampton in central Queensland, the mother-of-two decided to form one.
"Opening a Steiner school here was a very obvious gap in the market," Ms Thomasson said.
"I hear a lot of parents saying, 'I would move anywhere to send my child to a Steiner school'."
Data shows there has been a jump in parents opting out of mainstream education, with a 195 per cent increase in home school registrations since 2019, according to the Queensland Department of Education.
What is a Steiner school?
Steiner schools are registered as independent schools and follow the Australian Steiner Curriculum Framework, which is recognised and approved by the Australian government as providing comparable education outcomes to the mainstream curriculum.
Under the education systems within Australia, Steiner, along with Montessori, is defined as an alternative school.
Other school types in Australia include government/public schools, private/independent schools, faith-based schools and schools that cater for special needs.
Steiner Education Australia chief executive Andrew Hill said the schools were all individual, with the foundations of educating the "whole child".
The curriculum is age-appropriate and is centred around the child's cognitive and emotional stages.
"The teacher creates interesting, artistic lessons that even in the sciences, maths … can be made engaging and active, and the child is able to learn in a manner that really suits their stage of development," Mr Hill said.
Teachers also complete additional training to be qualified for Steiner education.
While Ms Thomasson has a background in business, she has partnered with Dr Priscilla Stevens-Guiney of CQUniversity and a local teacher with Steiner education training.
The new school will need to be approved by the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board which will review the educational program, student welfare processes, resources, financial viability and improvement processes.
Ms Thomasson is funding the school privately and it will be eligible for some government funding, however students will be required to pay tuition fees to attend.
The first Steiner school in Australia opened in Sydney in 1957.
There are now 51 schools operating under the Steiner Education Australia banner.
Within two days of plans being announced for a school in the Rockhampton region, 110 families with 170 students expressed interest.
"We received interest from as far out as Dysart, Eton, way out west … about a 900km radius of interest, which is massive," Ms Thomasson said.
'Sceptical at first'
When Mick White's eldest child was nearing school age, he and his wife Agnes enrolled him in a local Catholic school in Far North Queensland as the "first and obvious option", as they had both attended "conventional schooling".
"He started school and within a few months we noticed some really striking changes in his behaviour and his demeanour," Mr White said.
"We were shocked about some of the disciplines and control that come with conventional schooling."
Later that year, the family moved to Germany and came across a Steiner school near where they were living.
"My wife sold the idea to give it a try … I was pretty sceptical, and it was difficult, there was a lot of scepticism also from family and friends who are uninitiated," Mr White said.
"But very quickly I started to see some real value."
The family moved back to Australia five years later and they now have four children, all enrolled at the Noosa Pengari Steiner School.
The rigid exam and testing system within mainstream schooling was also a reason the Whites wanted to explore other options.
"NAPLAN was a bit of an issue that worried us and overall anxiety that comes from over or unnecessary competition … those are the sorts of things that really concerned us very quickly," Mr White said.
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) was introduced in Australia in 2008, and while it is a requirement for all Australian schools to offer it, participation is not mandatory and parents are able to decide whether their child will do the testing.
In the Steiner curriculum, it is not a focus, and pressure is not placed on the student to perform well.
Mr White admitted there were elements of founder Rudolf Steiner's ideology that they did not follow, and he had received criticism from family and friends over the years.
But at the heart of it, his children enjoy school and that is his priority.
New school to include rural education hub
The new central Queensland school will offer a distance education program, which is a first for a Steiner-based school.
The distance education program will allow rural students to access the curriculum online and participate in regular community events.
"We really want to be able to share that as a second option for distance education, for all of our graziers and rural communities," Ms Thomasson said.
She acknowledged a Steiner school was not going to be for everyone and they were not trying to compete with existing schools in the region.
"Some parents and children will thrive in a different system, and some parents and children will thrive in this system," she said.
"And it's very important that every family and every child is where they need to be for them."
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