Catherine Paver’s article “Steiner ‘cult’ is an ethos that fosters humanity” (December 11) will hopefully help to re-awaken interest in the neglected Woods report of 2005, Steiner Schools in England, which looked at what mainstream schools could learn the approach.

Among many other compelling features, Steiner education offers: a curriculum geared to children’s own stages of developing consciousness; an approach that resists the obsession with high-stakes testing; smaller class sizes; an intimate school environment; a spiritual (as opposed to religious) ethos; and an approach to learning that places freedom and creativity at its core. From the many conversations I have had with disillusioned mainstream educators, these are practices that the mainstream is positively crying out for.

Dr Richard House, Chair of Trustees, London Waldorf Trust (Steiner teacher training), and Roehampton University.