Steiner Academy - Frome

Trevor Mepham - Principal

Trevor lived with his family in Devon for 24 years. He worked as a Class Teacher at the South Devon Rudolf Steiner School in Dartington and then went into classroom advisory and mentoring work. While in Devon, he spent 12 years working in the Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth, teaching on the Steiner BA Programme & a European Masters Programme. He has served as member of the Executive Group of the UK Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF) and also as member of the Board of the European Council for Steiner Waldorf (ECSWE). In September 2008, he became Principal at the Steiner Academy Hereford – the first publicly-funded Steiner school in the UK.

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Paul Georghiades - Vice Principal

Paul grew up in Cyprus, but has been living in England for so much longer that it’s only the hand-movements that give it away. Twenty years of experience in Steiner education (class teaching, upper school specialisms in English, History and Drama) are informing his work here, but every situation is unique and he is very aware that this school is truly a special world. His job description covers Teaching and Learning and this will be his focus for the coming years. His own family are still in Stourbridge, and beginning to head off to college and university.

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Hazel Jarman

Hazel has been working in education for the past 14 years. Born in 1977 and raised with Waldorf education, she became inspired to teach after volunteering at two pioneering Steiner initiatives in East Africa. After completing the Plymouth University Steiner Waldorf teacher training in 2001, she worked in London with children excluded from school. Engaging disaffected young people and encouraging cultural diversity in education continue to be of utmost importance to her work. In 2003 she took on Class 1 at St. Paul's Steiner School in north London and graduated with Class 8 in July 2011. She spent the next year teaching in state schools in Sheffield, with intermittent cover for Waldorf schools around the country. She is very excited to be part of the Steiner Academy Frome.

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Ann Gulbis

Ann is really enjoying her work at the Steiner Academy Frome. She was born in 1960 in Atherton, Lancashire, and is the second of five children. She has been teaching since 1982, when she graduated from Teacher Training College in Manchester. She worked in state primary schools in Manchester, Cambridge, London and Wolverhampton, before retraining as a Waldorf teacher. She took her first class for six years, and her second class for eight; both at Elmfield School in Stourbridge. She would describe herself as passionate about education! She loves working with the energy and enthusiasm of young people, and appreciates the unique privilege the Waldorf teacher has of accompanying their growth and development. She is married to Martin Gulbis and is the mother of John (29 years old) and Emily (15 years old). When she is not teaching she loves to garden, read, cook and go for walks.

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Paul White

Paul has been a teacher for most of his adult life. He has taught in many different countries (Chile, Brazil, Japan, UK, Ireland, Ecuador, New Zealand) and across a wide range of levels from adults to university and A-level students, teenagers and primary children, in subjects ranging from Economics A-level, to English as a Foreign Language, to Steiner class teaching from age 6 through to age 14, to teacher training courses. Most recently, having completed a 7-year-cycle in a Steiner school in New Zealand, he was the Lecturer for Steiner education at AUT University in Auckland and Director of the Steiner Teacher Training Centre of New Zealand (Taruna). After 12 years in New Zealand, he returned to England last year and to his true passion, Steiner class teaching, to be part of this exciting initiative in Frome.

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Martin Gulbis

Martin heard of Waldorf education as he came to the end of his PGCE state teacher training in 1985, and has worked in a variety of Steiner settings for most of the years since, playing the role of class teacher for a number of classes, ranging in age from Class 1 to Class 11. He does feel continually re-inspired by the insights Steiner offers for better understanding the growing child, and the opportunities the curriculum gives to trying to be more useful to them as a teacher. Coming to Frome was an exciting venture for him and his family, and also an unexpected way of returning to some family roots. His father once worked as a miner in Midsomer Norton and as a forester at Longleat. His mother came from Radstock, also from mining stock, though her father became headmaster at Writhlington. Martin says "To take a Class 1 is an immense responsibility and a great gift. These children, as they should do, challenge and inspire me with each new day."

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Han Van Gelder

Han trained many years ago to teach in the Government Schools (similar to a B.A) in Holland, but during this training he came across Steiner Education. Very soon he was teaching his first class 1, in Eindhoven in the South of Holland.  It is here that he brought up his two children.  Since then he has travelled the world by teaching many classes in Holland, Belgium and the U.S. as well as a Class 1 here in England.  Alongside his teaching he has often mentored new teachers.  Over the years he has developed in the artistic realms of painting, drawing, music and movement which is fundamental to his Class teaching. He returned to England earlier this year when he married his English wife.  

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Sue Wade

I have lived in Somerset for more than 30 years and have four children. My interest in Steiner education started when I became a founder parent of the Meadow Steiner School in Bruton in 1993, where my third son happily spent his primary school years. To feed my growing enthusiasm for the Steiner approach to child development, I completed the Bristol Steiner Class Teacher Training. Until the birth of my daughter, who also became a Meadow School pupil, I worked as kindergarten assistant. I later took on various supporting roles at the school and also taught watercolour painting in the Lower School. In 2009, I returned to the Early Years department and took on the role of Nursery Teacher, working with three year olds, whilst undertaking the London Kindergarten Teacher Training. I am now excited about deepening my knowledge and experience as Kindergarten teacher and this new chapter in my life and in the life of Steiner education in Somerset.

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Elisabeth Faulkner

I grew up in a small Swiss village. Later I lived and learned in different parts of the world and experienced various ways of life. When I became a mother and discovered the importance of early childhood I decided to train as a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher.

I have lived in England since 2000 and gained my teaching experience at the Meadow School Nursery in Bruton and at Elmfield Kindergarten in Stourbridge.

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Sarah-Johanna Robinson

I first met Steiner education in Germany in 1994, working as a volunteer and trainee Kindergarten teacher and subsequently as houseparent in the Camphill community, Brachenreuthe. From there, inspired by Steiner's guidance that education for children with additional needs is to be based upon a comprehensive understanding of typical child development, I moved to the University of Plymouth degree in Steiner education. I have since completed postgraduate training in Special Educational Needs and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, alongside taking two classes from Class I - Class V at the Meadow Steiner School in Bruton.   I am a mother of a 9 year old son and in such spare time as I have, I have developed a range of sporting interests under his enthusiastic guidance! This is my first Kindergarten teaching post, which takes me back to my roots within Waldorf education and I am excited and inspired by the prospect.

I have been involved with Steiner Academy Frome since May 2011 and I look forward to seeing it continue to grow and flourish alongside all of you.

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Diana

Eurythmy is a performing art movement; I started my Eurythmy career as a performing Eurythmist, touring mostly the UK, Europe and also the Far East. I have been performing on a regular basis for the last 15 years, while also being a Eurythmy and class teacher at the Brighton Steiner School and St. Paul's Steiner School in London. I am now concentrating on teaching Eurythmy at the Frome Steiner Academy, and am happy to be part of such a welcoming and exciting school.

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Yuan

I have been a teacher in state-funded schools for more than ten years, having qualified in Special Educational Needs (SEN) in my native Taiwan. Being an SEN teacher, I developed a strong interest in getting to know autism better, so completed a Master’s Degree in researching autism within a special and inclusive educational vision. Personally, I enjoy absorbing different wisdoms about life, from various religious teachings, literature and philosophy, mostly written in my mother language of Mandarin. Inspired by my reading, I have also been writing many blogs of my own in both English and Mandarin. Encountering Steiner Education in 2010 was like meeting my ideal of what education should be like, and becoming a Mandarin Steiner Teacher is the most beautiful integration of my profession and my approach to life. Thank you all at SAF for coming to share this beauty with me.

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Rachel

My journey into Steiner education has been a long and winding one which ultimately stems from my belief that in order to achieve a more sustainable way of living we must nurture the relationship our children have with the natural world. Through allowing our children to explore the natural world around them, we foster in them a love and appreciation for everything living, something I believe is an essential element in achieving a more sustainable future.

My love for the Spanish language began after my first backpacking trip to Latin America as a student. From that point on, I fell in love with the Spanish language and all things Latin American. Having the opportunity to learn a foreign language is a great gift to give a child. Through speaking another language we are not only able to communicate with people from other cultures but we are also learning that there are other ways of living and being in the world, different to our own. By appreciating and understanding different cultures and people we foster greater tolerance and adaptability in our children, both important factors in leading towards a more peaceful and humane world.

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Faith

I have been a musician all my life, beginning as a rock/jazz drummer and classical percussionist, and then as a saxophonist and flautist. I have since added harp and ukulele. I came across Steiner philosophy as a young parent and my interest blossomed into a life-long calling. I trained and worked as a kindergarten teacher, in addition to leading children’s choirs and directing children’s theatre. Eventually I was invited to co-found and be the Class Teacher at ‘The School in the Woods’. I completed my Steiner Training in Bristol and Emerson College and was then invited to become full-time Music Teacher at the Bristol Steiner School. I feel very inspired to be part of SAF and am dedicated to helping develop a vibrant music programme throughout the school. Currently, I teach choir to classes 3 and 4, and offers private lessons in harp, flute, ukulele and piano.

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