• Michael Hall School is creative, free thinking and humane and aims to develop responsible young people with intellectual freedom and purpose.

• Will suit families who actively want a Steiner-Waldorf education and are looking for continuity, creativity and a more holistic rhythm through the school years.

Admissions at Michael Hall School are philosophy led rather than conventionally selective, with families primarily deciding whether a Steiner-Waldorf education is truly what they want from nursery to sixth form. This should appeal most to parents who are actively seeking a more creative, holistic and developmentally distinct route through schooling.

Scholarships are not central to the Michael Hall proposition. Families choose it for its educational philosophy, continuity across the age range and the promise of a richer developmental pace than a standard independent-school formula.

The overall picture is distinctive and fairly coherent, with the school foregrounding a broad curriculum, rich human development and an education based on Rudolf Steiner's pedagogy. The latest benchmark is also reassuring, with Ofsted currently showing Michael Hall School as Good, but parents should still visit because schools of this kind live or die by the reality of their ethos in classrooms.