Tilda Swinton sought government cash for experimental school

An all-through school co-founded by Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton – where pupils start their formal education at age 6 and sit no exams – appealed to the Scottish government to fund it to the tune of more than half a million pounds per year.A Tes Scotland freedom of information request has revealed that Ms Swinton met with education secretary John Swinney to ask him to back the experimental approach to education at Drumduan School in Moray, which her two children formerly attended.The meeting came after Mr Swinney was sent a proposal from the school in Forres in the North-east of Scotland – via local MSP Richard Lochhead – suggesting that it should receive £600,000 of government funding every year for three years.The school, whose website says it is "inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner", argued that the funding would allow it to remove its fees, which were “a barrier to entry for low-income families”. It said the fees prevented the school from being “truly inclusive and representative of Scottish society”, adding that the model that resulted would then be “scalable across Scotland”. The proposal, however, was ultimately knocked back by Mr Swinney.Mr Swinney said it would be “a very significant change” for the government to step in to fund the school and that there were no details in the proposal to suggest “why this was appropriate for this school and not other independent schools”.