We definitely had less science taught to us, particularly physics. I'm a bit more informed about stained glass window making, bee keeping etc. My thought would be that an ideal combo would be a Steiner school until age 10-12 ish. After that I have no idea. The state system just seems to run continual exams, tests and assessments. To put this in perspective, I had sat probably 2 real exams before finishing school.

Thank you that's very helpful. I really like the Steiner architecture, the buildings at the school I'm going to send my daughter too looked wierd at first but you feel much more relaxed around them (and the beehives :)) rather than the concrete blocks that seem to make up the rest of the schools

Wait until you see the artwork/more practical course work. Lead light windows, sculpture, metalwork, woodwork etc. The difference between the work that comes out of the (New Zealand) state system and the Steiner system is vastly different and (imho) Steiner students are more artistically developed. The absence of a formulaic approach is quite striking. My view is rather skewed however! The flip side is that I'm sitting here wishing I knew how to work logarithms properly.