Maharishi School, Lancashire

The school takes its name from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and uses an educational approach called "Consciousness-based Education". Its students learn the Transcendental Meditation technique (TM) and practice it in 10-minute sessions, twice during the school day A 1998 report by National Public Radio said the school has been ranked in the top two percent of the country's schools for the past 12 years. In 2002, the Liverpool Daily Post reported that the school had a 100% pass rate on GCSE tests in seven out of the prior 8 years. In 2011, a spokesman for the Department for Education said the Maharishi School was "outstanding in almost all categories" and that the school "has a strong record of high academic achievement". He cited an Ofsted report which states that the school provides an "outstanding education" Schools with similar curriculum include the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in the Fairfield, Iowa U.S. and the Maharishi School in Reservoir, Australia. ==History==

The school was founded in 1986 as an independent, fee-based school with 14 pupils. As of July 2021, the school had 212 pupils and a capacity of 216. At that time, the school's tuition fee was £7,620 for its secondary school students. According to the school's Head Teacher, Derek Cassells, free school status allows the school the potential to double its attendance while retaining its character. As of September 2011, 135 students were enrolled. and the other would be at Oldfield House in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames. They would expand by "one year group at a time, with 20 pupils in each year". The Rendlesham school proposal was denied by the Department For Education in early 2012. ==Criticism==

The school's 2011 qualification for government funding was criticised by the Lancashire branch of the National Union of Teachers who called it the funding of the "education of the members of a religious sect" with links to a defunct political party. A spokesperson for the School responded to the criticism saying the school is run by an "independent charitable company" and its Consciousness Based Education approach is non-religious and has no links to any political party. Further criticism came in June 2011 from the Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, John Pugh, and the Liverpool city council leader, Joe Anderson, both of whom attacked the government for funding the Maharishi School while depriving funds from mainstream schools. Labour MP Lisa Nandy made similar complaints in August and the British Humanist Association (BHA) voiced concerns about the school's "spiritual and 'pseudoscientific' teaching". The school's headmaster, Cassells, said: "We bring a balanced curriculum and all we do is introduce a few minutes of meditation three times a day". A Department of Education spokesman said "the Maharishi School, like all Free Schools, will enter pupils for the same exams as other state schools" and "will be open to all pupils of any or no faith." ==See also==