The School was set up in October 1972 by Waddington as an unofficial undergraduate extra-curricular teaching effort 'attempting to engage students' interests sufficiently for them to devote sizeable fractions of their leisure time to very generalist studies on topics related to the future'. It had the support of the University, who provided accommodation, secretarial assistance, funded the secondment of Waddington for three quarters of his time and granted permission for him to use some of the funds from his Chair. A library was established and seminars and lectures given. Waddington hoped to experiment with teaching methods, visiting speakers, student participation in a variety of media (organising seminars, making tapes and films with the cooperation of the Genetics Film Unit etc), but the School did not continue in its planned format following Waddington's death.