Limited places for September 2025 – Find out More.
Limited places for September 2025 – Find out More.
Kindergarten - Ages 3 to 6
Kindergarten - Ages 3 to 6
In our Kindergartens, we cherish early childhood as a time of wonder, exploration, and growth.
Our nature-based environment inspires children aged 3 to 6 to learn through play, imitation, and hands-on experiences, with activities like singing, storytelling, and practical tasks which foster language, literacy, and maths skills.
Balancing structure with free play, we nurture creativity, social skills, and a lifelong love of learning while supporting each child’s physical, emotional, and intellectual growth.
Older children guide and care for the younger ones, building bonds of community, compassion, and confidence that prepare them for their transition to our Lower School.
In our Kindergarten, we believe early childhood is a precious time for wonder, exploration, and growth. Our nurturing, nature-based environment inspires children aged 3 to 6 to learn through play, imitation, and hands-on experiences.
Singing, poetry, and storytelling bring language and literacy to life, while natural maths learning is woven into everyday tasks—from setting the table to measuring woodwork projects. Balancing structure and freedom, we foster creativity, social skills, and a lifetime love for learning.
Our approach is uniquely child-centered. Our ecosystem of care and discovery nourishes the whole child—physically, emotionally, and intellectually—creating a bridge between home and school. Older children nurture and guide the younger ones, who, in turn, observe and learn these caring behaviours, preparing them to take on the same role as they grow into the older group.
This continuity strengthens bonds and together, they build a sense of community, compassion and belonging, developing emotional resilience and social confidence.
In our kindergartens, we believe decoding letters is just the visible “tip of the iceberg” of literacy. A strong foundation is built through immersive daily activities like storytelling, singing, rhymes, movement, and imaginative play.
These experiences nurture language development, creativity, and comprehension, guiding children naturally through literacy stages. Instead of formal reading instruction, we cultivate broad vocabulary, listening skills, and confident communication, ensuring children transition to reading with enthusiasm and a robust foundation in early literacy. This holistic approach fosters a joyful, lasting connection to literacy, supporting a lifelong love of learning.
In our kindergartens, we believe that songs, stories and discussion lay the foundations for communication and language.
Singing profoundly nurtures listening skills and establishes the rhythm of the day. The Kindergarten daily routine and rhythm is interwoven with songs. They facilitate activity transitions in a calm, and predictable way without the need for abrupt instruction. Songs create a sense of continuity, anchoring the group and strengthening the bonds of connection and community within the classroom.
Storytelling is embedded in each day using rich, detailed language. This enhances the child’s speech, vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and listening abilities. Discussing stories builds confidence in speaking and listening to others.
Like literacy, mathematics is a multifaceted process that begins long before children put pencil to paper to solve equations. It forms the foundation for developing connections, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. That’s why we introduce numbers with a spirit of exploration, encouraging children to make their own connections and discoveries.
In our kindergartens, mathematics is seamlessly woven into the daily rhythm and practical activities. Whether counting cups to set the table or working out how many are missing, children naturally engage with the foundational concepts of numbers in meaningful, everyday contexts.
Our primary goal in kindergarten is to nurture a sense of joy and wonder in mathematics. By fostering this connection and curiosity early on, we lay the groundwork for a deep-rooted affinity to numbers that prepares the children as they transition into the lower school.
Our kindergartens nurture essential social and emotional skills such as empathy, self-control, patience, concentration, and persistence. Play fosters empathy and social abilities by teaching children to share, take turns, and negotiate. Observing adults persevere through challenges helps children develop self-control, while a consistent daily rhythm provides a sense of security, especially for those with anxiety.
Creative arts like painting, drawing, and woodwork build focus and persistence as children complete projects. Role-playing with emotional vocabulary enables children to better understand and express their feelings, and strong relationships encourage listening, questioning, and emotional intelligence. Together, these approaches create a nurturing environment that helps children grow into confident, empathetic, and resilient individuals.
At our kindergartens, we believe physical development is closely linked to a child’s academic, social, and emotional growth. That’s why we prioritise it in everything we do.
By allowing children to freely explore their physical boundaries in a safe environment, guided by attentive adults, we help them build a healthy relationship with their bodies, connect with the world around them and enhance their self-awareness and spatial understanding.
In our Waldorf kindergarten, children support each other in developing holistic inquiry and a deeper understanding of the world through collaborative activities, guided exploration, and rich, imaginative experiences. The environment encourages children to engage in thoughtful observation, problem-solving, and creative expression, all of which help cultivate their critical thinking skills.
Our Waldorf Kindergarten follows a gentle rhythm, both weekly and yearly, that is rooted in the changing seasons. This predictable structure helps children feel secure and supported, allowing them to relax and be fully present in each moment. Daily activities like drawing, painting, and bread-making provide a calming and creative routine.
Each day offers a different hands-on activity, such as crafting or vegetable chopping, fostering creativity and practical skills. Healthy snacks, including organic rice, vegetable soup, and homemade apple crumble, are enjoyed, while fresh fruit, water, and chamomile tea are provided daily. This creates a nourishing and comforting environment, ensuring children feel cared for and energized throughout their day.
Drop Off – 8:15am
Parents share any relevant information with teachers to support the child’s day.
Creative Play
Children engage in self-initiated play with natural materials, fostering imagination.
Craft & Handwork
Seasonal crafts, like sewing, painting, and woodwork, encourage creativity and fine motor skills.
Snack Time
A communal, calm meal with a focus on gratitude.
Ring Time
Children gather for songs, poems, and games reflecting the seasons, guided by their teacher.
Snack Time
A healthy snack is enjoyed together around the table.
Outdoor Time
An hour of outdoor play in nature, rain or shine.
Story Time
The session ends with a seasonal fairy tale or puppet show.
End of Session – 12:45pm / Afternoon Session – 12:45pm-3:30pm . Children leave, or stay for lunch, additional play and enriching activities.
The Statutory Early Years Foundation Stage 2024 (EYFS) Birth – 5 years, applies to all settings including ours. It sets out both learning and development requirements and safeguarding and welfare requirements for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday. You can find out more about how we meet the requirements of the EYFS in our curriculum documents or by speaking with the Kindergarten Teachers.
Because there are areas which conflict with Steiner Waldorf established early childhood principles and practice, we have been granted some ‘Exemptions and Modifications’ to the EYFS Learning and Development requirements and Assessment regulations under the ‘Established Principles’ route for Steiner Waldorf settings. These are mostly to do with the introduction and in some cases formal teaching of reading, writing, mathematics and use of IT/media and electronic devices. There is no exemption from the safeguarding and welfare requirements. (See list of Exemptions and Modifications in the kindergarten).
Our school holds certain exemptions and modifications to the learning and development requirements, ELG’s, and assessment regulations of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, granted by the Department for Education from 1st September 2021.
The full rationale behind the exemptions and modifications can be found here:
Ringwood Waldorf School exemptions and modifications to the EYFS
Please read the full reply to our application:
The Secretary of State’s Decision
“Parents carefully and deliberately choose Steiner Waldorf education to give their children a broad, rich and imaginative early childhood in mixed age groups for children from 2 to 6+ years, giving them an unpressured childhood experience. The education and care is holistic, play based, embeds the foundations of literacy, numeracy, science etc., and enables the children to fulfil their potential and a love of learning. The practitioners lead a range of age-appropriate activities without formal instruction so that the children can learn at their own pace in an enabling environment which offers effective and broad foundations for later formal learning. The children transition to Class 1 or primary schools socially competent, emotionally secure and resilient. They are good communicators and have excellent physical abilities and skills. The Steiner Waldorf early childhood experience encourages enthusiastic, creative, questioning, imaginative children who can give purpose and direction to their lifelong learning.”
– Waldorf UK
Steiner Waldorf kindergartens include a broad age range, and children remain within the ‘kindergarten phase’ (the first phase of childhood) from 3-6 years old. The curriculum for their last year in the kindergarten is differentiated, and there are certain expectations of the older child. In a Steiner Waldorf school, ‘formal education’ begins in Class 1 at age 6-7 years.
Children reach compulsory school age from the start of the term following their fifth birthday and by this age should be attending kindergarten full time. We recognise that they need a more challenging experience, including raised expectations from the adults in the setting, and a programme of work appropriate to their age (Key Stage 1 in other school settings). We provide activities and projects especially focused on the older children in kindergarten, and the new expectations of the staff relating to how the older children collaborate and contribute in a more structured and reliable way to the kindergarten community is vital. Teachers expect the children to show good progress beyond the EYFS. They provide support as children build on what they already know and can do, and take on progressive new tasks and challenges. Children in their last year of kindergarten attend ‘Stepping Stones’, our afternoon session for 5-6 year olds.
We have collated all of this into curriculum documents for those children of statutory school age which shows progression from the EYFS, differentiation, what we expect of the older children and what and how they will learn through the curriculum provided. Parents will be kept informed of their child’s developmental progress throughout their time in the kindergarten and will be asked to contribute to the observations and assessments of their child.
Children thrive in loving, secure relationships, typically provided by parents or guardians, or a key person in an early years setting. A key person is a staff member responsible for a group of children, ensuring they feel safe and supported emotionally and physically. This includes activities like toileting and dressing, and maintaining strong relationships with both the child and their parents. In Steiner Waldorf Kindergartens, the Kindergarten Teacher holds the key person role, overseeing all children and sharing assessments with parents. Small key person groups are used to ensure individual needs are met, with staff sharing observations for assessments and feedback.
Children thrive from a base of loving and secure relationships. This is normally provided by a child’s parents, guardians or carers, but it can also be provided by a key person in an early years setting. A key person is a named member of staff with responsibilities for a group of children, who helps those children in the group feel safe and cared for. The key person responds sensitively to children’s feelings and behaviours and meets emotional needs by giving reassurance, such as when they are new to a setting or class, and supporting the child’s well-being.
The key person supports physical needs too, helping with self care activities like nappy changing, toileting and dressing. The key person is a familiar figure who is accessible and available as a point of contact for parents, and who builds relationships with the child and parents or carers. The key person is someone that parents can talk to about any concerns, as they will know each child well and will be able to provide advice and support with all aspects of learning and development. The key person role is important. Research and evidence show that children thrive when their needs are met by special people that they know, trust and respect.
In the Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten, the overall Key Person role is held by the Kindergarten Teacher, who has the overview of all the children in their group. It is the Kindergarten Teacher who will write up the assessments, reports, and feedback to parents.
At Ringwood Waldorf School, we believe that in order to best meet the individual needs of each child, and to properly observe and assess their learning and development, children benefit from small key person groups. Therefore the Kindergarten Assistant or other adult will be given some Key Person duties in respect of certain children in the group, and they will share information with the Kindergarten Teacher on a regular basis. All staff who are with the children have an opportunity to talk about their observations of the children with the Kindergarten Teacher. These observations inform the assessments, and these are shared with staff and parents on a regular basis by the Kindergarten Teacher.
The Kindergarten Teacher will inform parents and/or carers of the name of the key person, and explain their role, when a child starts attending the Kindergarten.
The Kindergarten Teacher also receives feedback on the children from the parents and/or carers, and engages their support in guiding their child’s development at home. Teachers will support parents and/or carers to engage with more specialist support if appropriate.
We recognise that choosing a school is a big decision. We invite you to visit us and learn more about how a Waldorf education at Ringwood Waldorf School can benefit your child.
Address
Ringwood Waldorf School, Folly Farm Lane,
Ashley, Ringwood, Hampshire, BH24 2NN
Open Term Time
Monday – Friday
8.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.
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