Ringwood Waldorf School

If the class teacher doesn’t get on with you then this will be the worst choice you make. They have an unchecked level of power and the trustees are terrified of trying to discipline the teaching staff.

You will be fine if you have family in the SLT or went here as a child, in that case you won’t have to pay. But if you are a normal person then the minute you are no longer useful to them or cause problems then you will be unceremoniously thrown out mid year.

Do not recommend unless you are great at fitting into cliques.

We have three children at the Ringwood Waldorf School. Our first started in mainstream and we moved to this school when we couldn't reconcile the academic pressure with what we believed he needed to develop into a capable, resilient, and confident young adult. We came to an open day and from there we have been on the most extraordinary journey. Our kids love school and their teachers love teaching. The community we have found has been truly transformative for our whole family. Our kids are discovering who they are, while learning in an incredibly child centred way. We couldn't be more pleased with their progress academically and in this world just as important for us, emotionally. If you find you are considering a change, come to an open day. We weren't sure and did just that and for us, the rest is history!

Ringwood Waldorf School has been the best decision we've made for our children. Before our eldest child was school age, we spent some time looking around at various educational approaches. We initially planned to home educate for a few years, but decided to give RWS a try. I was inspired by the warm and caring environment, the balanced approach to academic, artistic, and practical learning, and the passion of the teachers. When I visited and met the teenagers who were close to graduating, I was very impressed by their knowledge and confidence, and knew that the school must be doing something right. Our children are now teenagers themselves, and the school has helped them to develop their passions, be true to themselves, be open minded, and to dream big. I would highly recommend the school to anyone looking for a supportive community for their family and a progressive educational approach for their child.

the school only has one very dirty minibus and there are silverfish in the cupoards. They bearly ever refurbish or repaint and we have to do strange rituals like sing around candles, jump over fire whilst chanting, hold ribbons attached to a big pole and skip around it in a group and walk around a spiral of moss to put an apple in the middle. Even when we get older we still have to sing songs in the morning. For art, the only painting we really do is with "natural" paints that are made with eggs (they smell really bad). The curriculum is not very progressive and we learn stuff at older ages that we should have learned when we were younger. There are some very weird lessons at RWS such as eurythmy, which is a really weird dance yoga thing. We have to do it even when we're in the older years and it has no benefit whatsoever. And they only have 2 GCSE choices, maths and English. The classrooms are quite small and so is the outdoor space. We have a courtyard, a tarmac area and a field. The security of the school is not very good either the fences are easily jumpable and the codes to the gates are known. They don't handle bullying well. They don't expell or suspend kids that constantly disrupt lessons/ break the rules/ are nasty to other children.