Ringwood Waldorf School

Inspection of Ringwood Waldorf School Folly Farm Lane, Ashley, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 2NN

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Sixth-form provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Good

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

At Ringwood Waldorf, pupils learn to be thoughtful individuals who contribute to their community and the wider world. This reflects the school’s core value of ‘we cultivate the environment where each child can truly thrive’. The warm and nurturing relationships between staff and pupils are special. Staff ensure that each pupil is considered in everything they do. Staff know and understand pupils’ needs. Pupils are happy and safe. They are extremely proud of their school and attend regularly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is exceptional in lessons and during social times. They demonstrate high levels of kindness towards one another. Pupils are extremely polite and well mannered. They accept each other for who they are, showing tolerance and empathy. The school has high expectations for its pupils’ achievements. Pupils are keen to learn and typically achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The provision for pupils’ wider development is well considered. Pupils take pleasure in the wealth of opportunities on offer such as blacksmithing, printmaking and pottery. These activities develop pupils’ interests and talents.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are delighted with the school and appreciate all that it does for their children. Comments include how the school ‘lives and breathes the school’s values’ and is ‘a truly special place’.

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better?

Ringwood Waldorf has improved rapidly since the last inspection. The school has tackled the areas of improvement with success. This is especially evident in the development of the curriculum and pupils’ behaviour. The school is aspirational for all the pupils and demonstrates an inclusive culture where every child matters. Their vision is shared by the wider school community. The school is unwavering in its determination to provide the best learning and life experiences for the pupils. High- quality staff training staff is pivotal to the success of this school. This means staff have the expertise and confidence to enable pupils to build their knowledge well across the subjects they study. However, the school’s approach to checking on pupils’ learning to see if they are ready to move on to harder work is not consistently effective. This can, at times, slow the depth of knowledge that pupils gain. The school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities

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better?

(SEND) quickly. However, adaptations to meet their individual needs are not securely in place throughout the school. This means that these pupils find it difficult to retain the important knowledge and vocabulary they need.

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better?

The school ensures that pupils develop a love of books. This starts in the Kindergarten, where children experience a wide range of stories and poems. They listen to these stories with awe and wonder. Older pupils enjoy reading for pleasure and class story time. Pupils in the early stages of learning to read do so in line with the Waldorf philosophy. By the time pupils move into the middle and upper school, 13 to 15 May 2025 they are fluent readers. Pupils who need extra help receive it, and it enables them to catch up.

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better?

In Kindergarten, warm relationships between children and the staff play a pivotal role in ensuring children feel happy and safe. Staff meet children’s needs well. Children enjoy the rhythm of the day, for example during snack time when they sat together enjoying the apple crumble they had produced together. Staff build on their knowledge of what children can do. There is a sharp focus on language and communication. This means children are confident in communicating with adults and each other.

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better?

The school has a personal, social, health and education programme securely in place. Pupils learn how to respect each other and the importance of maintaining healthy relationships. They study a range of religions and festivals and learn to appreciate and celebrate difference.

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better?

Students who receive post-16 education produce work which is of high quality across their diploma subjects. They acquire a broad and deep body of knowledge. Students receive comprehensive careers advice throughout their time at school. This guidance ensures that they have a secure understanding of career pathways. This includes visits from providers offering A-level and apprenticeship pathways, as well as the local university. The school has a well-founded relationship with other local schools where students can attend careers fairs.

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better?

The philosophy of the Waldorf school is focused on personal development throughout the whole curriculum, and pupils experience, through the agility of the curriculum, opportunities to follow their interests, for example in sports and the creative arts. Pupils appreciate the educational visits, including both at home and abroad, for example to London and Germany.

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better?

There are a wealth of opportunities afforded to pupils. Older pupils work together to complete a community work experience placement. This is planned collectively, and pupils take a placement in the community in a volunteering role. They lead charity events, for example planning a sponsored walk to raise money for a suicide prevention charity. The culture of the school is to develop students in using their ‘soft skills’, and they naturally assume leadership roles.

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better?

The school and the ‘all one’ community that the pupils describe supports pupils to look after their physical and mental health. Pupils have all the tools they need to manage their behaviours exceptionally well and support each other collaboratively.

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better?

Governance is strong. Trustees fulfil their statutory duties effectively. Trustees and school leaders understand the independent school standards and ensure these are consistently met. Trustees hold the school leaders to account for all aspects of the pupils’ experiences, including their equality duties. The school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. This means there is equality for pupils, whatever their backgrounds or needs. 13 to 15 May 2025 Staff are extremely proud to work at the school and comment that they very much enjoy being part of the community. They welcome the support and consideration of leaders to manage their workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The school does not routinely adapt learning sufficiently to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. This results in some pupils not learning as well as they could. The trust should provide staff with the support and guidance they need to make sure pupils with SEND are supported well to learn the curriculum effectively.  The ongoing assessment strategies are not consistently effective in identifying when some pupils are ready to move on in their learning. Therefore, some pupils do not build their knowledge as well as they could. The trust needs to ensure that ongoing assessments are used effectively by staff to enable pupils to make the best possible progress through the curriculum.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 13 to 15 May 2025

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School details

Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed

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form

Annual fees (day pupils) £2,615 to £12,727

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form

Website www.ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk

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form

Email address mail@ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk

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form

Date of previous inspection 26 to 28 April 2023 13 to 15 May 2025

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Information about this school

 The proprietor aims to provide a curriculum which is in keeping with Waldorf education principles. The school is affiliated with Waldorf UK, the association of Waldorf schools. This group provides advice for Steiner Waldorf schools.  The school is led by a school leadership team. The chair of the school management team is the school lead, who oversees the day-to-day running of the school.  The school operates a Kindergarten for children aged three to six years old. Pupils join Class 1 at the start of national curriculum Year 2. The school has one class per year group for each year up to Class 12, which is the equivalent of national curriculum Year 13.  Pupils can leave and join the school at times other than typical transition times. The school has visiting students from overseas. Students attend from four weeks to a school year.  In the upper school, pupils take English and mathematics GCSE examinations.

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Information about this school

 There are a number of pupils who remain at the school to undertake post-16 education. These pupils study for the Ringwood Waldorf School Diploma.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

The school meets the independent school standards. These are the requirements set out in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the school lead, deputy school lead and wider staff.  The lead inspector met with the independent school improvement partner.  The lead inspector met with trustees, including the chair.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 13 to 15 May 2025  The lead inspector listened to some pupils from across the school read.  Inspectors sampled the wider curriculum, including pupils’ work in history, art and science.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single

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Information about this inspection

central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors considered key documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plan and trustees’ minutes.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. An inspector met with school leaders to discuss and review pupils’ attendance and how they respond to behaviour incidents.  Inspectors considered the responses to the staff and pupil surveys and the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including parents’ free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Jen Southall, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Rachel Hesketh His Majesty’s Inspector 13 to 15 May 2025 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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