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What if childhood lasts long enough to matter?

When we stop rushing children, confidence and curiosity take root and stay with them for life.

Schedule a Tour

What if childhood lasts long enough to matter?

When we stop rushing children, confidence and curiosity take root and stay with them for life.

What if joy and rigor aren’t opposites?
Play is how children build focus, agility, and tenacity in hard work — the very things that power rigorous academic excellence.
Why We Exist

Imagine every child becoming who they are before the world tells them what to be. Westside Waldorf is an independent Parent-Child through Grade 8 school in Santa Monica.

Learn More About Us

Students performing on djembe drums at a school assembly
Students winding colored ribbons around the maypole at the May Faire festival
Child in a felted mushroom cap balancing along a broad oak branch
Three young children in animal costumes at the fall festival
Students performing a class play in Roman togas
Students raising hand-painted shields in a Norse mythology class play
Students running through the forest on an outdoor education trip
Young student concentrating on handwork with golden yarn
Smiling student climbing a tree in dappled sunlight
Teacher and young children shaping bread dough together in the classroom
Student tending plants in the school garden
Students performing on djembe drums at a school assembly
Students winding colored ribbons around the maypole at the May Faire festival
Child in a felted mushroom cap balancing along a broad oak branch
Three young children in animal costumes at the fall festival
Students performing a class play in Roman togas
Students raising hand-painted shields in a Norse mythology class play
Students running through the forest on an outdoor education trip
Young student concentrating on handwork with golden yarn
Smiling student climbing a tree in dappled sunlight
Teacher and young children shaping bread dough together in the classroom
Student tending plants in the school garden
Students performing on djembe drums at a school assembly
Students winding colored ribbons around the maypole at the May Faire festival
Child in a felted mushroom cap balancing along a broad oak branch
Three young children in animal costumes at the fall festival
Students performing a class play in Roman togas
Students raising hand-painted shields in a Norse mythology class play
Students running through the forest on an outdoor education trip
Young student concentrating on handwork with golden yarn
Smiling student climbing a tree in dappled sunlight
Teacher and young children shaping bread dough together in the classroom
Student tending plants in the school garden
How Kids Learn Here

The Westside Waldorf difference is the inner journey. Learning here is grounded in three developmental stages.

01

Nurture

02

Grow

03

Become

01

Nurture

02

Grow

03

Become

01

Nurture

What does childhood need first?

A sensory foundation built through rhythm, play, and meaningful relationships.

In the first seven years of life, children learn through imitation, movement, song, nature, and unstructured creative play. Storytelling builds their capacity for pictorial thinking and enriches attention and focus. The Nurture stage is defined by steady rhythms that create space for children to wonder, explore, and direct their own discovery. In doing so, it establishes the foundations of physical integration, self-initiative, resilience, and interest that support the learning that comes later.

Programs in this stage

Parent-Child
Preschool
Kindergarten

Explore Early Childhood

What does inner childhood need first? A sensory foundation, built through rhythm and play.

Within the first seven years of life, children learn through imitation, movement, song, nature, and creative play. The Nurture stage is focused on steady rhythms and warm traditions that create space for kids to wonder and explore, establishing the strong foundations that support everything that comes later.

Programs in this stage

Parent-Child
Preschool
Kindergarten

Explore Early Childhood

01

Nurture

02

Grow

What happens when inner curiosity is cared for? Genuine understanding, formed through imagination and doing.

Learning soon becomes hands-on and intentionally immersive. The Grow stage is when beauty, art, music, and storytelling live inside academic work, so knowledge turns into lived understanding. Students practice inner pictorial thinking, not just what to remember.

Programs in this stage
Grades 1–5

Programs in this stage

Grades 1–5

Explore Elementary School

How does inner wisdom emerge? Independent thinking, strengthened through rigor and deep focus.

Students enter the Become stage when they begin to test ideas, reason, and form judgments of their own. Through rigorous academics and practical problem solving, they develop into the kind of critical thinkers who ask better questions and synthesize complexity, prepared for high school with confidence.

Programs in this stage
Grades 6–8

Programs in this stage

Grades 6–8

Explore Middle School

03

Become

Parent Testimonials

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“Our kids play with families on the same page. There’s a real protection of childhood.”

Barbara Stamis

Grade 3 parent

Parent Testimonials

→

→

“Our kids play with families on the same page. There’s a real protection of childhood.”

Barbara Stamis

Grade 3 parent

Parent Testimonials

→

→

“Our kids play with families on the same page. There’s a real protection of childhood.”

Barbara Stamis

Grade 3 parent

Ready to visit? See our classrooms, meet our teachers, and learn whether WWS is right for your family.

Schedule a Tour