Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School (HVWS) is an independent co-ed Waldorf day school set in the foothills of the Taconic Mountains in Ghent, Columbia County, New York. The school offers classes from pre-kindergarten through grade 12; it is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools and by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. Founded in 1973, the school is one of the oldest and largest of the approximately 170 independent Waldorf schools in North America. The first high school class of HVWS graduated in 1983.