Nicole Hayes

Lavender Kindergarten Teacher

Teacher Nicole has delighted in being the Lavender Kindergarten teacher since joining the YRCS faculty in 2022. After working with young children and their families for over 25 years in different capacities—preschool teacher, nanny, and parent educator—Nicole returned to school, earning her Multiple-Subject Teaching Credential from CalStateTEACH while teaching TK at NCSA. She also has her AA in Early Childhood Education, her BA in Child Development, and her Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis on Early Childhood. As you can see, Teacher Nicole has spent her career passionately dedicated to the care and education of the young child. She values relationships as the ultimate teaching tool, and as a five-year-old at heart, she innately understands, acknowledges, and respects each of her students as individuals. Every day she learns as much from them as they do from her.

Nicole discovered Waldorf Education while she was pregnant with her first son in 2006. Looking for an educational philosophy that aligned with her own, her family joined the Live Oak Waldorf school community before transitioning to Nevada County to become a part of YRCS. Her oldest son then enrolled in the Farm Program, YRCS’ homestudy option at the time. Homeschooling her son with Waldorf curriculum through second grade, Nicole familiarized herself more and more with Steiner’s works, so when the opportunity opened for her to become a part of the YRCS early childhood teaching team, she understood it was her calling. Lavender also happens to be her favorite plant.

A Northern California native, Teacher Nicole grew up at Lake Tahoe (where she walked to the bus stop uphill both ways in the snow in her moon-boots) and later moved to Sacramento for high school and college. She is the mother of two now-teenaged sons, Alder and Sawyer. They live outside of Nevada City with their potbelly pig, Gus, and cat, Shady. When not at school, Nicole enjoys family time. She also thrives by spending time in nature, hiking, kayaking, camping, backpacking, and collecting driftwood at the river. She loves fiber arts and handwork and enjoys making things from wool by needle-felting, crocheting, sewing, and knitting. Nicole is a huge fan of the theater (wishing life was a musical), and she’s also an avid Scrabble player. Nicole feels honored and blessed to teach the Lavender Kindergarten class, which Teacher Doris held for nearly 30 years. Following in Doris’ footsteps, Nicole plans to stay put for (perhaps) the next 30 years!