Our Values

Nature-Based Education: We inspire our students daily to develop an authentic appreciation for and connectedness with the environment. Our space deliberately includes access to the forest, which provides us with many opportunities to study science and nature.

Child-Centered Learning: Our classrooms provide learning environments that are physically and emotionally safe, inclusive, and collaborative, where students can reach their full potential in mental, physical, and social-emotional development, recognizing that each child has unique gifts and challenges. Our classrooms feature mixed-age groupings, allowing students flexibility in developing their academic and social skills. Our student-to-teacher ratios are deliberately kept low to allow for personal relationships between teachers and each student.

Self-Awareness and Multiple Perspectives: Our curriculum reflects a conscious effort to find a union between our inner and outer worlds. 

Experiential Learning through Civic Engagement: We empower our students to have a voice in their community. Our largest classroom is the forest, which provides endless opportunities for exploring and practicing cooperation and teamwork.

Transparency and Trust: We value transparency and trust in communication, governance, and instruction. Our cooperative school succeeds through member participation.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We honor the uniqueness of each individual and embrace diverse backgrounds, values, and points of view to build a robust and inclusive community and to prepare students for lives in a multicultural society.

The best education occurs in a school of students, teachers, and families drawn from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations. A diverse school community alone is not enough. We seek to build on this commitment by creating a truly inclusive school where students and adults are welcome and supported, and their faces, voices, and experiences are reflected and valued. We believe that the work of inclusion is a responsibility held by all and done for all, human to human.