Learning outside the box Maple Ridge school takes elementary education beyond the classroom By Tammy Schuster Photos by Craig Cerhit Photography
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stream running through a rain forest, rain gear with boots, and a yurt. These are a few of the school amenities of the Environmental School operating in School District 42 Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows, a placebased, imaginative, and ecological school that utilizes the outdoors as the elementary school classroom. In partnership with several community groups, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, as well as Simon Fraser University, the school district began concept development in 2008, with the school opening its doors – so to say – in 2011. “There was a desire for a shift in the way we think about learning,” says Clayton Mait land principal of the environmental school. “There was an emphasis on environment and sustainability in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, and our partnership groups were wanting students to leave the building and go outdoors and learn with nature.” Maitland says there was a large commitment from the school board and the superintendent to go forward with this style of learning. Now in its fifth year of operation, the K-Grade 7 school has been at capacity each year with a lengthy waitlist. 14
Ops Talk • Fall 2016
The maximum number of students they can enroll without having an impact on the environment is 88 children.
The maximum number of students they can enroll without having an impact on the environment is 88 children. “As we learn to walk softer, we have less impact on certain areas and because of that, the partnership groups will allow us to expand,” says Maitland. “But not in numbers, with a new community of learners. We have a long waitlist, enough to start another elementary learning community.” Maitland says there are plans to begin an environmental high school for Grades 8-12 in either February or the fall using similar forms of learning as the elementary school. For now, he says when students leave after
Grade 7 and transition back into conventional schools, they leave as self-reliant, confident, and resilient learners. With the school district’s large catchment area, the learning areas extend from the Pitt River to Slave Lake and from the Fraser River to Allouette River and through partnerships with provincial and municipal parks. That is a lot of forests, rivers, mountains, and parks to learn from. The school also has partnerships with many local businesses, libraries, recreation facilities, farms, and offices, including BC Hydro. Since classroom locations change every one or two weeks, the school uses a trailer
