Learning outside the box: Maple Ridge school takes elementary education beyond the classroom

Learning outside the box

Maple Ridge school takes elementary education beyond the classroom

By Tammy SchuSTer

Photos by Craig Cerhit Photography

Astream 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 Maitland 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.

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

The maximum number of students they can enroll without having an impact on the environment is 88 children.

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

to store all the teaching supplies necessary, plus pop-up tents when shelter is needed in a particular learning environment – like a temperate rain forest.

Rick Delorme, director of maintenance for SD 42, says the maintenance is fairly low key. “It’s very much like having a facility that takes care of itself,” he says. “They are on the move and with their classroom essentially being at a facility or park within the city, it’s carefree.”

Over the past five years, the school acquired a yurt for winter months and its newest purchase is a truck to transport the large supply trailer. Prior to that, the community supported the school with donations until the budget allowed for the purchase of structural items. One of the many donations the school received was a solar panel and conversion system so cellular WiFi can be run when students need to gather information online. “Like shovels, hammers, and pocket knives, digital technology is another tool for education.”

Maitland says one of the daily challenges of a learning environment such as this one is determining the number of and placement of portable restroom facilities. He says they also need to consider the boundaries of each space they use in terms of safety for the children and sensitivity of a particular environment they are learning in.

“We work very closely with our partnership groups,” he says. “There is always that extra bit of communication that needs to happen.” And because parents are responsible for transporting their children to and from each site, pick-up and drop-off is a challenge at each site, much like any other school.

According to the School Act, all schools must report on students three times a year. Since no grades are given at the Environmental School, teachers meet with parents and students to assess what they’ve learned and discuss what that they need to focus on next. Maitland says that after five years, people have a better understanding of what the learning looks like.

“We receive a lot of support from our board and our superintendent. It was a leap of faith, and it has been very positive,” says Maitland. “I don’t know if these parents would want anything different for their children.” n

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.

“There was a desire for a shift in the way we think about learning,” says Clayton Maitland, principal, SD 42. “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 through and with nature.”

Environmental School District 42 in Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows is a placebased, imaginative, and ecological school that utilizes the outdoors as the elementary school classroom.

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