To Friends of The Willow School:

     In my first two Commentaries on our Mission Statement, I wrote about the heart of our program: academic excellence in partnership with the joy of learning.  I comment now on the wonder of the natural world, a phrase we have recently added to our Mission Statement that represents a dimension of a child’s education fundamental to growth.  We are convinced that the natural world is a correlative of the social world, and so we join the outside with the inside of our school walls in order to link our human condition with the natural forces that surround us and guide us. I invite you to spend some time at The Willow School to see for yourself the merging of a child’s two worlds within the framework of serious academic excellence.

	Richard Eldridge Head of School, 2003-2006

The Wonder of the Natural World

     The first thing that one notices in The Willow School is the closeness of the natural world to each classroom. Every room has its own door so children can move outside at a moment’s notice, and the ample windows draw the outside into the room.  The consequence is a breakdown of what is outside and what is inside.  Children at The Willow School are not only comfortable indoors and out; they are also accustomed to using the outdoor experience, frequently and automatically, as an essential dimension to their learning.

     The virtue of wonder occurs not just because the children go outside often as part of the academic routine.  The faculty draw the natural world into the children’s lives through investigatory assignments.  Artwork, journals, science, and computation skills are all enriched by data and experiences absorbed from the natural world.  Students are taught to observe nature closely and carefully, so their artwork and writing are shaped by investigation as well as imagination.  Starting at kindergarten, they enter into their journals their observations of invertebrates in our pond, the feeding habits of bluebirds, and distinctive bark and leaves of trees that they identify on our thirty-two acres.  They are asked to write about or to design something from their experiences, like proposals for a more challenging playground or building a hiking trail to the stream according to topography.

     We are a school that sees sustainability as a key element in our relationship with the natural world as much as with our social world. Children learn to share intellectual resources with peers to sustain a community. They also learn to share, respect, and conserve nature’s resources.  As we marvel at the gifts nature provides, we also learn that nature, like our social relations, must not be wasted by profligacy or indifference.

The third in a series of commentaries by the
Head of The Willow School, January, 2005