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An Experiential, Outdoor School Education

Meadowridge offers a learning space unlike anywhere else; here, you’ll find a west-coast playground where students and teachers have 27 acres designed for experiential learning, practical exploration, physical activity, and mental wellness.

Few schools have the blessing of a forested park traversed by a fish-bearing waterway on campus. Our Forest is connected to the campus-proper by a garden and two greenhouses, and has a cabin, house, three bridges, and a network of trails. Our Campus along with our dedicated experiential outdoor school learning programs, takes learning outside the traditional four walls of classroom and into the world.

Experiential & outdoor education TRIPS  Classroom Without Walls Program

Learning in Nature, Learning by Doing

As part of our Ecological Area, our North Forest is used to support learning across the grades, and provides an ideal surround for relaxation, reflection, and recreation.

Our youngest learners head into the forest, too! They conduct experiments and observe the natural world. They dig in dirt, plant vegetables, find bugs, and spot wildlife. Students nestle in among the trees to read and complete journal entries. They stare into the creek and amphibian pond in hopes of finding tadpoles. They take measurements and pictures. They draw and write about what they see.

Our older students care for the forest as they catalogue plant and animal species to measure biodiversity, manage invasive plants, and take water samples from the creek to test for contaminants.

Students – young and old – learn about caring for the planet. We’ve constructed an amphibian habitat pond to support locally endangered frog species, while bat habitats have been placed within the forest to support the bat population.

Students conduct experiments – both directed and self-directed – in the greenhouse, bringing the concepts they learn in class to life. They've conducted many experiments, including photosynthetic processes and factors which affect growth rates in plants. They also use the greenhouses to germinate seedlings for the gardens.

student tends to a garden