Windsor House School: Room to Grow and Be Yourself

On Monday this week I decided to do something a little unique for my Professional Development Day: I visited another school. As working teachers we rarely have such opportunities, so I jumped at the chance to visit Windsor House School, a "democratic, parent-participation" school in North Vancouver that I have been curious about for some time. If you have never heard of it before, a quick visit to their site and a watch of their video will surely pique your interest. What I saw was utterly amazing, kids free to be kids while learning what they are passionate about, interacting with material and topics of their choosing, mingling with other kids both older and younger then themselves. I saw kids free to "grow and be [themselves]", something that is not often the case in the one-size-fits approach that has been characteristic of the "traditional" schooling system.

As soon as I parked my car in the lot it became apparent that this school was different. There were a couple pairs of kids outside on their own, full hockey pads and helmets, having what appeared to be a spontaneous game of two-on-two hockey. I watched them battle it out for a few minutes before going inside. I was immediately greeted with smiles from students, staff, parents. I stood in the hallway waiting to meet the principal while kids excitedly filtered in and out of the front door, some signing in their arrival time beside their name on sheets that hung on the wall.

Before noon I had watched a group of enthusiastic kids participating in a morning Taekwondo lesson in the BMR (Big Muscle Room), a room with enough costumes to clothe the whole school in multiple-era fashions and enough cushions to built a three-storey fort! I had already walked down the hallway and had seen an impromptu theatrical performance unfold before my eyes, where young ladies were dressed up and posed frozen in the hall as a group of mannequins. I had entered a room of mostly primary kids and joined them in their exploration of pirates: they were painting a picture of a gigantic ship, had already made hats, and later in the afternoon were working on making flags, a compass, and clues to a pirate treasure hunt. I had watched a group of boys building the most amazing and intricate Lego creations I had ever seen, with very imaginitive storylines when asked about their structures, and had witnessed some of the teenagers playing guitars and pianos with such intricate skill my breath was taken away. I had even watched the start of a stop-motion video created by a group of boys on one of their new ipads; this place was certainly different. Kids engaged in activities of their choosing, all day!

According to the principal, mess is a perpetual problem, as is the level of noise in the building with all the excited kids running around, but in my experience the most fruitful learning environments are often messy and noisy because learning itself is messy and noisy!

As I microwaved my lunch (there is no set lunchtime here, everyone eats when they feel hungry) a young girl that I had met earlier came in.

"Can you help me?" she asked.

"Yes of course."

"Can you carry my soup down the hall?" After a brief pause, she continued on: "it may look like there are no rules here, but there are. You just don't see them if it is your first day. I have been here a while so I know the rules, and kids are not allowed to carry hot things in the hall."

Kids can choose whether or not to go to classes, although once they enter high school if they don't go, they don't get credit and therefore don't graduate. Also if they choose not to go they are expected to take the initiative by communicating with the teacher beforehand and organizing a way to make up the missed work. This truly is a place where self-directed learning is practiced and thriving. Throughout the day teachers may be assigned to walk around the school interviewing kids about their activities and documenting learning, as most of the learning here occurs in organically-evolving, out-of-classroom experiences like the ones I witnessed during my visit.

Out on the field I met a man who was my age who had gone there since he was 8 or so and was back now as an employee. In our conversation I mentioned that I had dropped out in grade 10. He asked how old I was, and it turns out that we are both the same age.

"While you were dropping out of school," he said, "I was here spending half the year planning a one-month camping trip to Wyoming [or somewhere else cool, I can't remember the exact place, but it's not the place that matters]. We were planning the ininerary, how to travel there, we were fundraising, mapping, planning accommodation, gathering equipment. It was a huge undertaking. That's what I was doing in grade 10."

Wow, I thought. How different my life would be if I had known about this alternative school at 16. Then, as I finally pulled into my driveway in this tiny town in the mountains, I thought, perhaps not.