Imagine going to a school where you were encouraged to be who you truly are, where you were able to study the topics that interested you in a way that suited your individual learning style.

A school where the uniqueness of every individual was honored in such a way that everyone was made to feel special and that they had a part to play, not only in the school, but in the wider world.

Imagine, more time for play, art, music, sport, creativity and imagination and imagine this in a beautiful setting of New Zealand native bush.

Imagine just eight pupils to one teacher!

Imagine how you would be if you had gone to such a school, how much clearer you would be about your individual strengths, how much more confident you would be about who you truly are. How much better you would be able to contribute to society. Imagine how your children or grandchildren would thrive going to such a school.

In 2002 a group of parents and teachers got together to consider what our dream school would be like. We stepped away from what we knew about the present schooling system and allowed ourselves to dream.

We do not wish to criticize the existing schooling system as we recognize teachers and pupils work hard within the confines of both the system and financial constraints. Rather we wanted to offer an alternative for parents and children who wanted something more.

One of the questions we asked ourselves was—How would our children be as a result of attending such a school?

Here are some of the ideas we had….

Confident, happy, outgoing, part of the community, lifelong learners who love learning, co-operative, helpful, considerate, successful, healthy, team players, fulfilled, have healthy self esteem, able to make their own decisions (not just follow the pack), good communicators, self aware, know their strengths, respectful of others uniqueness, joyful, self motivated, set own goals, friendly, happy to be themselves, able to manage their own emotions in a healthy way, good decision makers.

We all agreed that we wished we had been to such a school and recognised that although it may be too late for us it is not too late for our children and our grandchildren. We also recognized that if we did not take action and create what we wanted no one else would and so we began to make our dream a reality in the hope it would inspire other groups of parents and teachers to do the same.

 

Background to the first school

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”

 

William Butler Yeats

To contact us:

Phone: 06 756 7499   (Emily)

Email: info@ecoschool.co.nz