Dear Editor:
With plans for reopening schools on the horizon I can’t help but think of how my son’s schooling has been pandemic-proof all along.
To keep students and staff safe, schools in Europe have started doing open-air lessons in the grass. Scotland is even considering outdoor learning as a model for reopening their schools. These wall-less classrooms may seem novel to many but not to my son and the small group of kids he’s spent the school year with.
My son goes to forest school on the North Shore where he and his classmates spend the entire day outdoors. Up until the great upheaval of March, three times a week I would line his backpack with a dry bag and fill it with his lunch and a bag full of extra clothes. Those wet, wintery days were demanding. There’s no shelter to hide in or place to retreat to. So we would diligently prepare, believing there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
No matter what, he always came home smiling.
At the Forest Learners program through Soaring Eagle Nature School, the wilderness is the classroom. Hectares of land in the mountains make it easy to physically distance.
There’s fresh crisp air all day long and the risk of transmission is infinitesimally small, according to the provincial health officer. There’s no lunch room to navigate or contaminated doors to open. No shared toys or books.
There’s a low student-to-teacher ratio with 10 students to two instructors. The adults, whom they adore and are deeply attached to, are present at all times during the day so there’s little room for making poor decisions, even for seven- and eight-year-olds.
Now, I wonder, is this not the safest approach for schooling during this pandemic? And what lessons can public schools learn from nature school programs like this as they forge ahead with plans for reconfiguring what “classrooms” may look like in the months and years to come?
Magdalena Dominik
Vancouver
