“Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.”
Our Vision
Big Sur Park School has been created to support the children of Big Sur after the closure of Gazebo School Park. The program is a Forest School experience for young children that draws from the cultural legacy of Gazebo and incorporates complimentary innovations in education.
Exploration
Exploration and inquiry, awareness of self-and others, and a strong connection with the natural world are key components of the program. Through an emergent curriculum, a student-centered learning approach and an outdoor classroom, Big Sur Park School offers a progressive educational alternative to the Big Sur community and builds a healthy foundation for children’s learning and development.
Curiosity
The teaching approach supports curiosity, resilience and resourcefulness. Teachers hold a deep interest in the child and respect their unique ways of being in the world. They model clear, authentic communication to support social and emotional development and build relational skills. Teachers also help children to further their development through literacy, experiential activities, and the expressive arts.
“By maximizing each child’s unique learning style and pace, and using the environment with its demands and differences as major teaching tools, the child learns in his earliest years self confidence, self-esteem, and self-discipline in the most basic form.”