Sooke School District Nature Kindergarten began as a two-year pilot program in 2012 in a public school district of British Columbia, Canada. Nature Kindergarten is intended for children ages 4-5 who are starting their first year of formal schooling. Students spend every morning outside, rain or shine, in natural settings, and then return indoors for lunch and afternoon learning. The British Columbia Kindergarten curriculum is taught by a Kindergarten teacher and early childhood educator throughout the school day.
The development of the program was initiated by a district principal and an early childhood education professor, and came to include an advisory committee of many school district and community partners.
The program's pedagogical principles center on:
- Connecting deeply with nature: environmental stewardship
- The environment as another teacher
- Learning collaboratively as a part of a community
- Physical and mental health
- Indigenous education
Sooke School District Nature Kindergarten provides an educational opportunity to think differently about how and what young children should learn. The program also promotes the development of a pedagogy that embraces complexity and uncertainty.
Below is a news clip released shortly after the opening of the Nature Kindergarten pilot program in 2012. This news clip is included in the full NatStart25 Site Tour video, which can be accessed when you register for NatStart25.