Outdoor middle school takes shape

The Pond Brook Project team is preparing for another school year out in the woods, this time as a full-time, state-approved independent middle school. 

We all know what happens if we give a mouse a cookie or what happens when we give a pigeon a bus. But what happens if we give a preschooler a sharp hatchet?

The Willowell Foundation has secured grant funding that will support a $1.4 million plan to relocate the organization’s Wren’s Nest Forest Preschool to a permanent home, while expanding the program’s capacity and addressing the need for more affordable wo … (read more)

As another school day begins in Addison County, a handful of local seventh- to ninth-graders head into the woods to start their classes. 

Four Addison County programs will net $650,000 in federal grants to give more children access to summer and afterschool programs during the next two summers and the 2022-2023 academic year.

MONKTON — Not long after Wren’s Nest Forest Preschool, a program of the Willowell Foundation, learned it would need to find a new home, Willowell Administrative Director Tasha Ball found herself driving by Wild Roots Farm on Harey Road in Bristol. “And it … (read more)

MONKTON — This summer, when Addison County Schools announced their plans to reopen with a hybrid of remote and in-person learning, Willowell Foundation Administrative Director Tasha Ball started getting a lot of email. “Parents were looking to us to pull … (read more)

MONKTON — With the limited in-person schooling this fall due to fears around coronavirus, The Willowell Foundation is rolling out a new interdisciplinary, outdoor, multi-aged option. The program will provide activities for students on days when they are n … (read more)