About Us

We gather here in reverence; for childhood, for parenthood, for nature, for the extraordinary potential that lives in every human being from their very first years.

Our mission is to educate with presence. To meet each child in their wholeness; thinking, feeling, willing; and to walk alongside them with warmth, truth, and care as they grow into themselves. We do not hurry this process. We trust it.

We are a community rooted in the natural world around us: where the forest, the river, and the changing seasons are not a backdrop but a teacher. Where beauty is not an extra but a necessity. Where joy is not a reward for good work but the very atmosphere in which real learning becomes possible.

We ask of our teachers, our families, and ourselves what we ask of our children: to remain curious, humble, and alive. To keep growing. To show up fully for one another, and for the living, breathing community we are building together.

Freedom and responsibility. Truth and beauty. Warmth and rigor. Head, heart, and hands.

This is Rise.

• Reverence for Childhood — we see each stage of a child’s development as sacred and irreplaceable, not to be hurried or overlooked.
• Presence — we show up fully; for the children, for each other, for the living moment.
• Love of the Natural World — the forest, the river, the soil, the seasons are not the backdrop of our school. They are the school.
• Warmth and Human Connection — between teachers and children, families and community, colleagues and friends; genuine relationship is the foundation of all learning.
• Wholeness — we educate the thinking, the feeling, and the willing. Head, heart, and hands, always together.
• Freedom with Responsibility — we honor each child’s individuality and trust them to grow into their own purpose, with guidance but without imposition.
• Truth and Beauty — we believe that beauty is not decoration but necessity, and that truthfulness: in word, in art, in action, is the highest form of respect.
• Continuous Growth — we ask of our teachers, our families, and ourselves what we ask of our children: to remain curious, humble, and alive to learning.
• Community as a Living Organism — we grow together, support each other, and understand that the health of the school depends on the health of every person within it.
• Inspiration — in the ordinary, the extraordinary, and everything in between.