The Hundred Acre School, the pre-K through Grade 1 STEM school at Heritage Museums & Gardens, will be expanding to add two new classrooms by renovating existing space in the same building as the current school.
The wing of the building currently housing The Heritage Collection exhibit will be remodeled to contain classrooms, and the addition of a connecting hallway linking the two wings of the building will make this new school building complete. The Looff Carousel, at the center of the building, will remain open to the public.
The expansion of the school will result in a total of five classrooms to offer a range of classrooms from pre-K to Grade 2 in a phased in approach. Current kindergarten students will be the first class to enter Grade 1, and the following year, Grade 2. This will allow for Hundred Acre School students that plan to attend Sandwich Public Schools to transition to Grade 3 at the Oak Ridge school with their peers throughout the town.
“As one of the first STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) preschools to be opened on the
grounds of a museum, it was the right school at the right time,” said Anne Scott-Putney, Heritage’s
president CEO. “We are delighted to expand to continue to meet strong community demand for small
scale, outdoor oriented, pre-K and elementary education for children.”
Now in its seventh year, the mission of The Hundred Acre School is to teach children to wonder, play,
question, explore, discover and learn together while developing the habits that assure superior success as engaged and productive citizens. The Hundred Acre School engages students in active learning using Heritage’s museum collections, physical facilities and 100-acre grounds. Vital to the school’s success is the use of the scientific method and design thinking to guide exploration and discovery.
Admission is on a rolling basis. For more information, visit the website at 100acreschool.org or email the Director of The Hundred Acre School, Melissa Russell, M.Ed., at mrussell@heritagemuseums.org
