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The Nature School of McKinney, a private school, will welcome its first group of students this fall, owner Fiona Marron said.
The McKinney school is the second location and an expansion of the Nature School of Fairview.
The setup
Marron opened the Nature School of Fairview in August 2020 in a residential home that was converted into a school. The Fairview school has grown over 6 years to have 100 students, which she said is the facility’s capacity, driving the need for a second location.
Both school locations serve children ages 3-11 in mixed-age, small group classrooms, and incorporate nature-based learning with curriculum that aligns with Texas Education Agency’s Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, guidelines, Marron said.
In addition to core subjects, the school offers instruction in areas such as Spanish, gardening, yoga, art and music, she said.
“As it would insinuate by the name, we spend a lot of time outdoors in nature,” Marron said, noting that all students of all ages spend between two and three hours per day outside.
Diving in deeper
The new location was selected for the features on-site as well as the proximity to planned residential growth in McKinney, Marron said.
“We ... have been looking for a second location nearly every day for nearly the last three years,” Marron said.
The McKinney school will be located on a 5-acre property, and similar to the Fairview location, classrooms will be located in repurposed residential homes already located on the site, which has 10,000-square-feet of space across multiple buildings, she said.
The first phase of renovations to the site will remodel the main 4,000-square-foot house into three classrooms that will accommodate 72 students. These classrooms will be the first to open and welcome students this August, Marron said.
Additional phases of construction will include converting a 3,200-square-foot shop area into three more classrooms. A 3,500-square-foot house on the property will also be converted and will serve as the school’s first space for middle school-aged students. Both additional phases are expected to open in fall 2027.
“Our children that initially signed up in Fairview 6 years ago are now of an age where that's where they're at,” Marron said of the need for middle school classrooms.
The McKinney school site also features a creek that runs through the property, an on-site pool that is being converted into a splashpad and a farm that will have miniature animals including cows and donkeys, she said.
Enrollment for the new location is underway and tours are available.
Quote of note
“There is nothing quite like this,” Marron said of the school. “It's a very, very unique type of place and a very unique type of education.”
