With more than 60 students enrolled at the newly opened Nature School of McKinney, owner Fiona Marron said she is looking ahead to growing enrollment as the school year continues.
The McKinney campus is the second location for the school, joining Nature School of Fairview. The school follows Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards for its curriculum while also immersing students in nature and hands-on activities.
“We want to ignite that spark in people that they want to learn,” Marron said. “They want to be here—the parents tell me that every day. The kids are up super early. They want to go to school.”
What they offer
The school, which serves students ages 3-12, teaches traditional subjects such as reading, writing and math while also employing an experiential, nature-based educational approach using a proprietary curriculum. Each day, students spend time in nature, doing activities such as gardening and exploring. Other activities include cooking, art and more.
“They love to cook, and it's one of the ways in which we teach math, like fractions and those types of things,” Marron said. “We don't really use worksheets as such. That's not what we do, that's far too boring.”
Classrooms at Nature School of McKinney offer small class sizes with mixed-age student groups and a ratio of one teacher per eight students. Students also have access to resources at the school such as a dyslexia specialist, a reading specialist and a behavioral therapist as needed, Marron said.
“We have children that are quite far ahead academically. So in conventional school, they'd have to stay where they were,” she said. “Here, it doesn't really matter what your age is or what the capability is. Everybody brings something to the table.”
Diving in deeper
While the school’s curriculum incorporates traditional subjects, Marron said the school also focuses on “bigger picture” learning like problem-solving skills, leadership qualities and social-emotional skills.
“The gap that Nature School bridges is to evoke the understanding that anything is possible. It's not conventional regurgitation of information. All of that is obsolete. … Our focus is on soft skills, [on] leading a team,” she said. “Are you affable? Do people want to work with you? Are you able to read the room? They're the things that are imperative for success.”
When evaluating a family looking to enroll a student in the school, Marron said she is looking for a family that will participate and engage with mutual respect.
“We're just looking for somebody that wants to co-raise this child with us,” she said. “It's not like they're here and they're our problem, and then they're at home and they're your problem. This is a joint effort between us and the family.”
The context
Marron opened Nature School of Fairview in August 2020 in a residential home that was converted into a school. The Fairview school has grown over six years to have 100 students, which she said is the facility’s capacity, driving the need for a second location.
The McKinney location was selected in part for the features on the 5-acre property, including a creek, various outdoor activity areas and more than 10,000 square feet of space across multiple existing buildings.
The first phase of the campus opened in August with four classrooms. The campus also features a pool-turned-sandpit, a play structure and a barn, where live animals including goats and chickens are cared for by students and staff.
Going forward
As part of the school’s growth, additional phases of renovation will add more classrooms and facilities to the McKinney campus.
Slated to open in fall 2027, Phase 2 will add 3,200 square feet of space that will include three elementary classrooms as well as a classroom flex space for activities such as dance and yoga, Marron said.
A third phase of renovations will debut the school’s first middle school building that will serve students ages 12-14 beginning in August 2027, she said. The expansion will serve students who are approaching the school’s age limit as they progress to middle school.
Quote of note
“Our hope is that these people are going to do some amazing things, and you're going to have to work,” Marron said. “We're very much about building tenacity and grit.”
