Lower School
Outside The Classroom
As students grow, so do their horizons.
Hands-on, experiential learning, a core value of our Lower School program, pulls us out of the classroom and out into the wider world—naturally.
Lower School students play outside at recess in all weather. Under the watchful eyes of their attentive teachers, our active learners explore the school campus and fields, its surrounding neighborhood, and many fascinating natural and cultural attractions in southern Maine. Every field trip extends and deepens concepts introduced in the classroom … and teaches children that learning is really fun.
Outdoor Learning Spaces
We are taking what we value in the classroom—collaborative, cooperative, and creative play—and took it outside. Waynflete is working with landscape designer Sashie Misner to create outdoor play areas that respond to our students’ whole development, including not only the gross motor skills (up, over, down, and around) but the fine motor skills that help with creative, cognitive, and instinctual development.
Neighborhood and Community
Waynflete’s location, in the heart of the West End, offers many opportunities to observe and engage with an urban community and easy access to the historic and natural wonders of southern Maine. As part of their experiential learning, Lower School students ride buses to map routes, splash in salt marshes to gather water samples, go out on lobster boats, visit museums and agricultural fairs, and much more.
Innovation Lab
Sometimes you need a space that is just for asking questions and exploring possible answers. Can you make a Space Station from recyclables? What does a recipe from another country taste like? Waynflete’s Lower School Innovation Lab, a well-stocked maker space with a kitchen, is often where our Lower School students find out.
Waynflete Weather Station
Waynflete’s weather-monitoring station, installed on the roof of the Lower School, measures wind direction and force, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and rain data, giving Lower School students new ways to think about numbers, science, and their own observations of the natural world.
Lower School Garden
Children are naturally fascinated by the way things grow, and the organic container garden on the Lower School balcony is a beautiful place to watch seeds become seedlings, then plants, then produce—and to tend, track progress, and taste the results.
THE WAYNFLETE WIRE
Every student deserves a gifted education.
When you celebrate children for their whole selves and meet them where they are, there’s no place they can’t go. See how Waynflete designs classroom experiences that engage, excite, and empower 
CONTACT
“I encourage you to visit us and spend some time in Lower School and experience the energy of children who are happy and engaged in learning, with one another, their teachers, the space, and the materials.”
Anne Scribner Hopkins
Waynflete Lower School Director
