School facilities can enhance the educational experience. Just like buying better textbooks and hiring better teachers, a high performance facility supports better learning. The effort that Chartwell School (its administrators, faculty, students and board members with its architect and design team) spent in deliberate planning was based on this principle. Since moving into the new campus in September 2006, the school's occupants are already noticing a change for the better over the old facility.
The role of the facilities staff has changed.
- In general, there is more up-beat engagement with Facilities.
- In the previous building, there was much less interaction among students, faculty and facilities/custodial staff. Now it is clear to the Facilities department that the students are affected by what they do. Students know them and ask questions about the functioning of the building, non-toxic cleaning materials, etc.
- The Facilities Director is seen as a problem solver and has pulled the custodial crew into the educational mission. He also gives workshops to the faculty so that they understand how the building operates and their role in it.
Students notice and learn from the ways that the building is constructed.
- How daylighting helps save energy and how good lighting helps them learn
- How important acoustics are for learning
- How certain building methods and designs improve the strengthof a building
- How we can re-use and recycle daily and how the building uses recycled construction materials
- How we can choose sustainable products
Students really appreciate the comfort of the classrooms
Radiant floor heating keeps the students consistently warm. They are comfortable working on larger projects on the floor, not having to bundle up to keep warm. (And the teachers enjoy teaching to students who do not have to put up the hoods on their sweatshirts to keep warm.)
Teachers appreciate the design features
The school gets a lot of tours and visitors. Classrooms are designed so visitors can stand outside the rooms and see into them. The Head of School can explain teaching methods without having to come into the room and stand at the back of the class and whisper to the guests (which was distracting at the former building). Teachers can step outside the classrooms for brief conversations with other faculty and visitors, and still see in to monitor their class. Testing is rarely interrupted, since a person can see into the classroom and realize that testing is in progress. At Chartwell, progress assessments and error analysis are essential parts of diagnostic teaching to help each child master needed skills, so this is especially important.
The faculty is finding that the facility can be a tool in their curriculum
- Conduct a Science Fair.
- Gardening, growing plants, harvesting food.
- Walk on nature trail and make a field guide for it.
- Accommodate more students for music lessons and listen to them perform.
- Lots more space to display art on our sustainable, tackable wallboard – especially so that visitors can see and admire it.
- The Library features lots of natural daylight, and big beanbag seating as well as tables and chairs. Students really like it. It is open at recess and many students are using it. This is a nice occurrence in a school that has so many dyslexic and reading-challenged students.
- Space for indoor physical education allows more varied activities – dance, exercise, and games that they could not do before.
- Students really take good care of the big, beautiful new playfield (like not walking on it, staying off it when it is wet). It has offered more room for new sports, such as LaCrosse. They also do Team Building there.
Morale, pride and self confidence is improved
The new campus is new and beautifully designed. It has beautiful views outside and from the inside. Therefore, students find that other kids (such as siblings or friends) wish they could attend Chartwell. Their self esteem is affected positively by this.
Chartwell has always had active volunteers, but even more people are volunteering now that the new campus has such welcoming spaces to meet and plan activities.
One other thought about community interest in the school:
Chartwell strives to be an open resource for the community on issues such as learning differences, literacy and sustainable design. The new campus has attracted visitors from local, national, and even international organizations to come and learn about the tremendous impact a carefully researched and designed building can have on educational outcomes. This increased community involvement is an important part of helping a growing number of people understand and support Chartwell's mission to make a difference in the lives of children who learn differently.
Chartwell School
Since 1983, Chartwell School has educated students with dyslexia and related language-based learning differences in a way that provides them with the learning skills and self-esteem necessary to return successfully to mainstream education. Chartwell is the only school of its kind in the region, serving students from Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.
Instruction at Chartwell emphasizes best practices in student-centered diagnostic teaching, building on student strengths while acquiring the skills to address gaps. The school currently enrolls 123 students, ages 7-14. As an independent school, Chartwell does not receive government support. More than 100 volunteers help support the school’s mission and raise needed funds. The school will award more than $425,000 in financial aid this year. Chartwell also conducts community outreach programs to share its knowledge and experience, so that other schools and youth organizations can better meet the needs of people who can learn well, but who learn differently.
Chartwell School’s New Campus
Chartwell School’s new campus is located on 29 acres of land overlooking Monterey Bay at the former Ft. Ord in Seaside, Calif. EHDD Architecture of San Francisco, Ausonio, Inc. of Castroville, and Rabobank (formerly the Community Bank) of Central California are key partners in the project. Chartwell broke ground in September 2005 and welcomed students to its new facilities in September 2006.
The school is on track to be the first in the nation designed and built from the ground up to meet the highest standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system which is Platinum level. Chartwell also meets the standards for the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS).
For more information about Chartwell School, contact Douglas Atkins at 831-394-3468. Websites relevant to the new campus include www.chartwell.org, www.usgbc.org, and www.chps.net.