114 20th Ave SE
Olympia
Alternate Education Fair featuring preschools, elementary, middle and high schools in the Olympia area.
There will be fun and free activities for kids!
Olympia Community School will also be hosting an Open House during the Fair. Come meet OCS teachers, visit the classrooms, and experience the community.
Olympia is an alternative hub—home to the Procession of the Species, The Evergreen State College, and an amazing alternative music scene—so it makes sense the community would house over 20 alternative public and private schools. These schools share many values such as multi-age classes, hands-on learning, celebrating each child’s unique qualities, outdoor and nature experiences, collaboration, field trips, and differentiated curriculum.
Kids are encouraged to provide input regarding their education and are helped to understand how they best learn. An alternative education fosters creativity and inclusiveness. The schools also encourage parent participation, who often volunteer in ways that support their values.
Though all the schools share many of the same principles, they each are unique in how that plays out. Here are a few examples:
> Olympia Community School (OCS), which hosts the fair, is an independent progressive elementary school. OCS offers a balanced educational experience incorporating academics, arts, nature appreciation, and social and emotional growth. They approach education holistically, where learning is natural in a process of exploration and discovery.
The school’s low teacher to student ratio of 1:14 fosters deeper connections and allows teachers to meet the learning needs of each student. Teachers assist students in identifying individualized learning goals and these goals are routinely revisited. They also integrate instructional strategies and techniques from multiple educational philosophies, rather than adhering strictly to one specified learning approach.
> NOVA School is an alternative middle school that embraces the power of care, compassion, and relationships. At NOVA creating a meaningful highly capable program is to use a balanced approach between acceleration and depth of content. We encourage students to analyze, think critically, and push outside of comfort zones in a safe place where failures become a learning opportunity to gain skills, seek more knowledge, and in the end build confidence and ownership of their educational journey.
NOVA understands and appreciates the significant physical, emotional, and brain changes that are happening at this developmental time in the life of our students. Our small school environment cultivates meaningful relationships and we are better able to respond to one another in ways that can make a difference.
> Avanti High School is a small innovative public high school that provides a personalized learning environment. We build lifelong connections to learning, creativity, resourcefulness, and social justice. Our mission is to promote compassion, critical thinking, and creative self-expression, while emphasizing high standards for all students within an interdisciplinary structure. Our philosophy provides for a creative, authentic, performance-based educational system that equips all students with intellectual skills and promotes emotional intelligence. Students are empowered, informed citizens who contribute actively toward a democratic and equitable society.
These schools, and many others will be at the Olympia Area Alternative Education and Pre-school Fair to share their stories with the local alternative family community. The fair is free with kid activities at each table. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about all the alternative school options in one place and to find the right school for your family.
Parking available in the 19th and Capital lot of St. Johns.
