Education Place Is Designed To Fit Into A Busy Lifestyle, Particularly In The COVID-19 Era
Unique School
BY M. DENNIS TAYLOR
Evolving from a private tutoring organization for young equestrians, Education Place today is a private school in Wellington teaching up to 100 students. This year-round, Montessori-style school serves families for whom a traditional school setting does not work, and this unique education model has the school fully prepared to continue teaching students through the current pandemic. Education Place was founded 20 years ago by Judy Blake and Anita Kane, who both taught at a local private school.Their objective was to fill a need in the western communities for tutoring and home schooling. Originally, the two educators drove with their supplies to each student’s house.Within the first year, the number of students grew so dramatically, that it required a permanent location for their flexible and alternative educational activities. The purpose of the school was to provide a unique learning environment dedicated to high levels of productivity and integrity, an “education place” for students away from the distractions of their homes. “We pride ourselves on providing young people with the direction and support to manage their time, learning styles and behavior,” Kane said. They soon found that this approach works well with the modern lifestyle. “Many families today are experienc-
ing fast-paced lives full of information overload,” Blake explained. “They are assigned to overcrowded schools with inflexible school curricula and now remote teaching. Sometimes they suffer from isolation from their extended family due to travel requirements or multiple living locations.” This has led many people to look for alternatives, Blake added. “These people include students who devote daily time to special interests, such as equestrian training, music training, a job, professional practicing, such as tennis, soccer or baseball players, racecar drivers or those into modeling, etc. Now it includes students who no longer have a traditional school setting available to them,” Blake said. Education Place is uniquely designed to meet the emotional and time challenges that such students and families face. For students visiting from other areas, such as equestrian competitors, the school can interface with the student’s home school, if necessary, even if that school is in another state or country. There is an attention-intensive ratio of just eight students for each teacher. The facility was already set up to respond to the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic without necessitating many changes. “Our 8,000-square-foot campus is
not a public facility, so there is no one present who isn’t a student or a teacher,” Blake said. For example, there was key card access already in place and there was more than ample space between students in the classrooms under normal circumstances. “We have a whole system in place now,” Kane added, explaining that there are daily health checks and the taking of non-touch temperatures upon arrival of everyone. Everything is sanitized each evening, as well as throughout the school day, and there is very limited sharing of maEducation Place is located in the original Wellington Mall.
wellington the magazine | august 2020 37