Student Learning

Our list of indigenous plant species that are creating our garden are listed below.  Please visit this page again to hear the plant names in the hul’q’umi’num’ language.

For thousands of years, the beautiful and varied land in the Cowichan Valley has been the “classroom” for learners of all ages.

Mill Bay Nature School is a public school – presently for children ages 5 to 12 situated in the Warm Land of the Cowichan Valley – the beautiful traditional territory of the Hul’q’umi’num’ People who have lived in this place since time immemorial. We are rooted in a relationship with the Cowichan and Malahat Peoples – walking together with our elders-in-residence and knowledge holders– and seek to build a place that honours the natural rhythms of this place, the lessons learned over millennia, that honours, and ultimately serves, our xe’ xe’ smune’em – our sacred children. We enact the First Peoples Principles of Learning because they reflect the natural rhythms of a healthy, sustainable ecosystem – and we see this in the development of children with strong voices, respectful hearts, and brilliant minds who are known and know others.

The staff is committed to an emergent curriculum which flows from provocations, questions, challenges, and the living of life in a community of people. An attention to emergence requires nimble and agile responsiveness, and a willingness to walk together – Q’shintul –as we discover and learn together. The staff are also committed to the development of core competencies (described in the BC Curriculum) within themselves and the children: critical, creative and reflective thinking; personal development; social understanding and engagement; and robust, expansive communication skills – because we know how critical these are for lifelong engagement in an ever-changing world.