Pono - An Amazing School Community

My first school visit was to a newish school with big ideals. Known simply as Pono, it caters for younger students, up to 8 years at the moment, and as it grows, so too shall their age.
Involving a subway trip to Harlem, a unique adventure in itself, the school was situated on the bottom level of an apartment building, about 5 blocks from the station. I was warmly greeted by people who genuinely wanted to share their vision: 

Pono is an independent, democratic, and outdoor center for children set up with the purpose of immersing children in stimulating environments and harmonious learning communities where each child’s interests and natural, innate desire to learn are cherished and nurtured as the children are guided to becoming life-long learners, critical thinkers, and balanced human beings.

The environment was clean, uncluttered and most evidently student centred. I was fortunate enough to be there on the day they had their planning meeting, to set the learning for the following term. Each student’s interests were outlined, written on a chart and then the other students had the opportunity to dip in or out of these interests for themselves.

There are no chairs at Pono, a decision made by the children. People sit on the floor and small tables and blocks of wood adorn some parts of an otherwise expanse of polished wooden floor.

By the end of the meeting there was a list that would be taken and coordinated into a learning schedule. No ideas were refused and each and every one of them came from the passions, interests and desires of the students.

The role of teachers is to nurture, guide, and support the interests and natural progress of the children. More importantly, they teach by example how to be socially conscious; how to pursue learning journeys; and how to live harmoniously in a community where one’s freedom ends when it interferes with the freedom of others.

Many parents stayed to watch and not one of them interrupted or influenced their children. They were committed to a procedure that they had chosen and respected.

Learning happens everywhere, and it happens best when children are immersed in authentic environments and situations, rather than through rote or forced instruction in rigid artificial settings. We take full advantage of the riches and resources available in New York City: We hold most sessions in parks and gardens, museums, theaters, art studios and so on. We create partnerships with different educational and cultural organizations.

The school is brave. It fits somewhere between the Free Schools and the Democratic Schools here in New York. It is most definitely visionary. It’s not for everyone but it works for those who have chosen to work there, send their children there and to assist in the learning of free-thinking citizens of the future.

Children and adults learn together and from each other, despite presumed or identified abilities, disabilities, challenges, and labels.

Pono is without doubt a school that engages in the belief and trust of the notion of Student Voice and not just in a mission statement or a glossy website, but in what they do everyday that they step foot into their special space.