2 new schools opening on Coastside

Both of these innovative new private schools will begin offering classes this summer. Leaders of both schools talk about the importance of social-emotional learning and how the history and culture of the coast inspire and support their educational missions.

Students at CLA will gather each morning outdoors in Moss Beach for a school day that includes physical education in nature, mindfulness, play, centering and reflection. Rietmann-Grout and co-founder Lindsay Stewart are also planning interdisciplinary units drawing on local history and ecology. They advocate integrated learning in the real world that teaches students how to think critically rather than merely memorizing sets of facts in discrete subjects. One element of their curriculum plan is truly distinctive: They have a strict no homework policy.

Rietmann-Grout and Stewart are committed advocates of all-girl schooling. They cite evidence that all-girl communities are more nurturing and are more likely to produce graduates who succeed in higher education and in STEM fields and see themselves as leaders.

To those who wonder if the Moss Beach climate allows for an outdoor school, Stewart says, “There’s no bad weather, you just need a good costume.” For the rare days when even the right outfit is not enough, the founders plan on creating space in their garage.

Hemisphere School also plans to emphasize physical and mental well-being. A typical day at the school will include movement, arts and circle time so the young students can reflect and build their social-emotional competencies.

Similar to the CLA, the new elementary school expects to rely on Coastside activities such as farming and hiking to develop project-based real world learning. “Hemisphere School’s multilingual culture pays tribute to the Coastside’s historic diversity,” the founders write in a letter to parents. At the school students “learn about local conservation and restoration efforts to protect our coastline.”

Despite the differences in grade levels between the schools, the founders of both rely on recent research that suggests the need for fundamental changes in the way we educate children.

Hemisphere School lists two distinguished Peninsula educators, Anabel Jensen and Esther Wojcicki, as emeritus members of the founding team. In a conversation with the Review, both described the typical classroom as a place where the teacher does most of the talking.

“School is a place where you’re always being told you’re wrong,” Wojcicki points out. As a result, Jensen adds, “Data show that 80 percent of kids are excited about school when they’re in kindergarten, but by 11th grade only 10 percent want to go to class.”

With guidance from Jensen and Wojcicki, Hemisphere School plans child-directed learning where students have the autonomy to initiate their own curriculum in a play-based

environment. The school will be completely bilingual in English and Spanish. Companys says Hemisphere will combine an emphasis on social-emotional learning with bilingual education.

He contrasts the approach with traditional bilingual curricula where the focus is on measuring the formal contact time in each language rather than cultivating natural contexts for bilingualism.

Founding a new school is no small undertaking. Rietmann-Grout and Stewart, who both work in an all-girl school, joked about starting their own for years. When they saw the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of students they realized the time had come. “It takes courage to do something different,” Rietmann-Grout says, “but the rewards are worth it.” She was in the first class to graduate from Sea Crest School in Half Moon Bay, so she has some experience being part of a startup school.

The Companys-Greenberg household has become quite hectic with constant meetings about leasing classroom spaces, developing curricula and finding staff. They are juggling all this while Emily works night shifts as a doctor at Kaiser and Companys runs his own tech firm.