Alexis (Lexi) Hughes, executive director of Burlington Little School (BLS), is serious about play. Passion beams from her face as she shows me around the property, which was a single family home before the school was founded by Bruce Campbell in 1997.
“Here at our school, the children do everything through play,” Hughes says, as we start the tour in the large garden out front, surveying the lush plants maintained mostly by teachers, students, and parents. “So math, reading, writing—we do it all through play. We do not do worksheets.”
Executive Director Alexis Hughes (right) and Program Supervisor Ashlynn Saenz | Photograph by Anne Godenham
She leads me through the interior rooms where students ages 1-6 spend their days: spacious classrooms with designated areas for art, imaginative play, building, reading, exploring science—anything you can imagine. Each classroom has its own loft, often used as a space for children to find some quiet time to themselves; we pass one built from branches that’s straight out of my childhood (and adult) dreams.
Photograph by Anne Godenham
In one classroom, a little girl spots Hughes and toddles over, her round cheeks splitting into a wide grin. Hughes picks her up and chatters with her briefly. Later, she gestures to her sunflower-printed dress and beams.
“Sunflowers…symbolize positivity, vitality, and optimism, which describes me to a T. I try to create the energy I want to be around and spread happiness to others.”
Photograph by Anne Godenham
In the next classroom, we pause at a collection of large shapes built from cardboard and aluminum foil, the result of a project for the summer space camp.
“They’re making their own outer space area,” Hughes explains. “The teachers will teach them about space, and then the kids can talk about it and create their own things.”
Photograph by Anne Godenham
The school uses the Emergent Curriculum, which Hughes says “gives all families a chance to have a sense of belonging and allows them to bring their own cultural experiences into the classrooms, and allows for children who may have physical or intellectual disabilities and members of other minority groups to feel welcome.”
Everything BLS students learn carries through to their later education.
“We get feedback from the schools saying ‘your kids are different,’” Hughes says. “‘Their love of learning, the way that they’re interacting with the teachers, the questions they ask…’ My teachers are asking these open-ended questions and getting their children excited to learn.”
Photograph by Anne Godenham
We walk out to see the two playgrounds that border the back of the house. The same little girl from earlier is playing at a sound wall that one of the parents built—all parents participate in improving the school’s facilities and bolstering the community through mandatory volunteer hours. Farther back on the fully fenced property there’s a park-sized backyard, where enormous tractor tires rise out of the sand and apple trees reach their arms down so kids can pick the ripe fruit themselves. Kids shriek and run across the grass while teachers keep watch calmly. It’s almost too idyllic. Ultimately, though, while the spaces at BLS are undeniably incredible, the people are at the center of the school’s success.
Photograph by Anne Godenham
“The staff really keeps the mission statement alive,” Hughes says. “They keep the philosophy alive, and they are…the foundation to the school.” 207 S. Gardner Rd., Burlington, 360.757.8257, burlingtonlittleschool.org
