ROYALSTON – Usually, when a school finds itself in need of extra space it will consider building an addition or perhaps renting what are known as “portable” classrooms.
But when the Village School in Royalston wanted to expand its outdoor preschool, administrators decided instead to construct a couple of yurts.
A traditional yurt is a round, framed tent covered in animal skins or felt and originated in Mongolia. The yurts being erected at the Village School will be covered in canvas.
Preschool program director Sofie Vieira said each 25-foot yurt can accommodate up to 12 students.
This Saturday, representatives of Two Girls Farm & Yurts of Acworth, New Hampshire, will lead a team of 16 volunteers – including a number of alumni – in constructing the yurts on platforms built near the edge of the woods surrounding the school. Plans call for the work to take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone interested is welcome to stop by, said school administrator Jocelyn Langer.
The platforms were built Squared Away Home Improvements of Fitchburg, which is owned by Barry Bouchard, the parent of a Village School student.
“Each yurt has an indoor heated space,” said Vieira, “and they will allow us to be immersed in our outdoor classroom. There will be sapling lattice with an insulating layer and a canvas layer. There are also saplings that come up on the roof, and a big skylight.
“During Covid, we started most of our days outside and discovered all the other opportunities out here were far superior to what we had been doing. I was thinking creatively about how to expand our preschool, how to create more space. Currently, we have up to 16 kids in our indoor space, which was set up for 14, and it was feeling cramped.”
Building an addition was out, she said, due to the cost.
“Originally, we attempted a summer program and into the fall, but we could never really do an outdoor winter program,” Vieira said. “Then we said, ‘What about a yurt?’”
Plans for the project were developed at Stimson Studios of Princeton, owned by Steve and Lauren Stimson, who are also parents of Village School students.
“We all fell in love with the plan,” said Vieira, “which really falls in line with what were doing with the outdoor classroom – to have the kids immersed in nature, to be one with nature.”
The school has spent much of the year raising the funds needed for the project, which has a cost of around $125,000 for the two yurts. According to the school’s website, just over $113,000 has been raised thus far. Anyone wishing to donate is asked to send a check to the Village School, 253 South Royalston Road, Royalston, MA 01368; write the word “yurt” on the memo line.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.