A Day in the Life
Oak Hill is set in a natural and beautiful campus: wildlife on the hill, trails that extend well beyond our white fence, flowers and trees that surround the red buildings. In the classroom one can witness our mission in action: to meet students at their stage of development, to engage them through carefully nurtured relationships, and to maximize their potential across disciplines.
Get Moving!
The day begins with movement. Many students have lengthy commutes from their homes across the Bay Area. A healthy routine of hiking, yoga, calisthenics, or swinging helps establish optimal arousal levels for learning. We are an active school!
Classroom Learning
Each classroom follows its own schedule tailored to its students’ needs. For students who can access grade level content, we implement a standards-based program that emphasizes hands-on, project-based learning. These classrooms feature regular discussions of literature, in-depth studies of probability or the physics of sound, regular student presentations enhanced by PowerPoint, and math instruction.
Team Collaboration
Collaboration across disciplines happens seamlessly. Occupational Therapists and Speech Pathologists lead cooking projects, art activities, and physical education. Psychotherapists participate in classroom discussions about growing up, making friends, describing emotions, and managing frustration. We schedule individual therapy sessions around important classroom activities.
Activities & Community
72-Acres of Beauty
The Oak Hill campus sets our school apart. Our students have abundant outdoor play structures, a sensory gym, with swings and climbing equipment, an indoor gymnasium, an outdoor swimming pool, and natural and synthetic athletic fields.
We are also adjacent to undeveloped open space, ideal for hiking and nature exploration that is so beneficial to every child (and staff as well).
We tend a vegetable garden that is next to an active chicken coop. In fact, students cook frequently in one of two school kitchens, with ingredients they either pick from our own garden and laying hens, gather during weekly trips to local farmers markets, or purchase at regular local shopping trips.
On campus extras include activities such as a student-staffed morning café and summer car washes, regular cooking and sharing of lunch and snacks, and visiting performance artists who involve students in musical and dramatic events.
Physical education includes on-campus ball games in the gym or on the fields, and off-campus horseback riding at Giant Steps Therapeutic Riding Program, winter swims at Mill Valley Rec Center, and hiking at nearby Phoenix Lake. Summer activities include kayaking on the Bay and more distant recreational activities at sites such as McNears Beach.
Plenty of Off-campus Excursions
Students participate in regularly scheduled visits to outside organizations for service learning, arts education and social interaction. Our students volunteer at the Marin Food Bank, an ideal site for service learning. Arts-related activities include Cal Performances, and Art Abloom. The teen participation at Bridge Club at Redwood High, fostering social interaction with typically developing peers, includes a multi-school prom in the spring.
The town of San Anselmo provides varied opportunities for library visits, shopping, public transit trips and internships. The school’s three vans, and the Golden Gate Transit system, make the greater Bay Area available to Oak Hill students of all ages.
Family events include shared celebration at Harvest Dinner and Graduation, and parents-only festivities at friend-and-fundraising events such as The Wine Life and Stand UP! for Students with Autism.