Our Story
About Our School:
The History and Philosophies of Bonny Doon Elementary School
The History and Philosophies of Bonny Doon Elementary School
For more than half a century, the children of Bonny Doon have been schooled close to their homes. In the 19th century, several one-room schoolhouses including Alba, Bald Mountain, Ocean View, and San Vicente provided an education for the children of this remote mountain area. Responding to a swift rise in population after the Second World War, these small schools were combined to form the Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District in 1947.
Bonny Doon Elementary School's teachers and staff work to inspire a love of learning. Their efforts are encouraged by strong community support and a tradition of parental involvement. Quality public education has always been, and remains, a valued goal of Bonny Doon residents.
Small classes, including multi-age classes, provide a supportive setting for a challenging curriculum, which is aligned with state standards. Children are encouraged to be responsible, creative, confident individuals, receptive to the ideas of others. Enhanced learning is nurtured through special programs such as SPECTRA, Artists-in-Residence, instrumental and vocal music, art, a science and Life Lab program, and an after-school program.
Our school is proud to be a Waste-Free School. We provide our students with multiple opportunities to learn about their natural environment using the resources that surround us. We work closely with Ecology Action to bring presentations to our school about conservation and protecting the environment. We were the first school in Santa Cruz County to join with the Monterey Bay Offset Project, a non-profit organization that is working to put together a consortium of other non-profit agencies to participate in a solar offset project that would put solar panels on our schools. Bonny Doon School is now solar! Because of our commitment to environmental education, we successfully completed the process to become a Certified Green School in 2014.
The Bonny Doon educational community—parents, teachers, support staff, and the superintendent/principal, are committed to our students and to maintaining the great traditions of the school through finding funding for special programs, careful allocation of financial resources, and ongoing evaluation and improvement of instruction, programs, and learning. Consequently, our students graduate from Bonny Doon School ready for their next steps in school and in life.
Bonny Doon Elementary School's teachers and staff work to inspire a love of learning. Their efforts are encouraged by strong community support and a tradition of parental involvement. Quality public education has always been, and remains, a valued goal of Bonny Doon residents.
Small classes, including multi-age classes, provide a supportive setting for a challenging curriculum, which is aligned with state standards. Children are encouraged to be responsible, creative, confident individuals, receptive to the ideas of others. Enhanced learning is nurtured through special programs such as SPECTRA, Artists-in-Residence, instrumental and vocal music, art, a science and Life Lab program, and an after-school program.
Our school is proud to be a Waste-Free School. We provide our students with multiple opportunities to learn about their natural environment using the resources that surround us. We work closely with Ecology Action to bring presentations to our school about conservation and protecting the environment. We were the first school in Santa Cruz County to join with the Monterey Bay Offset Project, a non-profit organization that is working to put together a consortium of other non-profit agencies to participate in a solar offset project that would put solar panels on our schools. Bonny Doon School is now solar! Because of our commitment to environmental education, we successfully completed the process to become a Certified Green School in 2014.
The Bonny Doon educational community—parents, teachers, support staff, and the superintendent/principal, are committed to our students and to maintaining the great traditions of the school through finding funding for special programs, careful allocation of financial resources, and ongoing evaluation and improvement of instruction, programs, and learning. Consequently, our students graduate from Bonny Doon School ready for their next steps in school and in life.