DUXBURY — When students return to school at Bay Farm Montessori next week, they’ll have a dozen new classmates to greet them.
But instead of joining them in the classroom, the new arrivals will be confined to a brand new coop, barn and paddock in the back of the 10-acre campus, all members of the school’s growing agricultural program that Head of School Conrad Wildsmith says provides a necessary experience for students.
“Our goal is to bring the kids closer to nature,” he said. “The Montessori philosophy really says that we should live intertwined with the natural word . . . Technology has told our kids that it’s OK to not experience real nature, but I think it’s important that our students’ knowledge comes from concrete experience.”