Oak and Orca
School and DL

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Bioregional Education Association

Policies, Constitution & Bylaws

The Bioregional Education Association was created to serve the needs of families wishing to provide their children with bioregional educational experiences. The organization is a BC Society and a Canadian Charity.

The society runs the Oak and Orca Bioregional School and the Oak and Orca School DL (Distributed Learning) in British Columbia under the Independent School Act. Our programs cater to home-learners throughout BC.



"People should be free to find or make for themselves the kinds of educational experience they want their children to have."
John Holt

Policies

The school complies with all BC Laws. We have created these policy compliance notes to help you find the laws that we are specifically bound by as an Independent School and Child Care Facility.

General Policies (apply to all programs):

  • Discrimination Protection
  • Programs Offered
  • Organizational Structure
  • Special Education
  • Personnel
  • Concerns and Complaints
  • Student Records
  • Academic Integrity
  • Core Learning Resources

    • On-site and Blended Learning Policies:

  • On-Site School
  • Behaviour
  • Field Trip
  • Health and Safety
  • Emergency Procedures

    • Distributed Learning Policies:

  • General Distributed Learning
  • K-9 DL Program
  • 10-12 DL Program
  • DL Emergency Preparedness

    • Constitution

    1. The name of the society is Bioregional Education Association.
    2. The purposes of the society are:
      1. to provide an educational alternative which empowers children to bring about social change towards more fulfilling and ecologically sustainable communities;
      2. to promote educational opportunities based on the interests of children and focused on the local bioregion;
      3. to foster children's intrinsic ability to learn while allowing them to choose what, how, and when they learn, within a learning environment;
      4. to create a safe and inclusive environment where children, parents, teachers and mentors can teach and learn together;
      5. to connect children to nature and to a diversity of people within their community;
      6. to provide an environment in which children, parents, teachers and mentors participate equally in age-appropriate decisions;
      7. to create an educational culture which is tolerant and supportive of individual expression;
      8. to educate the body, mind, heart and spirit;
      9. to create and implement curricula that encourage students to:
        1. act together as a community,
        2. learn local history and natural heritage,
        3. discover the wisdom of diverse worldview,
        4. distinguish their needs from their wants,
        5. develop environmental literacy,
        6. understand local ecosystems,
        7. explore their connections to the land, the sea and all living things,
        8. make ecologically sustainable choices, and
        9. understand their responsibilities as inhabitants of a bioregion; and
      10. to create and operate schools and programs in accordance with purposes a through i.
    3. The nature of the society shall be a non-partisan organization which welcomes racial, cultural and religious diversity, and families of every composition. Any profits or accretions to the society shall be used for promoting its purposes. This provision is unalterable.

    Bylaws

    The complete constitution and bylaws can be downloaded here in portable document format.

    Independent Schools in BC

    The BC Government's Information on independent schools in BC can be found here.