About Us
Brave Nature School is an outdoor, anti-oppressive
learning community rooted in consent, care, and curiousity.
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How to join
We are called to be brave.
WELCOME
BNS is an outdoor learning community in New Haven, CT, rooted in consent, care, and the land. We've been gathering at Edgerton Park since 2023 with families who believe children already know how to lead.
We're practicing that belief together, outside, year-round.
Nature is a teacher.
Cultures around the world believe that nature (including the human species!) already holds the answer to its sources of resilience and survival. What does it look like to let nature be our teacher? Can we learn to listen? What does it mean to share space with other lifeforms? What might paying attention and taking these relations seriously mean? What could we learn about living well together?
Learning is relational.
At Brave Nature School, we believe that learning is relational. Another way of saying this is that relationships ignite learning! Caregivers are a child's first teachers, they provide the very foundation to a little one's lifelong learning.
Learning is also intergenerational. Some of the most practical skills and meaningful lessons a child will learn have been passed down by elders, generation upon generation. As children step outside their family nests, their worlds rapidly expand. Experiences with community members, peers, and the natural environment further develop their understandings and broaden their perspectives. We invite you into the process of sharing bioregional, intergenerational and multicultural knowledge.
A values-driven learning experience.
We are decidedly consent-based, anti-racist, anti-bias, and decolonizing in practice. We invite one another to engage in the process of unlearning any biases we may have acquired, while equipping ourselves with skills that promote body awareness and autonomy, collaboration, and kinship with our natural world.
We partner with Indigenous educators, micro-schools and organizations as we collectively work to break down barriers for community-based knowledge systems and re-center our relationship as an interconnected part of nature. In this way, we model a Brave, lifelong learning ethic while contributing to a truly relevant and individualized experience for each child.
Learning is emergent.
Knowledge isn't simply given or received. Knowledge is actively exchanged and co-created as playworkers, families, and the land come together. We believe that children are active protagonists in their own learning journeys and our curriculum and pedagogy are designed to be responsive. As each cohort is unique, no two classes or programs will ever be alike.
Children are rights-holders with the right to be heard, make independent choices, and to their bodily autonomy. We take that seriously in a world that often doesn't.
At BNS, children aren't managed into compliance. They move freely, follow their curiosities, and learn to trust themselves.
Consent-Based Learning
Anti-Bias Community
Every child belongs here.
We actively work to identify and oppose bias rooted in racism, homophobia, ableism, and other forms of harm.
We know from ecology that diverse communities generate more resources (not fewer). Everyone's presence here makes our community richer.
Year-Round, All Weather
We gather in every season, in almost all weather. Some of the coldest, wettest days turn out to be the most joyful. Research shows regular time outdoors reduces stress and supports children's social-emotional development.
We'll walk you through everything you need before your first day.
- Relational consent over compliance
- Self-trust over performance
- Unlearning our biases
- Honoring our many traditions
and cultural backgrounds - Trusting children to lead
Rooted in relationship with
one another and the land.
Our Community Agreement
Brave Nature Collaborative · New Haven, CT
Relational consent over compliance. Self-trust over performance. We unlearn our biases, honor our many traditions, trust children to lead, and each other to listen.
Rooted in relationship with one another and the land.
Dempsey is a multi-media designer, sensory anthropologist, harpist, and mamá of two. With over 10 years of experience in research, branding, and design, they bring a unique blend of social science, art, and communications praxis to Brave Nature School. Passionate about nurturing children’s curiosity and deepening connections to nature and community, Dempsey blends art, writing, and visual storytelling to communicate complex ideas in accessible and engaging ways.
She/they
Dempsey - Lead Storyteller
Born and raised on unceded Poquonooks, Wangunks, and Tunxis Land also known as Hartford County, CT, I am a practitioner of consent-based environmental learning spaces, and the mama to one brave nature-loving toddler. For me, Brave Nature School is a childhood dream come true. Like many kids, I spent my days climbing trees, ankle-deep in a stream, and caring for wildlife. I loved learning – about plants and their healing properties at the urban garden, oil paints and knitting from my Polish grandmother, and about different cultural traditions at our community center.
At the same time, I remember feeling disconnected from my formal education experience. My teachers did not represent my diverse community nor did the curriculum or policies align with my values and lived experience. I knew from a young age that I would start a different kind of school one day.
My reverence for nature and heart for social justice led me to a career at the intersection of human rights, climate and environmental education policy, and community organizing. I earned my Masters degree in Critical Environmental Education under an Indigenous and First Nations faculty where I specialized in decolonizing, feminist, and anti-racist education frameworks. Over the years I have built nature programs, one multicultural micro-school, designed trauma-informed and culturally relevant curricula for refugees, and most recently advanced the rights, knowledge and priorities of Indigenous Peoples in international environmental policy at the United Nations.
I have been invited to present at regional and international conferences including the American Education Research Association and the World Environmental Education Congress. I've travelled to many parts of the world to learn (and teach) in various community led schools including the Green School, Bali; the Warsaw Waldorf School, Poland; Norbulingka Institute, India, among others.
Now that I am back in my home state raising a little one of my own (and thanks to a magical partnership with Edgerton Park), our dream micro-school is now underway. I hope you'll join us.
Kimberly - Director
she/they
I was born and raised on the unceded Agawam and Nipmuc Land, now known as Middlesex County, MA. When I was not outside collecting rocks I had my nose in a book. I found a passion for literature and storytelling at a young age. It led me to wonder about storytellers and which stories have a place in formal education.
Children’s literature, songs and poems in particular have a unique ability to tell complex stories with few to no words. This interest inspired me to study early childhood education at Westfield State University and research children’s literature. I learned about stories that hold a child’s interest and the stories most represented in schools. This reason among others led me to divert from my path of becoming a public school teacher and look for a place where more diverse stories are honored.
Since the start of the pandemic I have devoted much of my heart to promoting community health both physical and mental. Some of that work has been through reading stories to children and listening to peoples’ stories about their struggles through our ever changing world.
I was incredibly lucky to find Brave Nature School after moving to the unceded Mohegan Land, now known as Central, CT as a place where community is nurtured in nature and diverse stories take root and grow.
THEY/THEM
Bee - Nests Playworker
I was born and raised in St. Catherine, Jamaica. I relocated to the U.S. at age 13 and have lived in Connecticut since then, specifically on the native lands of the Wappinger, Quinnipiac, and Paugussett peoples. I am an MSW social work student and community organizer. My social work practice is rooted in anti-oppressive, anti-racist, strengths-based, and decolonial frameworks. As a community organizer, my work is geared toward immigrant communities, transgender populations, and the fight for a free Palestine. Mutual aid is an important value of mine; I consistently raise funds for Palestinian families living in the Gaza Strip.
In my final year of school, I am interning at Clifford Beers Community Care Center, where I work with children and families who are predominantly Black and Hispanic.
As a child, I was the kid chasing butterflies, playing with worms, examining spider webs, mapping the stars, climbing trees, and playing cricket. I grew up surrounded by many fruit-bearing trees in my backyard and with a beach nearby, which nurtured a strong connection to and appreciation for the natural world. Sam’s playwork philosophy is rooted in letting children lead, staying curious, and sharing power with them.
Sam - Nests Playworker
HE/HIM
Meet our Team
The People
Join Our Team!
our educational philosophy & Values
Child Autonomy: We honor children's rights to move freely, make independent choices, and lead their learning.
100% Outdoor Learning: Children thrive in natural environments and learn best through play.
Playwork Approach: Playworkers prioritize observation over instruction, support risk-taking, and empower children's agency.
Community & Consent Framework: We commit to unlearning harmful biases and fostering inclusive, intergenerational learning experiences.
Holistic Education: Beyond ecology, we incorporate arts, history, culture, STEM, and storytelling into outdoor learning.
Open Positions
Playworkers—Nests Little and Grown-up Circle
Nests is Brave Nature School’s Little & Grown-up Circle for children ages 0–9, designed to nurture outdoor play, community-building, and connection across early childhood and the early elementary years.
Our cohorts now reflect mixed-age siblings, multi-age family learning, and community groups who grow together through exploration, sensory play, seasonal rhythms, and child-led discovery.
This role blends elements of early childhood education, playwork, and outdoor environmental education. You’ll design open-ended invitations and shared rhythms in collaboration with other playworkers, shaped by the children in your cohorts, the land you’re on, and the season we’re moving through.
Playworkers—Camp Programming
Our 2026 Seasonal Camps offer children full, creative days shaped by story, nature connection, and child-led exploration. Each session blends sensory play, collaborative building, art, folklore, and the open-ended discoveries that unfold outside.
Seasonal camps run during the following windows:
Summer Camp: July 1–August 7, 2026
February Recess Camp 2027
Spring Recess Camp 2027
For more information on our open internships, academic credit, or volunteering please reach out to:
bravenatureschool@gmail.com
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