The Head of School
The Head of School
“Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes, and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden—in all the places.” (Burnett, The Secret Garden, 1911)
In The Secret Garden, Mary Lennox discovers a locked, walled garden neglected for ten years. With the help of a local boy named Dickon and her frail cousin Colin, she brings the garden back to life, and in doing so, helps them all flourish. What Frances Hodgson Burnett intuited over a century ago, contemporary science is now confirming: nature has profound power to heal, restore, and transform us.
Emerging research in environmental neuroscience reveals fascinating connections between our interactions with nature and our overall well-being. In Nature and the Mind, author Marc Berman introduces Attention Restoration Theory, which posits that natural stimuli engage “soft fascination”—a gentle form of attention that doesn’t consume our cognitive resources, allowing our directed attention to replenish. Berman identifies directed attention as critical for pausing, considering intentions, and responding thoughtfully rather than reactively.
The evidence is compelling. In Berman’s 2008 study, subjects who walked through an arboretum improved their performance on memory and attention tasks by 20 percent, while urban walks showed no measurable effect. His “Nature Prescription” identifies specific, measurable benefits: having eleven more trees on your street is related to decreases in cardio-metabolic disorders like stroke, diabetes, and heart disease. Short walks in nature can improve attention by almost 20 percent and decrease depression symptoms. More green space around schools and homes correlates with better academic performance, reduced crime, and improved working memory.
The benefits of nature for learning are nothing new in progressive education. Coined by Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, the concept of the environment as the “third teacher” positions nature as an active participant in learning, alongside parents (the first teacher) and classroom teachers (the second teacher). The environment is intentionally designed to encourage curiosity, discovery, interaction, and a sense of ownership.
The School in Rose Valley was founded on John Dewey’s idea that education proceeds in a social environment where children come into contact with their natural surroundings. Grace Rotzel wrote in The School in Rose Valley, “Our basic goal in science was to get acquainted with the natural forms of life around us, as well as with ourselves, and in that process, to find our relationship with other forms” (Rotzel, 1971). For 96 years, the soil, trees, and animals have been active partners in learning here.
Coming down the lane each morning, many experience a sudden sense of calm upon encountering the plethora of trees and vast expanse. Our alumni often describe the sensory input—the earthy smells, crackling sounds—as transportive, and the feeling as “magical,” “grounding,” or “coming home.” This resonates with the ending of The Secret Garden, which culminates in restoration and new beginnings: “The spell was broken. My uncle learned to laugh, and I learned to cry. The secret garden is always open now. Open, and awake, and alive. If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
I asked some of our students how they interact with the natural world. They described nature as cool, calming, fun, and peaceful. One student shared that it helps her be creative, another that it helps him regulate. One simply said, “It’s what makes us us.”
Their words reveal an elemental connection. Watch our children run from building to building, construct massive forts in Fort Town, collect leaves, leap from stump to stump—they are forces of nature learning in the way they are naturally supposed to, immersed in fresh air and calming surroundings.
Berman’s research reveals something surprising: nature’s effects can be found even in non-natural objects that echo its patterns. He uses Jackson Pollock as an example. When Pollock’s wife, Lee Krasner, moved them from New York City to Springs, Long Island, the quiet natural surroundings provided a “healing place.” Surrounded by views of trees and marshland, Pollock began his iconic drip painting technique. The move coincided with a period of relative peace and high productivity.
Berman’s team found that Pollock’s drip paintings contain fractal patterns also abundant in natural scenes—trees, coastlines, water. The human brain processes these natural patterns with less mental effort than urban, artificial environments, which may contribute to the paintings’ restorative effect. When asked about drawing inspiration from nature, Pollock replied, “I don’t paint nature, I am nature”—expressing that his process was not imitation but a direct expression of being intrinsically connected to the natural world.
SRV embraces a holistic approach to teaching that emphasizes learning should be equally cognitive (the head), physical (the hand), and social-emotional (the heart). The evidence provided by Berman and others confirms what progressive educators have long understood: nature improves cognitive, physical, and social well-being simultaneously. We don’t have to choose between academic rigor and nature-based learning—they reinforce each other.
Grace Rotzel wrote, “In our exploration of the environment, we had delved into the lives of earth’s inhabitants with considerable interest” (Rotzel, 1971). That spirit of exploration continues today. The concepts emerging from environmental neuroscience provide compelling evidence that nature plays a vital role in our mental, social, and physical health. They validate our continuing commitment to a progressive educational model where children don’t just learn about nature—they learn with it, in it, as part of it.
The secret garden is always open now. Open, and awake, and alive.
Berman, Marc. Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being. Simon & Schuster, 2025.
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. 1911.
Rotzel, Grace. The School in Rose Valley: A Parent Venture in Education. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971.
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