Nature's Atelier Community School

About Our School

Acknowledgement of Country

Nature's Atelier Community School acknowledges the Wadandi Noongar people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we learn, work and play. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Welcome

An invitation to a different kind of school

A new, independent primary school on sixteen hectares of Boodja (country), pasture and food forest in Vasse.

From January 2027 we propose to welcome our first Pre-primary cohort, adding year levels each year through to Year 3. Our curriculum incorporates every requirement of the Western Australian Curriculum and the Early Years Learning Framework - and we teach it almost entirely outside, in long projects shaped by children's questions and the rhythm of the six Noongar seasons.

Between us, we have spent the better part of forty years asking what schools could be when children are trusted as capable, curious learners and nature is treated as a co-teacher rather than a backdrop.

(The school board is currently completing the final registration process.)

Children in rain gear exploring the property on a wet day

Every day, every season, in almost every weather

What makes us different

Eight things that set us apart

Learning lives outdoors

Boodja (country) is not a special excursion - it is our default classroom every day, every season, in almost every weather. Muddy boots are a sign of a good day.

Children's questions drive the curriculum

Educators listen carefully, designing learning encounters that extend children's thinking into rich, long-term projects. Curiosity leads to explorations that are extended and documented together.

Centring Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing

The six Noongar seasons set the rhythm of the year. Culturally Responsive pedagogies shape how we teach every learning area.

Standards met - and exceeded

Every project is mapped to SCSA achievement standards before, during and after, with explicit small-group literacy and numeracy teaching every single day.

Small, strong and family-shaped

Families are partners in learning, welcome on the property, and central to our governance. We are a not-for-profit community school in every sense.

Continuity with Nature's Atelier Early Learning

Children and families benefit from a close working relationship with Nature's Atelier Early Learning. They enjoy CCS funding while attending Bush Kindy as they get to know what school is about, and have access to Out of School Programs on site - which greatly reduces transitions and helps children feel at home from day one.

Access to a small farm, food forest and shared specialist mentors

On site there is a farm with alpacas, sheep, pygmy goats, ducks and chickens. The school shares Music, Dance, Horticulture and Bush Skills mentors with Nature's Atelier Early Learning - a truly unique environment that nurtures the whole child.

A school dedicated to Early Learning

Our youngest citizens learn differently and require their own unique learning environments. As they enter early schooling, children develop a blend of formal learning and continued play. They begin grasping spatial concepts, logical patterns, and more complex social behaviours - yet still benefit heavily from hands-on, multi-sensory experiences, whether visual, auditory or kinesthetic. We aim to keep the light of learning and joy alive in children's eyes for as long as possible.

Children gathered around a fire on the property Child climbing high in a eucalyptus tree Children working at an outdoor table in the wide landscape

Learning through fire, risk, and wide open spaces - every day at Nature's Atelier

Vision & Aspirations

Our vision

A thriving community where children are nurtured through play, nature connection, and child-led learning - becoming resilient, creative, empowered learners and connected citizens.

Our mission

To provide an inclusive and stimulating environment that combines the EYLF and Western Australian Curriculum through nature-based and play-centred learning, fostering holistic development, wellbeing and community ties.

"The environment is the third teacher." - Loris Malaguzzi
Map of the Nature's Atelier property, Vasse 2025

431 Rendezvous Road, Vasse WA 6280 · Site map 2025

Six aspirations for every child

Capable and curious

To know themselves as competent learners with strong voices and strong hands.

Readers of Boodja (country)

To be connected to country, to read its weather, tracks, seasons and stories - and care for Country as kin.

Literate and numerate

To read fluently, write with purpose, and reason mathematically about the real world.

Kind and brave

To work with others - embracing difference - with empathy and courage.

Honouring First knowledge

To recognise First Nations knowledge as the first and deepest knowledge of this place.

Makers

To make things - drawings, tools, stories, gardens, songs, shelters - and be proud of what we make.

Our People

The board and founding team

Nature's Atelier Community School is governed by Nature's Atelier Connections, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

Gillian McAuliffe
Founder

Gillian founded Bold Park Community School in Wembley and led it from a three-year-old Kindergarten into a school offering educational choice through to Year 12. After consulting with early-learning schools in Australia and Indonesia, she opened Nature's Atelier on sixteen hectares in Vasse - the 2025 recipient of the Excellence in Outdoor Learning Award from Child Australia. A co-founder of International Mud Day and long-standing member of the Nature Action Collaborative of the World Forum Foundation.

Daniel Burton
Founding Chairperson

CEO and Co-Founder of Educated by Nature, delivering nature education programs and professional training across Western Australia. A qualified primary school teacher, education consultant, Rites of Passage facilitator and nature connection mentor. More than a decade of project-based teaching at Bold Park Community School; presents internationally on outdoor learning, playwork and nature pedagogy.

Dr Ron Gorman
Director

Extensive experience teaching and leading schools in WA and Victoria. Awarded the 2019 Pre-Eminent Leader of WA by the Australian Council of Educational Leadership. Holds a Doctor of Education from Edith Cowan University. Board member of the Australian Children's Laureate Foundation and Creative Learning Advisor for The Literature Centre, Fremantle.

Mike Haslett
Director

Mike Haslett is an executive consultant and the director of Haslett Advisory Services, bringing ~20 years of experience in management consulting and strategic transformation. Having served as a Global Director at Bain & Company, Mike has a proven track record of guiding corporations and not-for-profits across North America, Australia, Asia and Europe through complex challenges. Passionate about driving measurable change, he remains deeply committed to the social sector, providing strategic and financial advisory services to educational organizations to support their mission and growth.

Elissa McAuliffe
Director

Co-founder of Remida WA - an educational re-use centre - with extensive experience working in Reggio-Emilia inspired schools, pre-schools and kindergartens, including Bold Park Community School in Perth. A qualified primary school teacher in NSW with experience working in a range of small independent schools in WA, Victoria and NSW. Holds a Bachelor of Sustainable Development and is currently studying a Master of Education majoring in Indigenous Education and Educational Leadership.

Our educators - Our founding teaching team is drawn from early-childhood-qualified educators with a strong grounding in play- and nature-based practice. Many will be familiar to families through Nature's Atelier Early Learning Centre, providing a seamless transition into Pre-primary.

Child's hands holding a tiny daisy

"If you listen to Country, Country will teach you."

First Nations concept