Windmill School, a play-based preschool, recently received a building permit to move ahead with construction of a new campus for its preschool and Family Education Center on a 1.69-acre site at 900 Portola Road, adjacent to Our lady of the Wayside Church in Portola Valley.
Windmill plans to construct two buildings with 8,400 square feet of floor space and renovate a third, according to Karen Tate, capital campaign co-chair. One new building will have three classrooms and teacher offices. Another new building will house the kitchen and family hall. A renovated storefront for the former Al’s Nursery that was on the site will serve as a family lounge.
The goal is to complete construction and open the new school facilities in 2018.
One of the school’s goals is to expand educational programs (in art, music and physical movement, for example) for preschool and K-8 students.
Plans for the outside include measures to shield nearby residential neighbors from noise — an 8-foot-high sound wall and a “quiet-zone” garden — as well as a redwood grove, play yards for each classroom and eventually a farm for up to 12 chickens, 12 rabbits and two goats, according to a conditional use permit.
The new school, designed by Carter Warr of CJW Architecture, will have a windmill feature and an architectural style reflecting the agrarian history of Portola Valley, according to Ms. Tate.
It’s a big step for Windmill School, which has been renting space for 60 years in town, including for the last 40 years on the grounds of the Alpine Hills Swimming & Tennis Club. The original school, founded in the 1950s, was located at the corner of Georgia Lane and Portola Road, adjacent to the large windmill structure that still stands there today.
Windmill School operating hours will be 7 a.m. to 7:15 p.m., and after hours indoors to 10 p.m. Maximum enrollment will be 132 students, with no more than 66 students there at any one time and no more than 120 people on campus during operating hours, according to a conditional use permit.
Five times a year, for events such as the school picnic and fundraising, maximum capacity expands to 200 people.
Go to windmillschool.com/the-new-campus for more information.
