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Mary Kaye Carpenter Campus
As the school has expanded over the decades, we’ve relocated to accommodate our growing student body. In 2017, we moved into what we plan to be the school’s permanent home. Our unparalleled campus was intentionally designed with research at its center. It is the result of collaboration between experts in the fields of education, science, art, architecture, landscape design, ecology, and human development. One need only to spend a brief time on our campus to experience the effects of its design.
The Pilot School campus was designed and built with the understanding that where you learn can be just as important as how you learn. Specifically situated on site to maximize natural light, our award-winning building houses three wings of classrooms, four outdoor teaching spaces, a state-of-the-art music room and recording studio, a sun-filled art studio, a treetop science lab with adjoining patio and rooftop garden, an indoor rock climbing wall, fully outfitted occupational and physical therapy spaces, a regulation gym, a therapeutic salt-water swimming pool with beach access, fountains, and swimming lanes, and a host of other dynamic learning spaces. The adventure track and nature-centric outdoor play areas are nestled against an additional 30 acres of undeveloped trail space, itself abutting over 2,000 acres of state and federal parklands.
The Pilot School’s campus is a Certified School Yard Habitat and serves as a learning site for University of Delaware School of Lifelong Learning students.
Swimming Pool: Our salt water pool, with a beach-style entry, benches for swimmers to receive instruction, water features to encourage enjoyment, and areas for more capable swimmers to be challenged, is an important part of the school’s program. Water provides a level of feedback not possibly attained on land. For students actively working on gross motor goals in PT or OT, the pool offers an optimal place to practice motor coordination and develop body awareness. For those who struggle with focus and attention, the physical exertion associated with swimming often calms the body and extends students’ academic stamina across the school day.
Hiking Trails: Thirty of the school’s fifty acre campus is preserved natural space, home to hiking trails and outdoor learning areas. Two streams run along Pilot’s property–Hurricane Run and Rocky Run–and students make use of them for learning and time in nature. Our campus abuts Brandywine Creek State Park and First State National Park and, through easements with the Parklands, we enjoy over 2,000 acres of forests, hills, and valleys at our backdoor.
Intentional Classroom Design: All learning spaces at The Pilot School feature floor to ceiling windows that look out onto green space and welcome plenty of natural sunlight. Triple insulated walls and a fully carpeted campus results in a remarkably quiet learning environment. Adaptive furniture, flexible lighting, and technology integration make every classroom fully responsive to the individual needs of each student learning within it.
