The small room has a homey feel, with wood panelling around the door and an inviting, thick-carpeted floor.
A tall, thin window spills light onto the rows of desks, all strewn with coloured pencils. And students quietly draw circles and hexagons on water paper sheets.
This is math class. The 14 pupils in Cedar Valley Waldorf School's split Grade 5/6 are busy learning about geometry. The students are also part of a rapid growth spurt in Squamish private schools.
Over the past five years, independent schools in B.C. have experienced an 8.7 per cent growth in enrolment, having jumped 1.85 per cent in 2010-'11, according to the Ministry of Education.
From 2005 to '12, enrolment at Cedar Valley Waldorf School has more than doubled, from 41 to 84 students. Next year, the school will add Grades 8 and 9 and some parents are examining the prospect of opening a Waldorf high school.
"We expect to continue to grow at a pretty, steady rapid rate," said Christine Martin, the school's principal. "Ideally, we would like to offer two kindergarten classes."
The problem is space. Having moved into the former Valleycliffe Christian Fellowship church three years ago, the school is already bursting at its seams. Last year, staff and parents raised $29,000 to put toward the building and a needed performing arts and physical education room. But the school borrowed money from its savings to cover operating expenses, leaving it with a $21,000 deficit. Faculty are again in the midst of fundraising and hope to construct the additional facility by September.
"We need it now," Martin said.
It's a temporary solution, she acknowledged. Although the school is happy with the converted church, the student body is quickly outgrowing it.
Squamish Montessori School is in the same boat. Last year, its preschool and elementary students moved into a portion of the Squamish Forest District office building. With 62 preschool-to-Grade 4 children under its roof, Montessori's preschool and kindergarten are at capacity, Montessori principal Lindsay Graye said.
"We are already full for next year," he added. "There are five people on the elementary school's waitlist. We had to turn people away that were here for a year."
The school is exploring leasing an extra 2,000 square feet in the office building, which is owned by the District of Squamish. Within the next two years, staff hope to construct a building of their own, Graye said.
Squamish Montessori School may soon not be the only Montessori school in town, he added. A proponent of a Montessori toddler program, for children from 18 months to 5 years old, has shown interest in running out of Squamish Montessori School's previous location at the Squamish Community Church.
Coast Mountain Academy is also looking to open its doors. The private alternative school, slated to run out of Quest University facilities, plans to offer classes for students in Grades 8 to 10 beginning in the fall of 2013. The school is currently hunting for a head of school, the school's proponent Geoff Park said.
