Families were camping in January all in an effort to get their children into a local environmental school.

Parents who want their kids to attend the school district's relatively new environmental school were camped out at Albion Fairgrounds this weekend to ensure they were at the front of the line when registration opened at 8: 30 a.m. on Monday.

One family had pitched a tent on Tuesday, and by Friday afternoon, they had been joined by four other families, ready to spend a cold and rainy weekend at the fairgrounds by Planet Ice.

The Godfrey family was second in line, and they are hoping to get their son, Brady, into the program, and then hopefully their two younger sons would get priority to get in.

"I feel this is the right choice for Brady," said the boy's mother Eira Godfrey, adding that he is a child who likes to be outdoors and is "very interested" in the environment.

Because the Godfrey family is an "outdoorsy" family, having the father David Godfrey camping out all weekend isn't a big hardship. But it's "frustrating" that the program isn't available to everyone who wants it, Eira said.

"The outdoor environment... has a lot to teach us that you can't learn in a conventional classroom," David said.

The environmental school, which is part of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district is in its second year, and there are spaces for 88 students from kindergarten to Grade 8.

Learning takes place in various environments, much of it outdoors and there is no set classroom, something that appealed to Sarah-Jane Pepper who wants her daughter to attend the environmental school.

"I think there's so much more to learn in nature than from a textbook," she said on Friday afternoon from her place in line.

Clayton Maitland, who heads up the environmental school, said the new school concept is "exciting" but it has been challenging as well.

The next step will be to see if the environmental school can be done at the high school level, and whether pieces of it can be integrated into more conventional schools.

"It's not for everyone - some families want a conventional system, some want Montessori, and others want [the environmental school]," Maitland said.

Parents who already have kids in the environmental school came out over the weekend to bring food and refreshments to those waiting in the line.

"It's stressful - we've all been there," said Stacy Mulcahy whose two sons attend the program.

They wanted to encourage those in line, answer questions they might have about the school and offer some support.

mrantanen@mrtimes.com