Launch Charter School opened with a 6th grade in 2012 and is part of the Outward Bound network, which emphasizes hands-on learning and connecting lessons to students’ real-life experiences. It will grow to include a high school.

School officials say that student engagement and “meaningful learning” are top priorities.

“You can have discipline and get them to sit quietly,” said director Geoffrey Roehm, “but if they are not intellectually engaged, they’re not going to remember what they learn.”

The school day lasts about an hour longer than traditional schools and the year begins in August instead of September. Students are expected to wear uniforms.

Like all schools in the Outward Bound network, new students go on a weeklong wilderness trip that teaches teamwork and perseverance. It also uses the “crew,” system, which is a daily advisory meeting of about 15 students who stay together through their middle school years, and then another group that stays together during high school. That 6th grade advisor does a home visit at the beginning of the school year so parents have an adult in the building they can go to with any questions or problems. Roehm, who taught for six years and was an administrator at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem, says that “parents are very welcome in the school.”

The school follows a teaching and learning style known as “expeditionary learning.” It teaches the same required curriculum as all city schools, but it includes field trips and projects built around things that are learned outside as well as inside the classroom.

For example, 6th graders embarked on a unit called Food Glorious Food. They went into the Crown Heights community to find out what’s sold and where the food comes from. They compared the difference between the food in stores and vegetables grown in a nearby community garden and then wrote up and presented their findings at the end of the unit.

“We want kids to realize can have an impact on the world and on things that are meaningful to them,” said Roehm. “We connect math, science and the humanities so kids can see that knowledge isn’t something you do just because your teacher tells you to, but because learning allows you to do really powerful things.”

Launch is shares a building with PS 243 and has its own entrance and separate floor.

After school: The school has some sports, including basketball. There is boat building with Brooklyn Boatworks one day a week and a partnership with the nearby St. John’s Rec center.

Special education: School officials say “expeditionary learning” allows for a variety of learning styles. There are Integrated Co-Teaching classes and support services available.

Admissions: By lottery with preference to District 16 residents and students. There may be seats available in 7th and 8th grade, depending on attrition. Continuing 8th graders will have preference for 9th grade seats. (Meredith Kolodner, October 2012)