Meet Our Team

  • Sabrina Hale (She/Her)

    Head of School

    Sabrina’s love of the outdoors began in childhood—building fairy houses, splashing through floodwaters, and jumping into leaf piles. This connection to nature shaped her path as a camp counsellor, outdoor educator, canoe trip leader, teacher, and administrator.

    With a BFA in Film Production from Concordia and a background in visual art, she brings creativity and an interdisciplinary approach to education. An Ontario Certified Teacher, she taught French for nine years before shifting to outdoor, holistic learning.

    A graduate of Queen’s Outdoor and Experiential Education program, Sabrina helped establish Rowan Tree’s Nature Kindergarten and Grade School before becoming Head of School in 2023. She is honored to steward the school’s vision, ensuring experiential, nature-connected, and Waldorf-inspired learning remain at its heart.

  • Elaine Kempt (She/Her)

    Administration and Finance Coordinator

    Elaine is passionate about her work at Rowan Tree and has a background in legal, bookkeeping, and entrepreneurship. Watching the children grow is a great enjoyment for her, as well as her granddaughter attending the Forest School Enrichment Day program.

  • Katie Roung (She/Her)

    Education Director

  • Elise Gamble (She/Her)

    Lead Preschool Teacher / Program Supervisor (RECE)

    Elise is a registered Early Childhood Educator and has been working at Rowan Tree since 2020. One of their goals as an educator is to cultivate growth, confidence, and self-esteem in children through their exploration of the world.

  • Brielene Mallari (She/Her)

    Assistant Preschool Teacher (RECE)

  • Jasmine Harrison (She/Her)

    Lead Kindergarten Teacher

    Jasmine has a decade of experience working with children and adults in forest schools and wilderness settings. In her spare time she loves to weave baskets and garden.

  • Natasha Donald (She/Her)

    Lead Kindergarten Teacher

    Natasha works as the Lead Nature Kindergarten Teacher, where each day is an opportunity to guide children in discovering the magic of the natural world and the rhythms around us. With a heart full of wonder and a background in Environmental Studies, she nurtures their curiosity, helping them explore the beauty and mystery of nature through play and exploration.

  • Mae Klein (She/Her)

    Assistant Kindergarten Teacher

    Mae has worked with children for several years with a focus on the Arts and Outdoor Education. In her spare time she loves to paint, knit and craft with natural materials.

  • Finnbar Perrault (He/Him)

    Assistant Kindergarten Teacher

  • Heather Dyer (She/Her)

    Early Childhood Assistant Teacher (RECE)

    Teaching and learning are big passions of Heather’s! Since graduating in 2023, she has had the pleasure of being a part of the Rowan Tree team and is always looking forward to what each day brings!

  • Chrissy Pasho (She/Her)

    Early Childhood Assistant Teacher

  • Martha Cooper (She/Her)

    Lead Teacher - Grade 1-2 / Subject Teacher

    Martha is a certified Waldorf Teacher. She received her training at the Rudolf Steiner College Canada in Toronto. Before becoming a teacher at Rowan Tree, Martha was teaching penny whistle, banjo, and ukulele to all ages, as well as music and movement programs for the very youngest humans. Martha loves crafting, sewing, quilting, and all things handwork. Another of Martha's secret talents is folk dancing. Hope to see you at a dance soon!!

  • Sam Stone (She/Her)

    Lead Teacher - Grade 3-4 / Subject Teacher / Assistant Teacher - Forest School Enrichment Day

    Sam has a degree in Elementary Education with an Language Arts emphasis and a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction. Her experience teaching in diverse classrooms across five countries over the past decade has deepened her passion for education and helps bring a unique perspective to the classroom and empower students to be compassionate, creative, and critical thinkers. Sam is an avid lover of the outdoors with a passion for traveling, hiking, reading, and exploring the natural world with her two children.

  • Melissa Baldwin (They/Them)

    Lead Teacher - Grade 5-8 / Subject Teacher / Assistant Teacher - Forest School Enrichment Day

    Melissa (they/them) is passionate about supporting children and youth to follow their curiosity, express themselves through arts, music, and storytelling, find compassion and understanding of their own needs and the needs of others, and embrace their roles as community leaders and changemakers. As a white settler, Melissa is grateful to be living on Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg lands in the territory covered by the Williams Treaty and to be learning about and acting out the responsibilities of this relationship.

  • Samantha Mansfield (She/Her)

    Academic Support Teacher

    Samantha has worked at Waldorf schools in Ontario and British Columbia, as well as at outdoor education centres. She is glad to be able to bring together her interest in Waldorf, forest schools, and alternative education at Rowan Tree.

  • Angela Sundue (She/Her)

    French Teacher / Lead Teacher - Forest School Enrichment Day

  • Jenny Ross (She/Her)

    Subject Teacher

    Jenny loves to sing, play, move, and situate herself where she may be in perpetual awe of the stunningly beautiful miracles that fill this world. She spends her days tending her garden, curiously wandering forests with the children in her life, and facilitating a local choir.

  • Jamie Orfald-Clark (He/Him)

    Subject Teacher / Assistant Teacher - Forest School Enrichment Day

  • Lucas Donald (He/Him)

    Educational Assistant / Lead Teacher - Forest School Enrichment Day

    Lucas has spent many years leading outdoor programming from forest school classes to wilderness expeditions. His greatest joy is found in watching how exposure to the natural world encourages children to develop competence in the world and confidence in themselves.

  • Otis Moore (He/Him)

    Educational Assistant

  • Jamie Williams (He/Him)

    Lead Teacher - Forest School Enrichment Day

    Jamie is and Outdoor Educator and Nature Based Mentor who has spent 15 years working with kids on the land.