Learn Russian: Недалеко от школы есть парк.

Недалеко is an adverb meaning 'not far.' Just like in English, to connect it to a place, you must add 'from'—which is от in Russian. The preposition от always forces the following noun into the Genitive case, changing школа to школы.

Does от work the same way as spatial prepositions like вокруг (around) and вдоль (along)?

Yes! Just like the spatial prepositions вокруг and вдоль from your current lesson, the preposition от requires the Genitive case. It is very common for prepositions that indicate a starting point, a boundary, or a relative distance to take the Genitive.

Why is the word есть included here? I thought 'is' is usually skipped in Russian present tense.

You skip the 'to be' verb when you are simply describing something's traits or location. However, when you are stating that something exists in a certain location—equivalent to 'There is' or 'There are' in English—you usually include есть. If you dropped it (Недалеко от школы парк), the sentence would instead mean 'The park is not far from the school', assuming the listener already knows this specific park exists.

Why does the location (Недалеко от школы) come first, instead of starting with Парк?

Russian uses word order to emphasize what is new information. The beginning of the sentence sets the established scene (near the school), and the end introduces the new, important information (a park). Putting the location first is the standard Russian structure for translating English 'There is a...' sentences.