Springfield Montessori marks 35 years, from five students to a four-acre campus

Springfield Montessori School celebrated 35 years in Walnut Creek with a party at its Mitchell Drive campus on Thursday, Aug. 20. The afternoon included a ribbon cutting, a meet and greet, short presentations and free Kona Ice. Mayor Kevin Wilk and city manager staff attended, the city said.

The school's own history puts the start in May 1990, with five students and a teaching staff of four, in the former Burton Village in Walnut Creek, on the site where Nob Hill Foods sits today. Enrollment reached 80 in the second year. In 1995 the school moved to 2780 Mitchell Drive, a four-acre parcel in the Shadelands Business Park, where it has been since. A second campus opened in Dublin in 2010.

The Walnut Creek campus has eight classrooms and about 15,000 square feet of outdoor space, with separate toddler zones, play structures, a sport court, a tricycle path, a gardening area and shaded sandboxes, plus roughly 3,000 square feet of covered patios. Programs run from toddler through kindergarten, for ages 2 to 6, with enrichment courses and a summer camp.

The Montessori method the school follows leans on child-led work in a prepared classroom. "Here we follow the child, creating an environment that is open and organized, and that fosters their curiosity and sense of self-directed exploration," admissions director Rosanne Esplanada said in an account published by Shadelands, the business park where the school sits.

The anniversary also counted staff longevity. Two teachers, known to families as Miss Belinda and Miss Katrina, have each been at the school for 25 years, according to the same account. "Reflecting on the history of the past 35 years has been amazing for all of us, seeing how far we've come," director Rachel Jacobsen said.

The school was founded by educator Shashi Lal. Families looking for enrollment information can reach the campus at (925) 944-0626.

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