The Springs is 50!!!

July 1^st marks the start The Springs’ 50^th “walk around the sun.” As we prepare to begin our 50^th school year, we are more excited than ever for the new additions and Montessori experiences that this year will bring!

The Springs has always been a labor of love rooted in family, friendship and making Montessori more accessible to more children. In 1966, Barbara and Thomas Kerester founded the school hoping to provide a Montessori school in Northern Virginia that was true to the vision of Maria Montessori as well as affordable and open to all. They wanted to create a school for their own children that would be an welcoming place in the community. When the school opened, only half day classes were available, there was no school office (not even a phone!), and tuition was less than $30 per month!

Of course, like the world, much as changed since those days. The school began a Full Day program in 1984 as the needs of working parents increased in Northern Virginia. Summer Camp was added. Paperwork and releases increased exponentially. And, of course, we finally got that landline, plus email, plus text messages, Facebook and Twitter. We can only imagine what is yet to come and look forward to those improvements and innovations.

As we begin our 50^th year, we are proud to continue the Keresters’ vision as we gear up to open our school to more children as we add another Children’s House classroom and extend our program offering to Elementary students. With the start of the 2016-2017 school year we will be bringing the wonder of Montessori education to 175 students and over 30 faculty members. The dreams that began 50 years ago continue today!

We hope you will join us to mark this special occasion. We will be celebrating the whole year long, but our first official celebration will be Friday, July 1, on The Springs’ official birthday. Our Summer Camp students will be demonstrating the fruits of their exploration of the work of famous European architect and Montessori graduate, Frendensrich Hundertwas, with an architectural expo and, of course, birthday cake!