The excitement is palpable as children walk through the frenzied halls just after recess at Children’s Meeting House. With wide, inquisitive eyes and rosy cheeks, they gaze into the large windows that now house a brand-new endeavor at this Loveland Montessori school … a middle school program.
After years of thorough planning and organizing, this year CMH was able to welcome its inaugural class of five 7th graders to the previous 190 students attending preschool through 6th grade.
“For many families, the pandemic brought about a stronger focus on education—specifically on safety, social and emotional development, and alignment of shared goals between home and school,” says Casey Reed, Director of CMH. “For the past few years, parents have voiced their wishes in surveys and focus groups—and we heard them.”
Casey also believes a driving force for change was to provide a Montessori education through 8th grade to shift the transition time students had for high school.
“It was hard for many of our students to go to a new school for middle school, then move again two years later,” she notes.
Families are excited for this new opportunity, Casey shares. In fact, the program will more than double in size next year with the addition of more 7th graders from the current 6th-grade class.
But the first area of business? Reorganizing space to house the new program in the former administration offices—then hiring a team of teachers who knew how to create a middle school Montessori program.
“We were so fortunate to find not one, but two Montessori teachers with middle school training,” Casey smiles. “I knew as soon as we met them that they would be a perfect fit.”
This teaching team is married couple Kelly and Adam Ladd, who have spent the last three years creating a middle and high school program for an existing Montessori school in Arizona. Kelly was immediately impressed with the school when they took their initial tour.
“I loved the feel of the school—it felt like a place where the child was definitely put first. Montessori always talks about respecting the child—and that was clear at CMH,” she remembers.
In addition to teaching, the Ladds have led workshops on Montessori programming in countries such as Taiwan and Portugal, as well as consulted for schools throughout the U.S. and Mexico.
And they have become quite a team. Kelly is responsible for teaching humanities and language arts, while Adam’s position is hybrid—he’s both a part-time administrator for CMH and its science and math teacher. They also share responsibilities such as microeconomy and art and work on developing the curriculum together.
“We draw mostly from what we’ve created in the past, but curriculum at this level is very exploratory and fluid, so it can shift and evolve as needed based on student interest, the needs of the land around campus, and unique opportunities for experience in the greater community,” Adam shares.
The Ladds are taking advantage of what our area has to offer. “We believe in place-based learning, and getting students out into their community is a big part of the program,” Kelly says.
These learning opportunities have included trips to the Loveland Historical Museum, local businesses, OTR, and Thomas More University—where they learned about water testing and then applied the skills to their own on-campus creek.
Kelly can already see the impact.
“I want these students to know they can change their community and the world—to know their potential, to make this world a better place. When they are shown the possibilities, they will rise.”
CMHSchool.com | 927 O’Bannonville Road, Loveland | 513.683.4757
There’s a guiding principle among our staff of “creating good human beings”—keeping this our highest priority is a blessing we rarely take for granted.
- Casey Reed
