Aria Montessori School Holds Graduation Ceremony for Class of 2020 Amid Pandemic

Aria Montessori School 693 S.Euclid Ave opened in 1913 and has been educating children on the same site ever since. It was founded by May Davies, who’s husband Augustus Davis converted the hayloft In their barn into a classroom, as word spread the school grew. Now 107 years later the school is registered for 72 children and has been owned and managed by Gavin and Gillian Schofield-Smith. Only it’s sixth owners. After qualifying from University in England they set up their own chain on pre schools before immigrating with their young family to take over Aria in 2008.

Due to COVID-19 we were advised to close our doors in March for the first time in the schools history. We transferred all our classes online for the last 12 weeks and the teachers have been teaching over 70 Montessori classes per week, have attended special online Weekly play dates with the principal Mrs Schofield-Smith and learnt Spanish each day. Last week we held a Drive thru graduation ceremony for our students who will be leaving us to start Kindergarten in the fall.

Aria Montessori School recently held its graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020 with each individual family remaining in their cars to watch as their child wearing a cap and gown, and mask! walked and was presented with a special certificate and 2020 tassel. The individual socially distanced ceremony took all day, but was a fantastic success. The kids were all made to feel so special and loved it! They especially loved Monti, the schools mascot dancing around the car! The parents were so grateful that we had taken the time to find a way to appropriately recognize the child’s amazing achievements from the past two years with us.

We are also pleased to announce that having worked closely with Childcare licensing and the city of Pasadena health, we plan to reopen our school for a summer school camp immediately. We have a limited number of spaces available. For more information contact Mrs Schofield-Smith in (626) 793-3741 or email ariamontessori@ymail.com.

Aria Montessori School, 693 S. Euclid Ave., Pasadena, (626) 793-3741 or visit http://ariamontessori.net/.