History

Our Montessori roots date to 1964 with an informal beginning on the side porch of Pat and Larry Schaefer’s home in Norwalk. Our school was known as The Child’s Work Center, serving Pre-School / Primary children.

By 1965/66 we had grown to 25 families. By 1975 we operated out of two locations (Norwalk and Wilton). We merged with The Norwalk Day Nursery in 1979, a facility founded in 1909 to care for children of parents working outside the home. With this merger, our school inherited a third location (a home on Golden Hill Street in Norwalk), assets earmarked for a building to consolidate all of our programs and a commitment to serving children of working parents (Early Morning and Late Day).

In the summer of 1988, when the Child's Work Center and The Norwalk Day Nursery merged and moved to Whipple Road, the name "The Montessori School" was selected as a simple expression of what our school is: a Montessori school. This allowed our community to fully focus on the important work of educating students.  In the past few years the Board of Trustees set an intentional goal to name our school. 

The Naming Group was supported by members of the Harvard Business School Alumni Community Partners. As Montessorians, we place high value on process, and accordingly, the Naming Group's work was inclusive, thorough, and thoughtful. This involved detailed information gathering, including surveys, conversations, and input from over 100 parents, staff, students, alumni, past parents and staff, and friends of our school. The parameters ensured that each potential name evoked our community's values, culture, child-centered focus, and natural surroundings.

In April 2021 the group presented their final name recommendations to the full Board and on April 26, the Board unanimously voted on school's name - Seven Acres Montessori. 

We welcome children from diverse communities, backgrounds, abilities, religions, races and cultures, and enjoy active family participation in the life and health of our community. We are a private tuition-based independent school with a comprehensive program of tuition assistance in cases of financial need.  

Our programs include infant parent groups, Toddler, Primary, Elementary and Middle School.

With a commitment to quality Montessori education for 50 years, we remain steadfast to the standards of the Association Montessori Internationale and to our mission.  

Seven Acres Montessori is accredited by The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and The Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS).