Mountain Shadows Montessori School

We've been part of the Heatherwood family since the beginning of the 23/24 school year. We are impressed with the opportunities available to the students - academically, socially, and from the strong parent community. Our youngest (now 4) is in his 2nd year in the PreK/Enrichment programs and is thriving. I'm impressed with how prepared he will be, socially and academically, when he starts kindergarten next year, compared to my oldest, who came from a traditional daycare setting. Our oldest (now 6) is also thriving in 1st grade. After a rough start, transitioning into public school, I was impressed by how the teachers worked with the different student backgrounds (previous schools) and prepared them for the jump to 1st grade. Now in 1st grade, the academic focus and development I see week after week is solid. Both kids were also flagged for support with speech and could get an IEP for additional support. I would recommend Heatherwood to any family interested in a caring and academic public school environment.

My wife and I moved to the Boulder area in 2020 and quickly identified Boulder Country Day (BCD) school as the place we wanted our son to attend for 1st grade. He had previously attended a Montessori school in Philadelphia. He made a quick transition to BCD with welcoming teachers and a focus on social and emotional skills. Our daughter joined BCD in Kindergarten and is thriving now in 2nd grade.What we love about BCD is the balance between strong academics, a focus on developing social and emotional skills, a significant experiential learning program and a welcoming community. The school provides exceptional, music, arts and language (Spanish and French in Elementary/ Spanish, French and Latin in Middle School) programs starting in kindergarten and running through Middle school alongside the expected day to day academics. With our son transitioning into middle school this year, we have been delighted by the introduction to Middle School and specific executive functioning teaching that helped the new sixth graders adapt to managing their schedules and the increased workload independently and successfully. The BCD Middle school offers lots of social activities for the kids after school which has fostered positive cross grade interactions, enabling our son to build confidence and maintain a strong sense of self. This is a wonderful Middle school experience where kids can develop in their own time, supported by a faculty who is adept at helping kids transition through those sometimes-tough early teen years.