This week has been filled with handshakes, high adventure, tears and laughter. I have watched each morning as our primary teachers help their students out of their cars followed by a cheerful greeting and firm handshake with direct eye contact. I have also seen middle school students repelling down from a 45 foot platform being encouraged and supported by their teachers and classmates. This is the range of experience you will find on a campus of infants through high school. What joins us together as a community though is the Montessori approach to each experience.

Anderson is fortunate to be the home of the only infants through high school Montessori program in South Carolina. Montessori School of Anderson (MSA) started the first Montessori high school in South Carolina and is one of only about 25 Montessori high school programs nationwide. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the founding of MSA which began in the fellowship room of “the little church with the red door.”

The early education program that Karen Holt started then in 1973 and the complete school that we have grown into has always looked and felt a little different from traditional school models. This is in large part because the Montessori philosophy and Method that are the foundation of our programs were based upon Maria Montessori’s observations of children and knowledge of their planes of development. Our program is not just focused on academic preparation of the child. Rather, our focus is “the whole child” and her/his development into the whole, unique individual s/he is created to be.

Our mission at MSA is to nurture the whole child, physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually, preparing students for academic excellence, lifelong learning and responsible, caring lives. This starts in Infant/Toddler and continues through to High School. It may look like a first week of school handshake at one level and repelling off of a 45 foot platform at another, but the goal is the same.

As we begin our celebration of 45 years of Montessori education here at MSA, we want to mark an upcoming special occasion - Maria Montessori’s birthday on August 31. As a faculty, we will all be wearing our MSA T-shirts next Friday. We ask any of you in our community that have MSA or another Montessori-related T-shirt to join us in this recognition next Friday.

Welcome to our 2018/2019 school year! We have many things to celebrate (and we will), but it all started with Maria!

Dr. Dana Hill

All students must have a South Carolina DHEC immunization record on file in the MSA Health Office within 30 days of admission or the first day of school. If you are a transfer student from out of state or country, all immunization records must be transferred to a SC DHEC Form at your physician's office or a South Carolina Health Department. If the student has received any additional immunizations in the last year, a new record must be submitted to MSA. Any student not in compliance with South Carolina's Immunization mandated guidelines must be excluded until a immunization record has been received. Please make every effort to meet this deadline so there is no interruption in your child's educational experience.

All students with health concerns should contact Nurse Merriman at 226-5344 ext. 201 to discuss the student's health and any emergency medications that need to be in place should the student need medical treatment. Supporting documentation from you healthcare provider will be discussed and a Emergency Care Plan developed for your child's needs.

Illness policy---All students must be 24 hour fever free (without medication), vomiting and diarrhea free before returning to school after illness.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

with healthy regards,

Susanna Merriman, RN.