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Christina Thomas, Head of School August 2020

August 18, 2020  Spencerville, MD The Journey School, a Montessori School serving grades one through eight, has partnered with Guidepost Montessori ? ­the world's largest dedicated Montessori network ? to launch a robust, Montessori-designed Virtual School alongside The Journey School's established on-campus programming this year.

"As both a teacher and a working mom, I fully understand the challenges facing families this school year during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Christina Thomas, Founder and Head of School at The Journey School. "There are families, such as my own, who need a safe, in-person option for school. However, there are also families that are not comfortable, or simply cannot, have their children inside a classroom. By partnering with Guidepost Montessori, we are able to offer students and families continuity, stability and exceptional education, whether it is in-person or online."

With over 63 acres of hiking trails, streams, gardens, chickens and more, The Journey School is uniquely situated to offer a beautiful outdoor classroom. In addition, The Journey School has set up numerous safety measures such as temperature checks, sanitizing stations, robust and frequent disinfecting, mask wearing, and improved HEPA air filtration, all while maintaining small class sizes to provide ample space for social distancing once weather requires learning indoors.

Guidepost Montessori's cutting-edge virtual programming, offered to schools outside of their own network through their new School Partnership Program, allows the entire Montessori experience to be done online for the full school year.

"We are honored to partner with The Journey School, where we share values of making high-quality Montessori education more accessible to children and families," said Jocelyn Scotty, Vice President of Guidepost Montessori schools. "When the COVID pandemic disrupted every aspect of our lives this Spring, we, as a global network of Montessorians, felt called to not only collaborate more intentionally with parents to ensure they felt supported in the home, but to also partner intentionally with other schools and educators, recognizing that we are in this together. Our School Partnership program allows us to do just that by sharing our Virtual School with those seeking reliable resources and technology ? while upholding the pedagogically-sound values signature to an authentic Montessori education."

For families, enrollment in Guidepost's Virtual School is offered at developmentally-appropriate levels for both early childhood and elementary students. Educators will deliver the program's online Montessori curriculum to children through virtual classrooms, where self-directed learning can continue. Parents can also purchase a materials subscription to allow virtually-enabled exploration of physical materials at home.

Guidepost provides educators in the School Partnership program with training to ensure a smooth transition to the virtual space, including advanced professional development modules that offer a full MACTE-accredited diploma course from the Prepared Montessorian Institute.

For more information on enrolling with The Journey School, whether on campus or through Virtual School, please see our online application.

If your school would like more information on Guidepost Montessori's School Partnership program, get started at www.guidepostmontessori.com/partners.

About The Journey School
The Journey School is a non-profit Montessori school that serves grades one through eight. The School provides numerous unique learning opportunities, through service opportunities, beekeeping, caring for chickens, and gardening, children learn economics, science, project management and more all while spending time in the outdoors. The Journey School offers over a half-dozen off-campus adventures, including Smithsonian Institutions, The Baltimore National Aquarium, The Baltimore Zoo, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, overnight camping, multi-day trips to New York City, Philadelphia, Jamestown, and more. Following the Montessori methodology, lessons will be fully integrated, hands-on, and project based. For more information or to schedule a socially distant or virtual visit, go to www.thejourneyschool.net.

About Guidepost Montessori
Guidepost Montessori is the world's largest dedicated Montessori network comprised of more than 65 brick-and-mortar schools, Virtual School, and in-home Montessori childcare and learning pods. Collectively, Guidepost serves more than 3,500 families with programming from birth through middle school. Owned and operated by Higher Ground Education, Guidepost and Higher Ground are dedicated to bringing high-fidelity, next generation Montessori to the mainstream. Our world-class educators are trained in-house through an MACTE-accredited Montessori teacher-training institute, The Prepared Montessorian.  For more information, visit www.guidepostmontessori.com.

About Guidepost Montessori School Partnership
Given the unprecedented challenges of COVID and the permanent changes likely to result, Guidepost Montessori, the largest operator of private Montessori schools in the United States, is sharing its Montessori learning platform with schools across the world. Our goal is to empower educators to ensure students receive quality, continuous Montessori education in a hybrid environment that may demand seamless shifting from in-person to virtual. From a learning management system, to robust training in Montessori practice, to physical at-home materials, we are eager to help you practice high fidelity Montessori in these challenging times. Our program is designed by and for Montessori guides, and is the same one used in our schools across the world.

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