Let's connect!
Enjoy Mill Valley
  • HOME
  • EVENTS & GUIDES
    • 2020-21 EMV Guide
    • 2021 Mill Valley Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting
    • Winterfest >
      • About Winterfest
    • Calendar
    • Special Events
  • EAT
  • Stay
  • VISIT
    • Muir Woods
    • PLAY
    • Tour
    • Map
    • PRESS
  • SHOP
    • Enjoy Mill Valley Store
    • Shopping Areas
    • Apparel and Jewelry
    • Automotive
    • Banking & Financial Services
    • Biz, Consumer & Professional Services
    • Beauty & Grooming
    • Fitness & Sports
    • Food & Wine
    • Home & Garden
    • Kids & Pets
    • Health & Wellness
    • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Real Estate
    • Specialty Shops
  • A&E
  • EMV Films
  • BLOG
  • Mill Valley Chamber
  • City of Mill Valley
  • CONTACT US
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise on Enjoy Mill Valley
  • ShopMV

Pacific Discovery School to Hold Open House – April 7

4/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
PictureA rendering of the new facade at 70 Lomita Dr., soon-to-be home of the new Pacific Discovery School.
Pacific Discovery School, a new, private TK-8 school founded and headed by Wendy Xa, is opening in the longtime Mill Valley School District space at 70 Lomita Drive, the home of the private Ring Mountain Day School for the past 14 years in the building adjacent to the campus of Edna Maguire Elementary School.

As Xa and her team move towards building a new school at the location, they're promoting a curriculum that embraces small class sizes, customized learning plans, on-site learning specialists, homeschooler support, outdoor education and collaborative learning. They've already accepted the school's first round of applicants with rolling admissions continuing through Spring until they're Fall classes are full.

Pacific Discovery School hosts another open house, this time set for Saturday, April 7 from 1-3pm. Xa, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs and a mother of two who founded the Mandarin immersion Presidio Knolls School in San Francisco in 2008 as a preschool before expanding it to a K-8 program, continues to expand her team with the recent hire of Assistant Head of School Shauna Sullivan.

Pacific Discovery is taking over Ring Mountain’s lease with the district, an agreement that runs through 2024. With the success of Presidio Knolls behind it, Xa’s Pacific Discovery School hopes to step into that void with “a focus on embracing and empowering the individual child to feel confident in who he is versus what others think he should be,” says Christina Forté, the school’s community outreach director. “That’s really the foundation on which this school has been built. Creating, self-aware, happy, empathetic and confident kids…that’s going to be the school’s measure of success.”

Forté first learned about Pacific Discovery School through her friend Kimberly Hawks, the school's director of strategy operations and communications. Their kids go to public school together now.

“I think this school is really special and I decided to join the team to help spread the word,” she says. “Wendy is an incredibly impressive person, and she’s pulled together a great team of educators and curriculum specialists.”

Forté says Xa’s idea for Pacific Discovery School came from her desire to customize the learning environment for each child.

“She fleshed out this idea of looking at the child from a very individualistic perspective, focusing on the academic and cognitive ability of course, but also giving equal measure to the social and emotional growth of a child,” Forté says. “Customized learning plans for each child make Pacific Discovery a unique offering and one that I feel many parents will find attractive."

Xa felt that Ring Mountain’s space lent itself well to the outdoor education component, Forte says, particularly its proximity to places like Muir Woods and Mount Tam. “Learning differences will also be embraced – there will be real support,” Forté adds, noting that Pacific Discovery will have a learning specialist on site.

Forté says the school is recruiting students from Novato to San Francisco and plans to run a bus from San Francisco to accommodate those students.

She notes that “there were many things that were happening at Ring Mountain that were pretty special, and we’ll be retaining some of those things.” That includes the Harkness table, a teaching method by which students sit at a table to discuss ideas in an encouraging, open-minded environment with minimal teacher intervention.

“It’s an amazing to watch these kids engage in a richer and more robust discussion in which everyone feels heard and there’s a confidence level in every kid,” she says.

Xa and her team plan to renovate parts of the Ring Mountain building, including the front facade, Forté says. They’ll take over the building in June.

The 411: Pacific Discovery School holds an Open House on Sunday, April 7, 1-3pm. 70 Lomita Drive. REGISTER & MORE INFO. Tours also happen every Tuesday at 9:30am. Sign up for a tour here.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog

    * required
    Click here to subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

    RSS Feed

    Blog Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    142 Throckmorton
    Art
    Arts & Entertainment
    City Council
    City Of Mill Valley
    County Of Marin
    Depot Plaza
    Downtown Mill Valley
    Emergency Preparedness
    First Tuesday Artwalk
    Food & Drink
    Holidays
    Kiddo!
    Live Music
    Local Laws
    Marin Mommies
    Marin Theatre Company
    Miller Avenue
    Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
    Mill Valley Film Festival
    Mill Valley History
    Mill-valley-in-the-news
    Mill Valley Library
    Mill Valley Market
    Mill Valley School District
    Mount Tamalpais
    MV Chamber Biz Buzz
    Parks & Recreation
    Philanthropy
    Public Restrooms
    Restaurants
    Shopping
    Strawberry Village
    Sweetwater Music Hall
    Tam High
    Tam Junction
    Tam Valley
    The Redwoods
    Volunteerism

Picture
   
85 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, Callifornia 94941
415.388.9700
info@millvalley.org



Copyright 2018 Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
All images used with permission and/or source attribution.
Site Design by Linda Rosso Marketing and Communications