For over 50 years, children have been thriving at Arcadia Montessori.

Arcadia Montessori was founded in 1972, when Judy Pemberton sought to provide a better way to educate not only her own preschool-aged children, but all children. The options for such an education were limited at the time. “There were so many things that I wanted to do, that I believed in and felt,” Pemberton said. “And yet, there were so many restrictions and rules on how children should learn.”

Pemberton obtained her AMI Montessori Training and used it to guide her in the creation of something meaningful. She combined the Montessori method with her maternal instincts and the beliefs she already held about children and how they learned. “I considered each child as an individual needing to learn at their own pace.” 

Arcadia Montessori began in a small room rented from a local church. There, Pemberton taught her first small class. 

“I was a fish out of water, just jumping in,” she recalls.  The school grew as fast as her own children, and soon both needed a new place to live. She settled on a house in the Arcadia Neighborhood, 5115 E. Virginia Avenue. The house was then home to her young family, and her 25 students.

Over the years, the demand for Montessori education grew, as did the school. In 2022, Arcadia Montessori expanded to a second campus on 52nd Street, just half of a mile away. This new campus welcomes infants, toddler, and primary students. Today, Arcadia Montessori welcomes more than 200 students, between our two campuses, each year. 

Our Virginia Ave campus features four Toddler classrooms and three Primary classrooms. Our 52nd Street Campus features one Infant room, one Toddler room, and three primary rooms. The school provides growing gardens for each classroom, beautiful outdoor patios, playgrounds, and outdoor water activities for summer recreation. In addition to the core Montessori curriculum, students enjoy physical education, yoga, music, art, piano, and even Phoenix Zoo days.