Wold Architects and Engineers, a national firm with a local office in Denver, and extensive educational design expertise, today announced significant progress on construction of the new St. Vrain Community Montessori School (SVCMS), a publicly funded district PreK–8 charter school within St. Vrain Valley Schools, designed to reflect community needs and support both academic and experiential learning. A topping-off ceremony, complete with beam signing, took place on September 19, 2025, to celebrate the charter school’s progress and recognize the collaborative effort behind creating a permanent home for the school.
The 54,000-square-foot facility will incorporate community-focused spaces, including a two-acre working farm, which students will operate with support from school staff. The farm will integrate hands-on agricultural experiences integral to the school’s Montessori educational practice, offering students opportunities to connect classroom learning with real-world skills and providing sustainably produced, organic products sold through the school’s farmstand. Located just 33 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park, SVCMS is uniquely positioned to weave outdoor education and environmental stewardship into its academic program.
As the project’s architect, Wold helped realize the charter school’s long-standing goal of building a permanent facility. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the new campus design emphasizes flexible, customized learning environments that support Montessori principles, fostering independence, collaboration and the ability to pursue topics of interest. SVCMS’s rigorous Montessori education model aims to equip today’s students with the critical problem-solving and creative thinking skills that are necessary to imagine solutions to future challenges.
“Our team is proud to help bring St. Vrain Community Montessori School’s vision of a permanent facility to life,” said Josh Grenier, education practice leader at Wold Architects and Engineers. “By partnering on a project designed to foster how students learn from and directly connect with the site their school is built on, we’ve created a space that integrates flexible learning environments with hands-on agricultural experiences, including classrooms that extend into outdoor environments, encouraging student exploration and stewardship of the land.”
Like many public charter schools in Colorado, SVCMS has faced challenges in financing a permanent school due to its reliance on limited per-pupil revenue for operations and facilities. The 2024 St. Vrain Valley Schools bond, approved by approximately 74% of the community, has made building a permanent home for the school possible. Strong district support, including a 10-acre parcel surrounded by city and county open space, further enables the school to serve its growing student body and broader community. Alongside its goal to open a student-run farm stand, the school plans to donate surplus produce to local shelters.
“The successful design and construction of the new St. Vrain Community Montessori School represents years of vision and determination to provide a permanent, purpose-built facility for our students. We are deeply grateful to our community for approving the 2024 Bond, which made this new school possible. It’s exciting to see the school’s mission come to life in a space that truly reflects our community and supports both academic achievement and experiential learning,” said SVCMS Head of School Jessica Rawlings. “This school is more than a building; it’s a home where education, sustainability and community come together for students to learn in a space that honors Montessori principles while connecting them to the land and community.”
