Before the sun touches the hillside on Federal Street, Ethel Stansfield rises to take her morning walk. This quiet ritual inspires her before she heads up the hill.

Her coffee is still steaming as a dozen or so children ages 2 to 5 come bouncing in to greet “Ms. Ethel.”

“Ms. Ethel” Stansfield has shared the joy of learning at Sheepscot Valley Children's House for 30 years. 

“It's been a great place to spend your so-called career,” Stansfield said while sitting in a child's play chair. “It certainly beats office work.”

The schoolhouse is a Montessori inspired private school that overlooks the Sheepscot River in Wiscasset. Each classroom emits a warm feeling as the sun glowed through the skylights. The classes consist of mixed ages to add a sort of family dynamic, where younger children learn from the older kids.

“It's learning through everything we do,” Stansfield said. “We learn through nature. We learn through art. We learn about life, and socialization is the big piece of it.”  

Stansfield joined the Sheepscot Valley staff in 1984, when Montessori education was a relatively new thing in Maine. Bill and Katie Thompson, who were inspired by the Montessori method, founded the school just one year earlier to focus on a child’s independence through exploration. 

Throughout the years, Sheepscot Valley Children's House has never needed to advertise. The private school sustained healthy enrollment, attracting thousands of students from all over Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties. Stansfield, along with many other staff members, have maintained a reputation for excellence in early childhood education. So what's their secret?

“One word. Empathy,” Bill Thompson said. “Ethel encourages intellectual curiosity, and looks at life from the child's point of view. Too many adults look at children from an adult's point of view, which is scary.”

Thompson, a retired architect, said he designed the Sheepscot Valley in small-scale to make the environment less scary and more inviting for younger children. The second floor housed his office. Thompson joked that occasionally curious children would show up in his office, wondering who “the man upstairs” was.

As the children's house progressed, the staff became convinced traditional Montessori schooling was too limited, so they introduced other conventional forms of education to provide a more gradual transition into other schools. However, Sheepscot Valley still maintained a strong focus on meeting each child’s unique needs and abilities at different stages of their development.

Beyond the curriculum however exists another unique social fabric. Staff members often connect with students and their families outside the walls of Sheepscot Valley. 

Dinner parties, birthdays, sports and recitals are common for teachers to attend, even after the child has moved on from their elementary education.

“It's so different,” said Audrey Latella, who joined the staff in 2005. “I used to think it was strange because I got invited to camp outs.”

While the years have passed and some things have changed, Stansfield is now 77 but she said she feels the same, as she stepped out to join the children on the playground.

“It's almost like we're a family, and we keep growing every single year,” she said.

The train whistles and the children congregate to count the boxcars.

“Everybody should experience this because it is so unique,” Stansfield said. “We often say every day is a new day in the valley.”