FACULTY SPOTLIGHT:

KATHI BAGNOLI, DIRECTOR OF PRE-PRIMARY

What brought you to Country Day?

When my husband Sean and I moved to Indian Hill, the school’s Montessori program brought me to Country Day. Both our children [Drew `22 and Wilson`24] started at 18 months at the ECC [Early Childhood Center], and the plan was for them to go to Indian Hill when they reached Kindergarten. After our experience in the Pre-Primary program, we couldn’t imagine leaving a school so great! We fell in love with Country Day and wanted this to be the boy’s home, so we committed to staying at the school long-term. Wilson, a rising senior, and Drew, a rising sophomore at Case Western Reserve University, are both proud lifers. I started teaching here as an assistant in the Montessori classroom [Kathi has a bachelor’s degree from Denison University and her master’s degree in education and Montessori teacher certification from Xavier University], then became a lead teacher in the Early Childhood Center. After that, I taught traditional Kindergarten and, most recently, in our Montessori classroom, and every step along the way, as a parent and teacher, it has become a second home for me and the boys.

What do you love about your job?

I love the kids, and in this new role, I love helping our teachers, families, and students. I know what a hard job it is to be a teacher and the challenges we face as parents of young children. I love helping others and get to do that for a school I love.

What makes you such a good fit for this position?

I took on the role of director of Pre-Primary this past school year and feel I’m a good fit because of my experience as a teacher and as a parent in the community. Helping our teachers and our parents every day makes this job all worth it.

What advice do you have for parents?

My best advice is to get involved in our amazing community! Come to our parent-child and all-school events or sign up to volunteer. You’ll get to know the great people and families that make this community so special. In this new role, I strive to do my part to create opportunities for families to get to know one another – toddler tailgates to watch Friday football games, parent/child meet-ups, parent coffee talks, and CCDSaturday events like our family open swim or maple-sugaring event at our outdoor education center. Pre-Primary is where many families start their journey at Country Day, and my goal is for families to get connected right away. Ultimately, you will become a part of an amazing community, build lasting friendships, and meet wonderful families from all walks of life.

The Pre-Primary program is steeped in playand project-based learning as a foundation of lifelong learning. Next school year, Pre-Primary students will participate in three specials as part of the core programming – swimming, music, and outdoor education. Students attending the full-day program will also have afternoon enrichment classes in world language, sign language, dramatic storytelling, movement, art, and social-emotional learning.

“Within the play- and project-based approach of our Pre-Primary program, children approach the world with their ideas, their language, their bodies, their teacher, and each other,” says Mark Morawski, head of Lower School. “So much learning comes through play, which promotes creativity, wonder, curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, well-being, and appropriate risk-taking – all skills essential for life.”

Kathi Bagnoli leads Country Play on Friday mornings, our parent-child program for children beginning at 12 months old, to give parents and children the opportunity to experience some of the components of the Pre-Primary program, including the Country Day community.

“We have a very diverse community,” says Bagnoli. “All the time, I hear from people that they wanted a diverse school, so they chose Country Day. We have wonderful families from all over the city and beyond, from all different backgrounds and cultures. It’s part of what makes Country Day special.”

While Early Childhood can now accommodate 48-60 students each year, Pre-Kindergarten and Montessori I and II have formed waiting lists in the past three years as well. Given the demand in Early Childhood and that most of those students progress through Pre-K and Montessori, there are now very few spaces available for new students entering Pre-K and Montessori. Only 9 of the 94 students in Pre-K and Montessori in the 2023-24 school year are new students to Country Day. But new students or not, students are celebrated throughout their years at Country Day.

“While I know it sounds cliché, our teachers really do know and nurture their students and have connections with families – not just while they’re in the pre-primary program but throughout the years.”