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Evesham Malvern school celebrates grand opening

Following a summertime soft open, the Malvern School of Marlton celebrated a grand opening on Tuesday. EVESHAM – Following a summertime soft open, the Malvern School of Marlton has settled into its new home. Malvern staff celebrated a grand opening on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting, oversized scissors and all.


 

EVESHAM — Following a summertime soft open, the Malvern School of Marlton has settled into its new home. Malvern staff celebrated a grand opening on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting, oversized scissors and all.

Malvern is the largest preschool chain in the Philadelphia region, with 26 schools offering private child care and year-round education, including a school in Medford. Malvern’s individually-tailored classroom programming is for children from 6 weeks to pre-kindergarten, and its enrichment and before- and after-school care for children from 6 to 8, according to the school’s website. It also runs summer camps.

Officials said Malvern staff often wait several months to celebrate its schools’ openings in order to not only mark their arrival in the community, but also to honor their promise to maintain strong community partnerships.

“I think for us, it’s really a celebration,” said Emily Olivares, executive director of the Evesham school. “We’ve really grown and immersed ourselves in the community.”

On Tuesday, the school donated two large file boxes of nonperishable food and $500 to the Food Bank of South Jersey, furthering a community partnership and setting an example for students, according to Olivares.

Other community partners at the event included Evesham Mayor Jaclyn Veasy, Deputy Mayor Debbie Hackman, Lisa Hurd of the South Jersey Chamber of Commerce. As a woman with her own business, Malvern co-founder and President Kristen Waterfield was excited to add a school to a community with so many women in leadership.

“We’re really happy to be part of the Marlton community,” she said. “It’s a really special place.”

To build community ties, the new Malvern school has hosted holiday parties, touch-a-truck events to help young children get comfortable with first responders, and collaborated with the township library for crafting and story hours. It’s open to Malvern families and the wider community, Olivares said.

“When I think about the community in Marlton, I’m feeling very blessed and humbled …” she said. “The families are really something special.”

The new school at the View of Marlton shopping complex on Route 73 welcomed its first group of students in June, and officials said about 50 families have enrolled. The 8,400-square-foot, nine classroom building in Evesham cost more than $1 million to build, and officials have said the site was desirable because Evesham is home to a large number of schools and young families.

Waterfield said on Tuesday that a core Malvern value is nurturing children, and that she was happy to see the Evesham school putting its students first.

“I’m so proud of this, I’m so proud of the people who work here,” she said. “And I’m proud to welcome the school to the Marlton family.”

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