Fremont's Pacific Crest School is marking its 25th anniversary from noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at its campus at 600 N.W. Bright St.

Former and current students, parents and staff will enjoy a festive block party featuring outdoor music, food booths, a children’s stage and student art exhibit. The event will also involve many of the neighbors, businesses and friends who have been supportive of Pacific Crest School during the past 25 years, according to a Pacific Crest press release.

Pacific Crest is a private Montessori school serving more than 200 students from the Ballard, Fremont, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Phinney and Sand Point neighborhoods.

Founded in 1985 by director Jacquie Maughan, it began in the basement of a church as one classroom with 22 students. Expanding over the years, Pacific Crest is now one of the few schools in Seattle offering instruction from preschool though middle school.

In addition to its site in Fremont, Pacific Crest also owns a 15-acre working farm on Vashon Island where students grow food and conduct onsite science and nature studies.

The school’s community outreach projects include weekly volunteer work and annual food drives for the University Food Bank and the annual renovation of Ross Park in the Fremont neighborhood. Students have also created public murals for Ross Park and the History House in Fremont, where they do ongoing work. Original poetry readings have been given at History House and the Richard Hugo House on Capital Hill.

In the next 25 years of Pacific Crest, Maughan wants the school to be a place where families can thrive, she said in a Pacific Crest press release.

"Childhood should be an oasis where you protect the kids and give them a strong sense of community," Maughan said in the press release. "This security encourages independence and the ability to go out into the world with confidence."