La Jolla Country Day School (known informally as "Country Day" or "LJCDS") is an independent school in University City, a community of San Diego, California. The school contains a lower school (consisting of nursery through fourth grade), a middle school (grades 5–8), and an upper school (grades 9–12). The school's motto is "Scientia Pacifica" (peace through knowledge). La Jolla Country Day School was voted the best private school in San Diego in 2007 by the San Diego Union-Tribune. History In 1926, Louise Balmer moved to California from Illinois with her four children after the death of her husband, and earned her teaching certificate. Establishing the Balmer School, she used a one-room cottage on Coast Boulevard as a makeshift schoolhouse for four students and three teachers. Balmer, an alumna of Bryn Mawr College, was an expert on the Winnetka Plan, a learning model that advocated for innovative pedagogies in the classroom, expanding education to include creative activities and an emphasis on the socioemotional development of each child. By 1942, the Balmer School expanded, eventually holding classes in kindergarten through fifth grade in Wisteria Cottage, which had been redesigned by famed architect Irving Gill and is now the home of the La Jolla Historical Society on Prospect Street. In 1955, the school received its charter to teach middle and upper school classes, and in 1961 moved to its current location. The first class of high school seniors graduated in 1964. A new chapter of La Jolla Country Day School began in 1957 when it welcomed new headmaster Don Leavenworth, who brought with him new school traditions. The young Yale alumnus established the school’s official colors as white and blue (inspired by his alma mater), added a French language program, offered optional uniforms, and started a letterman sweater day on Fridays. Over the course of the school’s history, many notable public figures have visited the school, such as Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, who visited the campus to find inspiration for new characters in his stories. Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, addressed the first graduating class as commencement speaker and revisited the campus 20 years later to dedicate the student-built observatory. Actor Debbie Reynolds filmed her television special Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children on campus in 1969. The film featured nearly all 500 of the school’s students, along with her own children, Carrie and Todd Fisher. Accreditation