We are back with more information about the Montessori School we are working on.
There is a lot of progress to report shortly, but for now we are especially excited to see so many families express interest in a fall 2021 school start!
Here is an update about what classrooms to expect:
As per Montessori guidelines (and the wonderful history in Delaware County of one-room schoolhouse), classrooms will be mixed-age, with a maximum enrollment in each classroom of 24-35 students. We don’t plan to have 24-35 students immediately (!) and you may wonder why so many children per class (?), when we always hear that smaller classroom should be better. Here are two articles that explain this much better than we could: 1) About the mixed-age classrooms by Tim Seldin from the Montessori Foundation, (we are members of this Foundation, and Tim is consulting us while we develop the school). 2) About the recommended classroom sizes from the Association Montessori International (AMI), another organization we have become members of. You can also find lots more information about classrooms - and about Montessori Education in general - at the American Montessori Society and the Montessori Family Alliance organizations (and yes, we are members here too!). Within a couple of years, we hope to open five classrooms in total, running from pre-school and all the way to high school. The classrooms are as follows:
3-6 years
6-9 years
9-12 years
12-15 years
15-18 years
In the long term the school will serve max. 150-175 students, which we have learned is a “sweet spot” for a school. In the short term (fall of 2021), we plan to start with two classrooms, 3-6 and 6-9 (or 6-12, depending on teacher availability and student demand). We then plan to open two more classrooms (9-12 and 12-15) for the 2022-2023 school year. The 15-18 years classroom will be opened as soon as we have enough students. We look forward to sharing more soon - trust us when we say that we are working day and night to get things ready! Meanwhile, if you have any questions, let us know. And thank you again for being on this journey with us. All the best, Sophie & David
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