My son has attended the Ava Wanas Montessori for over 2 years since he was 2 1/2 years old for 3 days a week. Every day he gets up and asks "Do I go to school today?" He loves going and has learned so much. He loves the focus on nature, the chickens, the garden, and all of the outdoor time. When I interviewed there, I was so impressed with all the kids that were reading so early, and sure enough he will be reading very soon, much sooner than either of his older two siblings. Their methods really work!
Ava Wanas Montessori School
410-970-6181
Listing Manager:
Marie Atalla
Ava Wanas Montessori School, located off Route 32, offers Montessori education for children ages 2 to 5 years. Before and after school care is offered as well as a summer camp that maintains regular school hours for working parents. The school hosts and participates in a variety of community events including its annual Garden Party, Harvest Festival, and Go-Local Fair. In September 2009, Ava Wanas Montessori School initiated an MSDE-approved kindergarten program. Monthly tuition varies depending on the age of the child, the number of days attended per week, and the number of hours attended per day. Costs range from a minimum of $335 to a maximum of $927 per month. Healthy and homemade lunches are served daily at no additional charge. Drop-in care is available to the school's part time students at an hourly rate of $8. Call to schedule an observation.
- Fax: 410-970-6456
- Hours: Mon - Fri, 7am - 6pm; Sat, Sun, closed
- Handicap Accessible: Yes
- Parking: Free lot
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Reviews (3)
I currently have one child in the school, for 2 years now. Additionally, my daughter went to the school for 2 years and attended the Kindergarten program (an approved K program) and went right into 1st grade since she missed the cutoff. She was quickly put in the top reading class despite being the youngest one in the grade and I attribute this to the Montessori method and the wonderful teachers at the school. I could not be happier with the staff, they are all very artistic and wonderful with the children. What other school has their own garden (from which the kids often pick and eat from for lunch), pet bird, butterfly garden......they spend a lot of time outside and the Director is completely devoted to the kids.
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This school has some positive characteristics, such as relatively small classrooms, a pretty good learning environment, great kids, and some teachers are amazing (Ms. Melodie, Ms. Morgan). But over time with my child at this school, it has provided enough negative impacts that I think any prospective parent should be aware of. To keep this brief, here’s a list of some grievances (in no particular order): the school common areas are cramped and/or in dire need of upgrades, the school yard (in which the kids spend up to 4 hours a day) is a mud lake anytime it rains and your kids will look more like piggies than children when you pick them up – mud everywhere!, the turnover of teaching assistants is alarming and to me signals some issues with management and happiness of staff, the owner does not have a friendly disposition and will not meet a parent even half way as far as any interaction goes. Another issue is that the school feels like they can ask a lot of working parents such as donating time on the weekend to do updates to the school (painting the walls for example, or constantly dealing with the mud lake situation); recently the requests have turned into demands of either donating time or money being required in addition to tuition. All in all, I think the school is deteriorating – at first I would have given it a B+ but today it’s definitely a C.