Dearcroft Montessori School
1667 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, ON
Gender: Coeducational
Living: Day
For over 50 years Dearcroft Montessori School, one of Canada’s original Montessori institutions, has been cultivating the most creative, learned, and ambitious toddler, preschool, elementary and junior high cohorts in Ontario. Situated in the lush beauty of a historic estate in Oakville, a stone’s throw from Lake Ontario, the town centre, and the region’s affordance of nature, Dearcroft Montessori School offers more than just an education – it offers a foundation upon which to build a life.
Maria Montessori was a pioneer. Italy’s first female doctor “developed a unique ‘scientific pedagogy’ known as the Montessori Method” which has been employed in thousands of schools for over a century all around the world. It is Montessori’s pedagogical approach, and its evolution, that sets Dearcoft apart from other private and public school options for your children.
A Montessori institution goes beyond traditional expectations of education, and “consciously designs social communities and educational experiences that cultivate the child’s sense of self-awareness and empathy. Montessori learning environments allow for the respect and celebration of the individual spirit within people of all ages.” Through this credo, students are empowered to become and understand all facets of responsibility, and citizenship, in addition to scholastic goals and expectations.
Montessori classrooms are functional and malleable apparatuses devoted to providing a diverse and involved approach to learning, promising “individualized, child-centered programs, enriched programming tailored to meet the needs of each student; multi-age environments; low student-teacher ratios; hands-on; experiential learning; individual and small group lessons and enriched music and French programming.” Beyond academic pursuits, Dearcroft – within the Montessori spirit – offers students engagement in extracurricular arts, music, language, athletics, and travel programming.
A Montessori school is not simply brick and mortar, nor is it the sum of pedagogical pursuits and educational expectation. It is a home, a place where those who have experienced the Montessori mission can find comfort and community, even years after graduation. It is where your child will take their first steps to truly finding themselves.
