The Admission Process and Policies

Thank you for your interest in our school. Because we celebrate and consider diversity important to the health of the school and to the full development of children, we welcome all children. The optimal age for enrollment is 2½ to 3½. Children older than 4 are generally not eligible for admission. The one prerequisite is that your child is reliably toilet-trained.

Our Admission Process

  • Before applying, we highly recommend you call to make an appointment for an observation. After observing, we will contact you to see if we can answer any questions you may have after observing. You can also arrange to meet with the Director of the school for a more in depth talk or a tour of the school.
  • To apply, please use our online application form and submit the $55 application fee and $50 deposit (refundable if your child does not enroll) via PayPal. Once we receive your application, we will send you a letter of acknowledgment and let you know the status of your child’s enrollment.

Our Admission Policies

Waiting Pool Policy

The Philomath Montessori School strives to admit children to our school in a fair and timely manner. We use the following procedure to meet this objective while maintaining classroom balance with respect to age, gender, and diversity.

  • We place a child in the waiting pool when payment of the family’s deposit and registration fees are received with a completed application form.
  • When a child becomes eligible for enrollment, they will be considered for admission.

Eligibility

  • Eligibility for an open position is subject to the Guides’ determination of the required age, gender, and cultural diversity to maintain classroom balance.  We are committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and admission is open to all children that we can reasonably within the context of our available financial resources and the need to create an environment that is safe and conducive to learning for all students.
  • When a family has requested that their child not be admitted before a certain date, that child is not eligible until the requested time has arrived.
  • When two or more children in the waiting pool are eligible and were placed in the waiting pool within 3 months of each other, siblings of present or past students take highest priority; transfer students from other Montessori programs take second priority; other children take third priority.
  • Children under 2½ or over 4½ years old are generally not eligible for admission. Older transfer students may be eligible with the consent of the Guides.
  • Philomath Montessori School makes every effort to admit each child in our waiting pool into the classroom, however, we cannot guarantee an opening during the time frame a child is eligible to be admitted.