Leport Montessori School Fairfax

This is the beginning of our second year with LePort Fairfax. We're still excited about having our son be part of this school community and, most importantly, so is he. Choosing your child’s first formal school experience can feel overwhelming. At least it was to me as a new mom. I first came across LePort searching online search for Montessori schools in Northern Virginia. My initial impression of LePort was positive just from the website look & feel. This may not seem like much, but after scrolling through LOTS of sites, this was significant to me. As someone just beginning to investigate Montessori, I loved the warm, approachable tone of the explanations given on the website. I was most immediately drawn to the diversity pictured throughout the school community: students, teachers, and staff. For me, this was significant because this is an important value for my family and something we actively pursue as part of our son's uprbringing. Of course, I also know that you can make things look a certain way online. I decided to go for a visit. My visits confirmed my initial impression. What I really appreciate now being an enrolled family is that diversity within the community seems to be something that is simply an organic aspect of LePort in terms of staff in addition to the families that are drawn to the school. It is also something thoughtfully folded into the school community in terms of students learning about various cultures in a way that feels natural, normal, and respectful. What really sold my husband and I on LePort though was the opportunity to participate in one of their Parent & Child classes. It was a series of five Saturday morning sessions where you and your child could experience what Montessori learning was really like. It was EXACTLY what my nervous mom heart needed: the chance to "test drive" both Montessori education and LePort as a school. Our son absolutely loved it! It was a relief to have a chance to truly experience some of LePort before making a larger financial commitment. The other feature of the Parent Child class that I absolutely loved and which was a total surprise were these awesome little info sheets given to the parents each week. They included information about various aspects of Montessori learning in the classroom and specific strategies for how you could support those things at home. It legitimately helped improve my parenting! I was super excited to immediately implement several of the suggestions at home. Once we decided to enroll, we were able to request our son be placed in the classroom with the same wonderful teacher who taught the Parent Child class. When he arrived for his first day of school, it was such a comfort knowing it wasn't his first experience with LePort. There was already a comfort level that came from his familiarity with the classroom environment and his lead teacher. LePort Fairfax is a sweet campus that's just the right size for a child's first school experience. I had been home full time with my son up until his 3rd birthday, so the transition to school was huge. The head of school, teachers, and support staff went above and beyond to warmly welcome us and reassured us of their help with any initial bumps with his initial transition (including the occasional toileting accident). I love the beautiful environment at LePort. As someone highly sensitive to the impact of chaotic, cluttered, unattractive spaces, this is huge for me! A school that cares about my son being in a beautiful, well ordered environment? Yes please! Flower arranging is a weekly classroom activity! While there have been a few staffing changes since our arrival last Fall, and our son's initial lead teacher is no longer with the school, I can honestly say at no time have we questioned the quality of care & instruction. Even with the teacher shifts, our son has continued to be excited to go to school and has grown in extraordinary ways. He volunteers to help around the house a lot as an almost 4 year old, clearly a reflection of school lessons on courtesy & kindness.

Enrolling our daughter in LePort was the best decision for our family. The teachers are kind and patient and seem to truly enjoy each child. The Head of School, Ms. Reina, always makes time for any family that has a question or concern. My daughter is happy to go to school everyday. Recently I was able to observe in the classroom. After ten minutes, my daughter informed me that it was time for me to leave. This confirms that she feels completely safe and comfortable in her environment.

What a wonderful school! Yes they have gone through a lot of changes over the past couple of years, but Ms. Reina, the Head of School, is working diligently to provide constant updates to the parents. She quickly responds to emails and is always available to answer questions. I also credit many of the recent upgrades to the school, such as new furniture and a coffee machine, in part to her hard work. The teachers, both in the morning and aftercare, are amazing! Ms. Julia and Ms. Tiffany are very patient and attentive to my daughter's needs. My son graduated from the school as a kindergartner and is now excelling in math in public school. At first I was nervous having my daughter in school until 6pm until she asked me every day to stay even longer. Both Ms. Lauren and Mr. Luke are great teachers and do many activities with the kids. My daughter also enjoys many of the aftercare classes (for example art and yoga) that are provided at an additional cost. Overall it's a great school, great Montessori program, and students graduating from this school will have a head start when transitioning to public school.

Our son is going on his second year at LePort Fairfax and we're extremely happy with the educational environment. His individual needs and interests are well attended and the classroom is peaceful, organized and managed wonderfully by the teachers. Its a small school, which we love, and we've gotten to know all of the staff. They are incredibly attentive, caring and knowledgable and always available to discuss anything that comes up. We feel so happy every day when we bring him there! While there has been a lot of change this year at the school, there has also been a concerted effort to involve and inform the parents as much as possible. In our experience, changes at preschools are "par for the course." We've experienced such changes at multiple preschools our children have attended over the years. For us, it's about how it's handled. We look forward to another great year at LePort!

Our son has been at the Leport Fairfax school for a year now and although many changes have occurred during this period, we are very happy to have joined the Leport family. What made the difference was the combination of caring love and creative education methods offered by Ms Julia and the lePort staff. We are very excited about the changes implemented by the new Director Ms Reina. This will be a decisive year for our son and we could have not found a better partner than the Leport family.