Montessori Academy Of Virginia - Virginia Beach

Montessori Academy of Virginia has been an absolutely amazing place for my granddaughter. From the moment you walk in, you can feel how caring, kind, and loving the staff truly are. They create a warm, nurturing environment where children are supported, encouraged, and genuinely cared for every day. It gives our family so much peace of mind knowing she is learning and growing in such a positive place with people who truly love what they do. We are beyond grateful for the wonderful teachers and staff and highly recommend Montessori Academy of Virginia to any family looking for an exceptional school.

If this brings awareness to any other parent thinking of sending their child here, the review was worth my time. I fully understand that my son has behavior challenges, he is two-years-old. Like many toddlers, he has struggled with biting and hitting. What is completely unacceptable is placing 21 children ages 2–3 in a single classroom and then acting shocked when a child becomes overstimulated. That environment would overwhelm any toddler, but somehow my child was labeled the “problem child” instead of acknowledging their own failure. Before enrolling, we were completely transparent about his history. The new director, Ms. Philips, personally assured us that class sizes were smaller and even said, “That won’t happen here.” That statement was either wildly incompetent or flat-out dishonest. On top of that, we were required to put down a $500 non-refundable deposit and spend hundreds of dollars on so-called “required” supplies, money we will never get back. When our son continued to struggle, I did the work. I created strategies. I checked in weekly. I requested and relied on a daily behavior log that was rarely completed or even handed to me. I went to our pediatrician and requested therapy for behavior issues. What, exactly, did the school do to help? No meaningful intervention. They couldn’t even wait until my son’s first behavior therapist meeting. The day before he was kicked out, the director emailed me saying, “We do provide frequent out-of-classroom breaks for Parker throughout the day when we notice he is becoming overstimulated. Typically, one of our assistants will walk with him in the halls to give him a chance to reset. While this strategy does help temporarily, we are seeing that it is effective for about 10 minutes after returning to the classroom before his energy level increases again. We appreciate the insight from his therapist and will continue to use these strategies while closely monitoring what supports are most helpful for Parker.” After I called a meeting to discuss his behavior and find solutions, their response was to kick us out with absolutely NO notice. No transition. No support. No compassion. Just “you’re done.” Conveniently, this was done right before holiday break, despite them claiming they provide a “two-week notice.” Tomorrow starts two weeks of Christmas break, making it nearly impossible for two working parents to secure childcare over the holiday. The lack of foresight, professionalism and basic human decency is staggering to my husband and I who just wanted to have our son feel supported. Virginia Montessori Academy loves to talk about Montessori values, but when a child actually needs patience, understanding and developmentally appropriate support, they fail completely. If your child is anything less than “easy,” do not enroll here. They will not work with you. They will not support your child. They will simply push you out when they become overwhelmed by the number of students they chose to accept. I would never recommend this school to any parent who expects honesty, professionalism or basic empathy about your child’s issues. If your child is perfect, compliant and never struggles, this school may be for you. If not, don’t waste $500, your time or your emotional energy.

The Montessori Academy of Virginia - Virginia Beach (MAV) is a wonderful school. We have been apart of the MAV family for two years, and if we didn’t have to move out of the area, we would continue the kids educational journey at MAV. All the head teachers are wonderful - college educated and Montessori teacher credentialed. In addition, the MAV teachers and staff are diverse and come from a variety of backgrounds, which I appreciate and value. MAV has superior safety standards and procedures to ensure the safety of all the kids with several checks and balances in place and security features around the campus, like cameras. They even have a parent/guardian drop-off and pick-up line, which is a great feature to cut down on foot traffic inside the school and to ensure the kids are safe in the parking lot to and from school. I always feel like my kids are safe and secure at MAV at all times. One feature we LOVE about MAV is the school’s actual farm in Chesapeake that each classroom visits about once a month. The farm has been an awesome addition to the kids educational curriculum. The farm has an array of animals (ducks, chickens, horses, etc) and a garden, which the kids plant seeds to grow an array of fruits, vegetables, and other flowering plants during the school year. The farm has been one of the best features at MAV and the kids look forward to visiting the farm. As a result of the farm, the kids have a gentle and kind appreciation to earth, the environment, and nature. MAV also offers STEM and music as part of the curriculum. Prior to COVID, they offered extracurriculars (paid separately) like Cat Cow Yoga and Soccer Shots; to date, these programs have not started back up yet. Some thing to note, there is no direct contact with teachers. Everything is funneled through the Remind app, which the site Director monitors. So it’s hard to express concerns or questions with teachers directly outside of parent/teacher conferences or through scheduling something formally at pick-up time. Another thing to note, there is a 10:1 student/teacher ratio with a head teacher and one teacher assistant (TA) in each classroom of twenty. The head teachers are consistent the entire school year, but TAs are rotated a lot. There could be 2-3 different TAs at different times of the year in your child’s classroom. In addition, there is a very high turnover of TAs; as a result, MAV’s foreign language program has been inconsistent because a TA has frequently been responsible for the foreign language teachings. So don’t expect fluency in a second language at MAV. Lastly, nap-times vary depending on the classroom. And one of my kids was unfortunately in a class with a very short nap period (45 minutes to an hour). It takes my kid some time to settle down, so my kid would maybe get a 30 minute nap on a good day. And on some days, my kid may not even get a nap. So by the end of the day my kid was irritable/grumpy, and after a few days lacking a nap, my kid really struggled emotionally. The aforementioned things to note have not been deal breakers for our family, but it is something to keep in mind. Overall, MAV has been the best educational decision our family could have made for our kids. The kids have blossomed and have been put on a path to success. My kids look forward to going to school everyday, which is a great foundation. And this is largely due to MAV. Furthermore, my kids have never missed any school due to illness, which speaks a lot on MAV’s sanitation and cleaning standards. I think the schools policy on having indoor shoes has positively contributed to cutting down the dirt and germs in the classroom. The kids arrive in their shoes from home (outdoor shoes), but immediately change into their classroom shoes (indoor shoes sent at the beginning of the school year by parents) when they go in the building. MAV is pricey, but I feel the price is outweighed by the quality education and unique features MAV has to offer. Just for the piece of mind and knowing your kids are in good hands is priceless.

Our family loves MAV! We enrolled our child for his first full school year and the experience has been amazing. He loved his teacher and made many friends in his class. He has also improved on his Montessori skills and independence. All of the staff are friendly and very communicative with the students and parents. We definitely recommend MAV to our friends and family!

My son has thrived at MAV for the past year. He loves his classmates and teachers. The director, Ms. McMahon is prompt to respond to any questions or concerns and the school does a fantastic job of communicating with parents. The summer program is also fantastic.