Montessori Magnet Program Offered By Hillsborough County Schools

TAMPA, FL — Hillsborough County Public Schools announced the district will soon accept applications for its first-ever Montessori Magnet Program.

Families who are interested in learning more about the Montessori Academy at Essrig Elementary School can attend a Parent Information Night on Tuesday, May 17, from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Essrig Elementary School cafeteria.

This hands-on learning solution will open at Essrig Elementary School for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.

The Montessori Academy at Essrig will be offered to 3-year-old students, 4-year-old students and kindergarten students for the upcoming school year, with a new grade level added each year thereafter. The magnet program at Essrig Elementary School will be a “school-within-a-school” design.

As part of the Montessori Academy, students will enjoy hands-on learning opportunities as they explore their world and learn to collaborate with classmates of multiple ages, levels and learning styles while they discover unique ways to engage in their learning.

Families will have a special magnet application window from May 18 to 27 to apply for this program, with children from across the district eligible to apply. Fifty-four students will be accepted for the inaugural year of this one-of-a-kind classroom setting. Families can apply here.

Teachers in the Montessori program undergo rigorous training over the course of an entire year to ensure they are well-equipped for empowering students’ exploration of their interests and modes of learning that suit them best.

“The Montessori Magnet Program emphasizes independence and provides our youngest learners with the ability to develop their natural interests," Superintendent Addison Davis said. "This program focuses on student-paced instruction and fosters all aspects of their development – cognitive, emotional, social and physical. The district anticipates an overwhelming response to this program and is already looking to add more Montessori programs at other schools to meet the growing demand."

Montessori is a unique educational program, first established in 1929, emphasizing independence and is based on a child’s self-directed learning. Children work in groups and individually, recognizing not all children learn in the same way or at the same pace.