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Enrollment FAQ

Admissions

Tours are the best way to get to know our school. Please contact us online or call the campus you are considering and we will be happy to set up a tour for you. Tours are available year-round, typically in the mornings (so you can see the children in action), and need to be scheduled in advance, so we can give you the attention you deserve (and so we avoid a dozen people at a time visiting and disrupting the children in their work).

Absolutely: we invite you to come back after your initial tour and spend an hour or longer with us. We ask that you give at least a week’s notice: it is important that we spread out our observers, so that they do not interfere with our classroom operations.

Yes, we accept enrollments throughout the year, space permitting, in all of our programs.

Yes, we accept children into all grades, space permitting. However, we do open enrollment for existing students prior to inviting outside families to enroll for an upcoming school year. As many of our classes fill up early, we encourage you to consider LePort from preschool onward to ensure we will have space to accommodate your child. Please contact us, so we can review your individual situation.

We generally do not require assessments of children ages four or younger. However, we do encourage you to proactively let us know of any concerns you may have for your child, or any special needs you are aware of, so we can discuss placement options. Older primary children entering late in the 2nd year or directly into the kindergarten year of our primary program (preschool/kindergarten, ages 3–6) are required to come in for a brief assessment, which often consists of some one-on-one time with a teacher, as well as participation in some individual and group classroom activities, usually over the course of 1–3 hours.

For lower elementary (grades 1–3) we similarly conduct an in-class, informal assessment: our classroom teacher will spend time with your child, and will have him work with different Montessori materials and exercises to understand where he fits academically and personally within our multi-age classroom; depending on the school and child, we may invite her to visit for a half day or a full day, too. For upper elementary and middle school (grades 4–8), we conduct a detailed one-on-one assessment, which includes an interview of your child with our Head of School, as well as written assessments. We also request that your child bring in work samples from his current school, and that you submit any past report cards or standardized tests. In this way, we can ensure the right placement for your child, and suggest any supplemental tutoring that may be needed to integrate him smoothly into our school. We also request that your child spend a full orientation day with us, so that your child will feel comfortable on his first day of school.

LePort Montessori offers a needs-based financial aid program. Any student of any age who meets LePort’s acceptance criteria may apply for financial aid. Aid is based on a number of factors, including family circumstances (such as income, assets, number of children enrolling, and other financial obligations the family faces), and school circumstances (including how much aid has already been distributed to families, as returning families receive preference in financial aid awards, which are reconsidered on a yearly basis). Aid amounts typically range from 5% to 40% of tuition due, depending on what a family can afford. Please click here for more information on our financial aid program, as well as details on how to apply.

Yes, we do consider international students for enrollment in all programs. The English language requirements for enrollment vary by school, age level, and whether it is an immersion or bilingual program. No specific language skills are required for the youngest students (through about age four); older students’ language skills will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Our schools do not offer specialized English as a Second Language services, and thus can only admit students who can succeed without additional school-provided support. When you inquire with a specific LePort Montessori school, please let them know you are interested in enrolling an international student, and whether you are contacting us from abroad.

If LePort Montessori is able to provide the student with an offer to enroll then we will work with you to complete the materials you need to apply for a student visa, as LePort Montessori is authorized under Federal law to enroll nonimmigrant alien students. Support for nonimmigrant student visa is currently only available at our Fountain Valley and Irvine Spectrum schools.

General School Processes

Our core academic day typically begins at 8:30am. We offer half-day programs for toddlers and preschool students under the age of five, where the day ends at either 12 or 12:30pm. The regular academic day ends at 3 pm at most of our schools.

Our extended care schedules vary from school to school; typically, we open schools at 7am and close at 6pm.

Our preschools (from infants through kindergarten) are typically open year-round to provide consistent care for younger children who have few reasonable summer camp options. Parents can opt to enroll for an academic year (late August to early June) or stay year-round.

Please request the application from the school of your choice to get more detailed schedule information for the specific school and program you are interested in.

We offer a hot lunch program at most of our schools, if demand is sufficient. Sometimes, a smaller school may not offer hot lunches;  when a school just opens, it may also be awhile before the enrollment grows sufficiently to enable us to offer a hot lunch. Our hot lunch programs use high quality external vendors, usually with online menus. Families can choose whether and when to participate, and what particular meals to select. Our partners focus on healthy eating, and we tailor our menus to remove foods we have found have a negative impact on our students (such as sugary desserts or carbonated sugary soft drinks, which are not welcome in our Montessori programs).

LePort Montessori works cooperatively with parents to accommodate students with anaphylactic allergies. Our Montessori programs through lower elementary (1st–3rd grade) at all of our schools provide a nut-free classroom environment; upper elementary and middle school classrooms may be nut free at some schools, depending on the needs of individual children attending the program. We have also developed anaphylactic allergy policies and trainings, which helps parents and a school to work together and to ensure the safety of children with food allergies while they are in our care. To ensure that children with an anaphylactic allergy are safe at school, we require parents to provide epinephrine injectors that stay at school in our classroom emergency backpacks, if such injectors have been prescribed for the child or are otherwise indicated based on the severity of previous anaphylactic reactions, as well as detailed, written treatment plan. Please contact your school office for a copy of the most current parent handbook and allergy forms to complete for enrolling a child with food allergies in our program.

LePort Montessori complies with all relevant laws with respect to vaccination requirements. In general, a high vaccination rate is desirable to protect those students who aren’t able to be vaccinated (because of age–e.g., infants–or for health reasons–e.g., a compromised immune system). LePort Montessori monitors vaccination rates, and reserves the right to refuse enrollment to unvaccinated children, if we judge that their attendance would pose a risk to other enrolled students. We reserve the right to send home unvaccinated students in case of the outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease in our community or at our school, and require them to stay away from school for extended periods, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. Families are responsible to pay the child’s full tuition in the case of absences due to exemptions or incomplete vaccination schedules, including cases in which LePort requires a child to remain at home. For further details, see the relevant section of the LePort Montessori Parent Handbook.  

Upon enrolling your child, and regularly as required by local laws, you will need to provide us with up-to-date immunization information for your child. What immunizations are required, and what forms need to be completed varies by state; your local LePort Montessori school office can provide you with the relevant information from each school’s parent handbook, as well as the relevant enrollment forms.

  • California. After the passage of SB277, which went into effect in 2016, all children attending school must be fully vaccinated, unless a medical exemption form has been completed.
  • Virginia. Virginia allows religious exemptions to vaccination requirements, in addition to medical exemptions.
  • New York City. In New York, families can opt out of vaccinations based on medical or religious beliefs.

When you withdraw your child with proper notice, the deposit will be applied toward tuition for the final billing period. If the deposit is insufficient to cover tuition for the final billing period, payment for the balance will be required. You must provide notice by the 20th of a month, for the deposit to be applied to the next month’s tuition. If you give notice after the 20th of the month, your deposit will be applied to the second following month. For example: (1) Notice is provided on January 20th. Your deposit is applied toward February tuition. (2) Notice is given on January 21st, your deposit is applied to March tuition, and you still owe February tuition. (3) For pre-paid tuition, tuition refunds upon withdrawal are calculated analogously.

Regular, proactive, open communications are essential to a successful Montessori education. The more you as parents understand Montessori, trust in what our teachers do in the classrooms, and the more your child experiences consistent expectations at home and at school the better they will do.

Here are a few of the ways we communicate with parents:

  • Weekly update emails from the school administration. This email (typically sent on Tuesdays) contains all key information for that week (e.g., any deadlines, meetings, new information) as well as information about upcoming programs and events (e.g., after school sign-ups, conferences, etc.). At some schools, parents also receive a Tuesday folder with additional printed information and work samples sent home.
  • Regular email updates from teachers. Our schools use an online record keeping system called Transparent Classroom. As teachers record lessons given and take photos of your child working at school, they regularly share quick updates with you out of that system, often with photos of your child at work. Teachers also email you with longer updates as needed.
  • Closed Facebook groups. Each of our schools has a closed Facebook group accessible only to parents and staff at that school. Our administration teams and teachers regularly post photos of special events and ongoing classroom work to these Facebook pages.
  • Classroom observations. Our schools have an open door policy: we welcome parents to observe in their child’s classroom. Typically, this takes the form of our Watch Me Work Wednesdays program, where you sign up for an hour long observation slot. However, in many schools, parents can also briefly check in on a child (e.g., early on during transitions) by looking through classroom windows–or you can call us and we’ll check on them, and provide you with an update. While parents can stop by unannounced, it can be very upsetting to children (esp. younger ones) to see parents come into classrooms and then leave again; it’s also disturbing to a class’s concentration and work–which is why we prefer if parent schedule observations, rather than drop by.
  • Semi-annual progress reports. Twice a year, typically in January and June, you receive a written progress report about your child’s work at school.
  • Semi-annual parent-teacher conference. Twice a year, typically in October and February, we ask that parents come in for a one-on-one meeting with their child’s teacher, to discuss progress, identify development opportunity, and agree on goals for their child’s experience at school.
  • Regular school informational events. To help parents better understand our program, we invite families to frequent Parent Info Events. These take many forms and may vary by school community–we’ve hosted everything from informal “coffee chats” around drop-off, to evening 90-min events sharing information about a variety of topics, to Facebook Live events you can join from home or work, to half-day and full-day weekend workshops.

In our Montessori classrooms, photos are an essential communication tool for teachers, parents, and staff throughout the school year. A good portion of learning in Montessori happens as children work with the Montessori materials, such as tracing Sandpaper Letters or building with materials such as the Pink Tower or Brown Stair. Much of what infants, toddlers, and preschoolers accomplish in Montessori does not result in a tangible product that can be taken home or saved by the teacher but rather a physical product that can only be observed in real time. Additionally, each student works at his own pace on his own chosen materials, so the whole class is not working on the same lesson at the same time like at other preschools. In order to better document each child’s progress and accomplishments, we have found that taking photos helps teachers keep a more detailed report on each student’s progress, rather than writing up simple summaries. Capturing these moments to share them with parents has become essential in giving you an accurate “window into the classroom” so you can be a part of your child’s day at LePort even while you’re not here.

We regularly hear from parents about how much they appreciate receiving these photos from the teachers. Photos help prompt parents with talking points about their children’s day, which is important because many students (especially the very young) don’t always articulate what they did at school or what they are learning. So to help parents understand the types of things their children are doing and learning, we share classroom photos in our campus-specific, closed Facebook groups, and send photos home via email and through our Transparent Classroom record keeping and parent communication systems. This helps you understand what happens in the classroom and gives you a point of reference when discussing your child’s progress with his teachers.

Photos are a key element we use to give parents a glimpse into our programs, our classrooms, and the different activities LePort students are offered or get to experience. We select photos that showcase just how special a place LePort is and share them with families in a variety of ways, from presentations we give at parent education events to direct mail pieces and sometimes post a few on our public Facebook pages. When we utilize photos as part of our outreach communications or marketing, we ensure that none of the child’s personal information is disclosed (e.g., name, classroom). We do not give permission to any third parties to use any of our photos.

In order to take these photos and share them with parents, we need a photo waiver signed by each student’s parent(s), which is why we include it on the enrollment application. While there are significant benefits to having all children participate in the sharing of photos, if you have concerns with the photo waiver, please contact your school’s office to discuss opt-out options.  If, as a parent, you notice something inappropriate, please do contact us. We take very seriously how our students are portrayed and are sensitive to any possible inferences that may be inappropriate or controversial. For more details on the photo waiver policy, please read your school’s most current parent handbook.

Our school does not discriminate in the provision of educational services on the basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, disability, citizenship status, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. View our Student Non-Discrimination Policy.

Although we greatly appreciate and applaud many different causes that LePort families, students, teachers, and vendors take part in, as a company we currently focus our community and charitable efforts on giving financial aid to students who cannot otherwise attend our schools.

© Copyright 2023, LePort Montessori
Spring Education Group is controlled by Primavera Holdings Limited, an investment firm (together with its affiliates) principally based in Hong Kong with operations in China, Singapore, and the United States, that is itself owned by Chinese persons residing in Hong Kong.

Stay in touch with LePort Montessori

Please fill out the form to receive additional info, as well as invitations for upcoming event. If you share your phone number, our admissions team will call to answer your questions or set up a tour.

By providing us with your phone number, you consent to being contacted by LePort Montessori and/or its affiliated schools regarding their educational programs, whether such contact is by phone, autodialer, recorded message, or text. Please note: Your consent is not required as a condition of enrollment.