Montessori Academy of London | London, Ontario

Dear MA Parents, 

Welcome to January! I realize some may be thinking, how did we get here, or feeling the pressure of shifting something in their lives just because the calendar has turned over … or maybe to you January is a month that feels like it lasts forever. Wherever you land on the January spectrum, perhaps the idea of gentle reset might feel better. It is winter and if we take our cues from nature, it is a time to slow down and reset instead of filling schedules to create something new or make something better. It really comes down to feeling grounded and connected and we have some ideas below to help you get there with us.

Level Transition Meetings and a New Program for Parents

For any parent who has a child that will be moving up to a new level, we invite you to join us to learn about the next exciting stage in their Montessori journey. Through the month of January we will host these transition meetings, one for each of the levels. 

As a follow up to these sessions, we are developing a specialized eLearning course that will empower parents to support their child during the second plane of development (6 to 12 years) by exploring the unique social and intellectual needs of the Elementary-aged student. Parents will gain practical strategies for fostering independence and a love for learning, aligning their parenting approach with the specific Montessori classroom principles of Cosmic Education and collaborative work, all from the comfort of your home. We look forward to launching the platform in early Spring. 

Re-enrolment for 2026-2027

We are incredibly grateful for the community that is MA and look forward to continuing our partnerships with our families and guiding your children. Re-enrolment for next school year opens on Friday, January 23, and you will receive a notification in the MA Parent App when it is ready. Once this closes, we process all of our sibling applications and then enrol new students to the school. 

There are no increases to any of our auxiliary fees next year and the increase to tuition, which was put forward by the Finance Committee and approved by our Board of Governors, is similar to last year. The amount varies based on the program your child is in and is approximately $75 a month. You will see the full fee schedule under Notices in the app that was redesigned based on parent feedback.

Recently, we shared a graphic regarding the breakdown of tuition and expenses; for those who would like to revisit it, you can view it here.

Capital Assessment Review and Report  

Montessori Academy’s expenditures fall under three areas: People, Places and Programs. Our learning environments and the buildings in which they reside are critical elements of Montessori programming at our school. Accordingly, our “Places” are impactful factors in our strategic and financial planning activities and our annual budgets. During the 2024-2025 school year, with the support of the Board of Governors, the school invested in a full capital assessment review of all our properties in order to understand and plan for required maintenance and improvements over the next 15+ years. The report resulting from this work provides the school with a critical path to ensure we maintain and protect our environments for current and future students and staff, with the understanding that facilities at our downtown and Westmount locations will require significant resource commitments in the long term.

Therefore, we are implementing a funding strategy that enables the school to proactively address short-, medium- and long-term facilities maintenance requirements. One element of that strategy includes the introduction of a Facilities Fee for students who are new to Montessori Academy of London.

Starting in the 2027-2028 school year, for new students only, there will be a one-time Facilities Fee ($350) when enrolling in the school. This does not impact any current families this year, nor will it in future years unless a new sibling joins the school. This type of fee is very common for independent schools and, comparatively, ours is much lower than most, both across Montessori schools in Ontario ($500 to $5000) and other institutions, even here in London. For the 2026-2027 school year, the new one-time fee will only impact students/families who are brand new to the school.

School Projects  

Over Winter Break, work started on Waterloo Casa’s kitchen renovation.

Last year, thanks to our donors, we were able to fund a new kitchen project at 718 Waterloo St., which houses one Casa and two Toddler classrooms. This building only shuts down twice a year;  two weeks at the Winter Break and two weeks at March Break, which means this is the only time we can complete larger projects. The preparation work for the kitchen started over the Winter Break, with a new window to allow for more counter space, and will be completed over the March Break.

Our fundraising campaign for the gym project has kicked off with great momentum and we are almost 50% of the way there! We are incredibly grateful for the contributions to the campaign as this is a project that impacts almost every student at MA, as well as our broader community! We are very close to selecting the vendor for our gym upgrade based on the quotes we have received, with a final site visit to our gym space happening mid-January. PS – there is a hint on our Instagram page!

What’s Next

We have finished our first session of our new parent and child classes, and the winter session is about to begin. These classes are designed for a parent to join their infant or toddler in our loft classroom with our trained program facilitator Tara Protopapas, one of our Casa teachers. The success of this program and the feedback from the parents has encouraged us to add an additional class to our Spring session for toddlers who are 18 to 30 months. 

Our first Global Learning experience, in Partnership with ALIVE Outdoors, is taking place in Costa Rica this April, to focus on the ecosystem of the rainforest. We are hopeful to offer this program annually for students. This year students participating are in Years 7 & 8, and after this excursion, we will evaluate if we can open it up to Year 6 as well. The learning opportunities and locations are endless; studying Marine Biology in the Bahamas … we can do that too! 

This summer we are offering a number of programs: for toddlers as usual, three-year-olds, Art Camp for Casa, Adventure Camp for Lower Elementary and Red Door Media Camp for Years 6 to 8. Stay tuned to the Buzz for details on February registration. 

Upcoming Family Events

The community at MA is the heart of the school and we have three events planned to cultivate our time together:

• Family Skate at Storybook Gardens – Thursday, January 29 at 7:30 pm. We realize this is a later start time, however this is the new rental timeline for the facility. All families and alumni are welcome to join us, you just need to register through this Google Form as there is a capacity limit.  
• Winter Concert at Centennial Hall – Thursday, February 5 at 6 pm, with performers from Casa to Junior High, this is always an incredible event. Parking will be covered by the school at the adjacent lot. 
• Spring Fling at The Grove – Saturday, April 25 from 1pm – 5pm. Save the date for a family dance party! Stay tuned to the Buzz for details and tickets. 

You made it! Thank you so much for taking the time to read through all of these updates and what we have to look forward to as a school in the coming months. I encourage you to enjoy a January re-alignment, rather than a re-do; parenting is challenging enough as it is. We are here to support you through every step of the way and developmental stage your child moves through with curiosity, respect, community and the magic of Montessori.  

Sincerely,
Tina Brown
Executive Director