Wilmington Montessori School is a

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

school located in New Castle County, Delaware, United States, serving ages 12 months through eighth grade. Its campus is partially in Ardencroft and partially in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

. It is named after, but is not located in, Wilmington. It is the state's oldest and largest independent Montessori school. Its facility has more than 30 classrooms, a library/learning commons, gymnasium, indoor and outdoor performance stages, music and arts rooms, three age-appropriate

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, outdoor playing fields, and wooded walking paths. The curriculum is rooted in the principles of the

Montessori Method The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

History

In 1963, the school was initiated by a group of Delaware parents. It began as Wilmington Montessori Association with fourteen children in a storefront in downtown Wilmington, and was incorporated in January 1964. The school later moved to the Buzz Ware Village Center in

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. On November 14, 2008, Wilmington Montessori initiated a school-wide

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program to help the school reduce its carbon footprint and to teach students the habit of recycling and the benefits to the Earth. The program was supplemented with a grant from Delaware's Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control."$50,000 in Recycling Assistance Grants Awarded"
News From The Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control, Nov. 13, 2008, Vol. 38, No. 512. In 2016, Wilmington Montessori School was named a U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School. In October 2017, Wilmington Montessori School announced that it would acquire PRIED Middle School and begin a middle-school program, effective in September 2018.

Notable faculty

* Marie M. Dugan was the founding head of Wilmington Montessori School. She served as the Interim Executive Director of the American Montessori Society in 2004. She is the Chair of the AMS Centennial Campaign Committee and the AMS Archives Committee, and was the Keynote Committee for the Montessori Centennial Conference in 2007. She is a former President of AMS, former Accreditation Commission member and former Chair of the AMS Heads of Schools Section, having served on the Board of Directors of AMS for 13 years. She is the co-representative to the United Nations as an NGO. Dugan was the Head of the Wilmington Montessori School in Wilmington, Delaware for 25 years before retiring in 2000. She returned to WMS as interim head of school from 2012 until 2014. She is an educational consultant, serving CMTE/NY and AMS in both independent and public schools. *In 2007, teacher Lisa Wilson-Riblett shared first place as "Teacher from a Center or Preschool" in the 9th Annual Governor's Awards for Excellence in Early Care and Education. *In 2005, teacher Angie Meadows was one of 100 educators in the country chosen as an "Unsung Hero" by ING Financial Services.

Accreditation

American Montessori Society The American Montessori Society (AMS) is a New York City-based, member-supported nonprofit organization which promotes the use of the Montessori teaching approach in private and public schools. AMS advocates for the Montessori method (popularized ...

* Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation *

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional educational accreditation, accreditation of public and priva ...

Memberships

Delaware Association of Independent Schools The Delaware Association of Independent Schools (DAIS) is a non-profit consortium of schools that work together to promote independent education and to support and strengthen the administrative activities of independent member schools by providing p ...

* Montessori Teachers' Association of Delaware *

National Association of Independent Schools The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boar ...

Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools The Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS) is a voluntary, non-profit consortium of independent schools in the Delaware Valley area of the United States. With headquarters in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the Association currentl ...

* Delaware Alliance for Non-Profit Advancement

Notes

External links