Montessori Academy of Virginia

"We toured MAV's Virginia Beach location on Tuesday, May 2nd. Due to the lack of communication and our tour experience, we rescinded our child's application. We hope the following feedback helps MAV improve for other families who decide to inquire: - We were contacted right away when we asked to change our tour time. However, the tour seemed very short and was interrupted multiple times by phone calls and the escorting of a child. We were left alone in the classroom hallway twice, which felt odd and unsafe if tours were regularly conducted in this manner. - We were offered no substantial information surrounding the Montessori curriculum and only vague schedules and transitions for children who are potty training. We considered MAV despite the lack of AMS/AMI association/progress towards the association. Our experience with the MAV tour has shown us a dramatic night and day difference in these programs. We hope program discussion, and even AMS/AMI association, changes for future families considering MAV. As of this review date, we did not see MAV on AMS or AMI school lists. - After our tour on May 2nd: We sent follow-up questions in the same initial email thread immediately after our tour. We didn't receive any response to those emails. We did read the other Google reviews online, and we now resonate with the lack of communication/response experienced by others. We received a secondary email separate from our initial communication that stated we had a school tour on May 9th. We had no additional tour scheduled with MAV. Again, we hope this feedback helps create administrative changes and insight into what challenges new families may encounter."

"Our daughter started attending Montessori Academy of Virginia when she was 16 months old. She was one of the very first students in their back then newly opened Toddler room. She continued her education at MAV through first grade and absolutely thrived! She loved going to school every single day and the practical, hands-on lessons. She connected with each of her teachers and made true friendships. We, as parents, especially appreciated the focus on emotional and social development and the individualized approach to learning and growth. She has been very independent and was an early reader and learning multiplication in first grade. She now attends Old Donation School. Based on our positive experience, we decided that our son will join MAV as a toddler as well. He's currently 5 years old and thriving at MAV too! We see the individualized approach through our experience the second time around and we absolutely trust his teacher with his learning and overall development. We feel confident that we made the right choice for both of our children. We have the option to send our son to free, public kindergarten next year, but chose to continue to enroll him at MAV. This is how much we value the experience he receives at MAV!"

"We had a horrible experience with the Montessori Academy of Virginia Beach, Alicia Drive. We withdrew our application because they kept telling us that they never received it, although we used the exact email they originally provided. We called and emailed twice a week for three weeks. They never contacted us to say that they did not receive the application. Instead of telling my husband and I that they did not want to accept our African American son who is on the spectrum, they gave us the run around. Although our son is on the spectrum, we will find a better place who will accept him for who is. After 35 plus years of combined military service, we did not expect this type of service. We do not recommend."

"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."

"We have had an amazing experience at MAV. We have been there for over three years now and currently have three children enrolled. Anybody with multiple children knows how unique they can each be and this school understands that every child has their own needs. Montessori is such a fantastic environment for children because they learn to THINK, they are encouraged to explore, they learn discipline and independence, and they have fun. Mine absolutely have thrived in this environment. They adore the visits to the farm and they are challenged consistently in a manner that makes them want to master whatever skill they are learning. The teachers and staff communicate early and often. Even when my kids' behavior is not stellar (they're kids, after all), they do not judge or threaten, but they approach the situation with the intent to understand, help the student grow, and align with parents on the best ways to do so."