About Montessori High School At University Circle

Montessori High School is located on a beautiful campus on Magnolia Drive. The main classroom building is a 1910 mansion that will be renovated to house classrooms and offices. The student residence is a converted home on the lot directly adjacent. Between the two buildings, the campus centers on a grassy quad that remains open for classes and play. MHS students will work in several different staging areas, including The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Western Reserve Historical Society, and other institutions within the Circle. Each of these institutions has unique areas of scientific and cultural focus to provide a meaningful experiential, interdisciplinary approach to the arts, sciences, and humanities as well as community service and sustainability.

Combining one of the country's oldest Montessori school communities with Cleveland's cultural center of education, the arts, the sciences, and community life and service, Montessori High School at University Circle ("MHS") is a new and innovative approach to completing the Montessori continuum. MHS provides a unique education that builds meaningfully on the enrichment and expertise of the 40 cultural and educational institutions of Cleveland's University Circle. Representing the final step in the Montessori educational and developmental continuum from 18 months to 18 years, MHS will be an unprecedented program comprising an authentic Montessori design coupled with an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) option to provide formal and informal learning, alongside real experts, in world-class cultural institutions.

Completing the Montessori Continuum

Montessori High School is the missing educational link for the Montessori continuum at nearly 50 schools in northeast Ohio. To the extent that Montessori education completes the adolescent stage of development (ages 12-18), it can have an enormous impact on how the authentic social self emerges and adapts to a variety of work demands for the sake of others, leading to the beginning of social consciousness. The significant pedagogical outcome might be summarized this way: Students will understand the nature of interdisciplinary studies, the relationship between the disciplines and the totality of the natural and human-built worlds, and the available tools and technology to continue the inquiry into how knowledge can best serve the world.

For more information on Montessori education, visit the North American Montessori Teachers' Association: www.montessori-namta.org.

Boarding Option

Montessori High School will offer a limited boarding option for out-of-town students in a historic University Circle home, known as the Otis House, located at 10923 Magnolia Drive. The condominium-style living arrangements will include separate boys' and girls' quarters, each with its own entrance, kitchen, living room, etc. Full-time dorm parents will provide 24-hour supervision. Boarding will foster community and provide safe, secure, and homelike living arrangements. Bus or van transportation to classrooms and staging areas will be provided.