Waiting Lists
We’re thrilled that so many families choose The Montessori House and wish we could offer placement for every family that applies. Unfortunately that’s not possible. We offer placement and enroll children until a session fills and then offer applicants the option of a waiting list. Sessions that fill first are our morning half-day sessions (Montessori Stepping Stones – age 2-1/2 to 3 – and Pre-Primary Montessori – age 3 to 4) and then our full-day sessions (Pre-Primary Montessori plus Enrichment – age 3 to 4 – and Montessori Kindergarten – age 5 to 6). With placement offers starting in January, in the past couple years we’ve had to start waiting lists for some sessions before the end of February.
We understand that families spend a lot of thought and time selecting a school, and having chosen The Montessori House, want to know that their child has a place waiting, guaranteed, once school starts the following September. (We want the same thing, and if we can 100% guarantee an opening we: offer placement, issue an Enrollment Agreement, and collect a tuition deposit.) But, if we’re full we can’t make that guarantee, we can only offer a place on our waiting list and our best guess as to whether an opening before September is very likely, likely, or unlikely (based on prior years’ enrollment patterns).
Family circumstances change — illness, job changes, relocation, etc. — and places always open up before schools start; we just don’t know how many and when. Every year we have a openings come up between March and September, and when when we contact families on the waiting list they’ve already made other school commitments (families have to make plans and can’t risk not having their child placed at school, even if that school is not The Montessori House).
Here are some tips to consider if we offer you a place on a Montessori House waiting list:
- If you really want a particular session at The Montessori House, join the waiting list (no additional charge after you’ve submitted an application). At the same time make alternate plans for your child, and be sure you can live with those plans if we don’t offer you your preferred session. Try to make your alternate plans in a way that you can easily change those plans if we d0 offer you placement. Defer your decision at another school as long as possible, or make the smallest upfront financial commitment you can, so that you can accept our later placement offer with little downside. Ask around about whether your alternative school fills up most years; you may have more time to make your final decision, and any school with openings will be glad to enroll you whenever you make your decision.
– - While on the waiting listing for a preferred program, we can almost always offer your child placement in another, comparable program at The Montessori House: for example, our afternoon, half-day session instead of the morning session. Accepting an alternate Montessori House program puts your family at the Montessori House (for preferred placement the following year), and it makes it easy to take advantage of an opening in the your preferred program (e.g. we transfer tuition deposits and payments to your preferred program). Of course, if we don’t have an opening you must be ready to attend the Montessori House program for which you enrolled.
– - We do not share the details or specifics of our waiting lists (how many families, a family’s status, etc.), but we do offer our best guess of the likelihood of an opening. The chances of an opening and an offer change over time. The closer we get to the start of school, the less likely that an opening will occur (that a family will withdraw from the school, opening a place for your child), but if an opening does occur, the more likely we can offer your child a placement. Why is that? First, as September draws closer, it’s less likely a family will experience a situation that requires them to withdraw, and it becomes financially painful to do so (tuition is non-refundable). However, as September draws closer, most families ahead of you on the waiting list will decline our placement offer, since they’ve already made other school plans and financial commitments. If in March we have an opening and a family is fifth on the waiting list, most likely one of the first four families will accept an offer to fill the opening. But, if the opening happens in July, there’s a good chance the first four families will refuse the offer, and the fifth family will receive an offer. If they’re already enrolled in an alternate Montessori House program, they’ll accept; or if they’ve made minimal commitments elsewhere, they’re able to change their plans and accept our offer.
– - We’re always happy to provide updates to families on a waiting list at The Montessori House. However, families should realize: 1) the situation changes infrequently and unpredictably and frequent calls won’t change anything, 2) if we do have an opening, we very much want to fill it, so we call families on the waiting list right away, and 3) make sure you have provided us good contact information, and when we call with an offer, be ready to respond quickly, for we want to promptly find a family to fill our unexpected opening.