Which Montessori in Reston?

[Anonymous]

Reston Montessori School or Sunset Hills Montessori? Please share thoughts. For fall 2020, 3 yo. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We toured Sunset Hills and were seriously turned off by the director, who was clearly not interested in us (not white) and was very clearly interested in the other families attending the open house (white). Everyone else was offered an application other than us (Sunset Hills has a first come first served application process) and warned that they only had two spots left. They claimed to be out of applications when we asked. I had to bug them repeatedly that next week about coming back to get an application, and I assume they were waiting for the other, more desirable families to apply first before risking giving me us an application.

We ended up at a different preschool which we love.

DC is a sociable, friendly, well-behaved child who was neat and cleaned up everything DC explored, helped the other kids clean up, invited them to play, showed them how to use the Montessori materials (which DC had not seen before), etc.

This wasn't this year, but it wasn't long ago. On the positive side, it was a nice enough environment that we were interested in applying. Super convenient location to us. Based on the pictures of the kids, there was near zero diversity, which is unusual for Reston.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this feedback, PP. Sorry this happened and your child sounds lovely.

We visited both and found Reston Montessori lacked warmth. Teachers and staff not smiling and stern. It also seems to be their version of “Montessori.” The building and grounds are not the best and could use simple landscaping. Just seemed a little run down and neglected for the tuition.

We loved the Sunset Hills campus and location, but we’ll keep looking.

[Anonymous]

Try Hunter Mill or Oakton Montessori

[Anonymous]

Pick AMI, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP, will double check certifications of schools considering.