14-02-2025
Cincinnati Public Schools announces new Montessori school opening this fall
Cincinnati Public Schools is opening a new Montessori school in Madisonville this fall.
The school will serve students in preschool through eighth grade at the Bramble Nature Campus on Homer Avenue. Across the district, which serves about 35,000 students, about 1 in 6 students are in a Montessori school.
Bramble Montessori Lab School is opening largely because families from Xavier University's Montessori Lab School no longer want to stay there after school leaders decided to drop its Montessori programming.
Xavier University announced in November that its Montessori Lab School would no longer follow the Montessori model, and instead transition to a traditional laboratory model starting in the fall of 2025. Some families from that school have been looking for a new home since, and found one with Cincinnati Public Schools.
More: Cincinnati parents, teachers oppose district's proposed changes to Montessori learning
'We are thrilled to welcome these families into Cincinnati Public Schools,' Superintendent Shauna Murphy said in a Friday press release. 'Montessori education has been a cornerstone of CPS for 50 years, and this new pre-K-8 lab school at Bramble will ensure that students continue to thrive in an authentic, student-centered learning environment. This is a win for our students, families and the broader community.'
Cincinnati Public Schools' Montessori legacy is longstanding, as the district is home to the nation's oldest public Montessori school − Sands Montessori − and is well known across the country for providing Montessori education to public school students.
Montessori, a schooling style traditionally reserved for kids attending expensive private schools, encourages students of different ages to learn alongside one another and emphasizes community. It is an informal approach to education that focuses on hands-on projects and promotes child-led learning, according to the American Montessori Society. Students get to choose when to tackle different subjects throughout their day by working in groups, by themselves or by teaching each other.
More: Cincinnati Public Schools adopts new Montessori curriculum
'Our goal has always been to create learning environments where every child has the opportunity to succeed,' Murphy said in a statement. 'We are excited to embark on this new chapter and look forward to building something truly special together.'
The district will host an enrollment session on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Bramble Nature Campus, located at 4324 Homer Ave. Families can also enroll by calling the district's customer care team at 513-363-0123 or at the district's Education Center at 2652 Burnet Ave.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Public Schools to open new Montessori elementary school
