Enrolment and Policies

If you are interested in enrolling your child at SMS, please complete the online application, to be added to our enrolment pool.

Due to our large pool of prospective students, please be patient with us.

Casa Program

Ages 30 months – 6 years

Our Casa program is a three-year program with multi-age classrooms. Children ideally begin at age 2.5-3 yrs. old and stay in the same class until age 6. The success of our program is due in part to maintaining a classroom with equal age distribution. Our admission policy is based on achieving this goal.

We strongly promote staying with the program for the duration of a three-year cycle. Because of this, the priority of admission will go to our returning students first. Admissions are accepted as follows:

  • Those committing to our 3-year program, including Kindergarten year

  • Younger siblings of returning students

  • Past Montessori experience

  • Age of child, to help maintain equal age distribution in classrooms

  • Date Application received

A child must be at least 30 months of age, toilet trained and able to take simple directions upon admission to the program. Each new child that is being considered for our program must first have an orientation session with the classroom teacher, in order to assess their suitability before acceptance.

Squamish Montessori School admits children with learning differences, limiting enrolment to one or two children per class, and taking into consideration the teacher’s experience, class configuration and the nature of the child’s learning differences.

New admissions received after the annual enrolment due date may be considered, after the first round of admissions have been placed. Squamish Montessori School reserves the right to cap our waiting list.

  • A Parent/Guardian may terminate the School Contract of Enrollment by submitting thirty days written notice to Squamish Montessori School. There is no reduction or refund of fees in the case of withdrawal, dismissal, absence, cancellation or non-attendance. The administrator maintains records of withdrawals for each school year, together with explanations.

  • Squamish Montessori School reserves the right to terminate the School Contract of Enrolment at anytime if the student’s Guide(s) and the school’s principal determine that the student is unable to thrive in the school’s Montessori environment, if the student’s behaviour represents a danger to other students, or if tuition fees are not received. If Squamish Montessori School terminates enrollment under these circumstances tuition fees will be prorated and refunded accordingly.

  • Parents are welcome to place their child on our waitlist. In order to do so, a parent must complete and submit an application form along with a $50 non-refundable deposit. Please see our “Admission Policies”, which will provide you with the appropriate information about our admission process. Should space become available, you will be notified by phone and/or email to have the opportunity to register your child. Squamish Montessori School reserves the right to cap our waiting list.

  • Re-enrollment packages will be distributed to current families during the month of December. These

    packages are to be filled out by all families who wish to return the following September. Re-registration forms are due at the end of January, complete with a non-refundable deposit that will be put towards the first month’s tuition fees. Re-enrollment forms received after the due date will be considered along with the new admissions.

“Follow the child, they will show you what they need to do, what they need to develop in themselves and what area they need to be challenged in. The aim of the children who persevere in their work with an object is certainly not to ‘learn’; they are drawn to it by the needs of their inner life, which must be recognized and developed by its means.”

— Maria Montessori