Enrollment and fees

Lisbon Montessori School will guide children of all nationalities who are between 2 years and 10 months and 12 years of age. Most common ages at point of enrollment are between 2 years 10 months – 9 years.

Siblings of already existing students can be sometimes considered for an earlier start, from the age of 2 years and 7 or 8 months. However, each individual child’s readiness will be assessed by the teacher according to our internal policies. The decision on the start date lies with the school staff.

Start of attendance in the CASA program is possible at the start of each term, in September and in January (any week of the month).

Re-enrollment deadline is at the start of March. Prepayment (deductible from the fourth quarter fees) and facilities fees will be charged.

Applicants will be considered to enter the ELEMENTARY mid-term based on availability and merit.

Transitions between levels take place in September.

Lisbon Montessori School offers AMI-based education in these three programs:

• CASA DEI BAMBINI 3-6
• LOWER ELEMENTARY 6-9
• UPPER ELEMENTARY 9-12

Every child’s development, social and academic, is ongoing. All Lisbon Montessori School programs envision a three-year span and they work best when students are allowed to first learn the concepts and then continue to consolidate their skills within the Montessori curriculum until completing a particular program. Thus we consider admissions of families who plan to stay with us for three years or longer.

It is most beneficial for social development when students are allowed to become a close-knit classroom community. This is a process that takes a few years. LMS is not a suitable school for families of young children who plan a brief (shorter than 3 years) stay in Portugal.

Students graduate Lisbon Montessori School at the end of upper elementary program after finishing grade 6.

Our school year is 10 months, from September to June and 179-182 school days. We also offer daycare in July day-camp at an extra fee.

We offer half-day program to children under the age of 4 or until the teacher feels that they are ready for the more advanced full day program. In the full day program the children engage in more extensive academic and developmental activities and the classroom setting requires a higher level of independence.

When siblings (including twins) are being enrolled to the casa level LMS policy is to enrol each sibling to a different classroom. When more than two siblings are being enrolled the two that attend the same casa classroom must be of different ages.

Parents are encouraged to visit many schools before choosing the right school for their child.

For parents to learn more about Lisbon Montessori School and the AMI program we offer please sign up for a tour or an open-house day on our page ‘Visit LMS’. The tour takes about one hour, and for the first visit we invite both parents to come alone, without their child. An exception to this is when prior to the visit the parents have attended a (virtual) tour and have already made the decision to enroll by providing pre-enrollment paperwork in which case they may bring the child for an interview with the teacher.

Notes:

• Some tours in the academic year 2023 – 2024 will be held on zoom and some will be in-person. The school will email information during the week preceding the tour to the parents who sign up for the visit on our page ‘Visit LMS’.
• Tours are possible on dates which are listed on the Visit LMS page; we do not give individual tours.

When you apply, your child’s application will be placed on the waiting list. If you decide to apply to Lisbon Montessori School we kindly ask that you review our policies and procedures which can be found on our home page.

Please note that we will review only fully submitted applications. Please send all the necessary paperwork in one email or post it in one envelope. When applying to the waiting list please provide the following documents for us to consider admissions of your child:

CASA:

• LMS Admissions Parents Questionnaire
• LMS Application Form (email both filled in forms to hello@lisbonmontessori.org)
• Special assessments/evaluations (if any)
• School reports (if any)

Notes:

• There is no requirement to know the language of instruction in very young applicants who are 3 or 4 years of age. Applicants who are 4 & 1/2 years or older must be fluent in English.

ELEMENTARY:

• LMS Admissions Parents Questionnaire
• LMS Application Form (email both filled in forms to hello@lisbonmontessori.org)
• School reports for 2 completed years of school
• Standardized test results (if any)
• Special assessments/evaluations (if any)
• An email contact for the child’s teacher who will be asked to fill in a confidential teacher-to-teacher form for admissions

Notes:

• Please note that all elementary applicants must be fluent in English as it is our language of instruction
• If you wish to contact the admissions person, please email to hello@lisbonmontessori.org
• Admissions is closed in July and August. Late admissions will be seen to as soon as staff returns to prepare for the new academic year. Please check our calendar to know when staff is in service.
• When a child’s teacher registers their consistent struggling in any area of development, from making sound and symbol connections to attention difficulties the teacher and administration may require the family to have the child undergo a complete psycho-educational assessment in order to either secure temporary additional specialist support or provide specific guidelines to school teachers. Please note that a family’s refusal to have their child undergo an external assessment may have a bearing on the school’s decision to re-enroll.