The first Montessori middle school in Durham Public Schools - and only the second public Montessori middle school program in the state - will open to sixth-graders in fall 2010.

Watts Montessori Elementary School will house sixth-graders in the Montessori program for the 2010-11 school year. The new Montessori middle school that eventually will serve grades 6 through 8 will open at its newly renovated location in the Lakewood YMCA on Chapel Hill Road the following year.

In May 2008, the DPS Board of Education approved the middle grades Montessori Magnet Program location at Lakewood YMCA where construction and renovation will finish in time for school to start in August 2011.

In its first year, the middle school will host 75 sixth-grade students at Watts Elementary School while the Lakewood YMCA undergoes renovations. Patti Crum, principal of Watts Elementary, will serve as principal for the middle school's inaugural year. Over the following two years, it will phase in seventh and eighth graders to its permanent location at the Lakewood YMCA.

While everyone interested in the Montessori middle school must apply through the lottery process, preference for admission in the Montessori sixth grade will go to students from Watts and Morehead Montessori Elementary Schools. The remaining students will be selected from the lottery. About 25 seats are expected to remain after being filled by elementary Montessori students. Applications for the 2010-11 school year will be available beginning Jan. 4, 2010. Application deadline is Jan. 29, 2010.

DPS will hold a Parent Information Night on Tuesday, September 29 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the DPS Staff Development Center, 2107 Hillandale Road, room M-1. Interested parents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the application process, transition plan, new facility and the instructional program.

The Montessori model assumes that all children want to learn, and it respects the individual's style and pace of learning. Instruction is individualized, with students actively involved in purposeful learning. Montessori teachers facilitate children's developmental learning needs with activities, projects and community learning opportunities in a multi-age, multi-grade setting.

For more information about the new middle school or Durham Public Schools' Montessori program, click here.