The staff, children, and extended families at Bridges Montessori are committed to creating a community that promotes the highest fulfillment of each child’s intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic growth.

• To develop each Bridges’ student

• To be active participants in our democracy.
• To be caring, compassionate individuals, who respect the diversity of others.
• To be competent, confident, knowledgeable, and well rounded.
• To maintain each child’s innocent sense of wonder, imagination, questioning spirit, and enthusiasm for learning.

• To stimulate the growth development of the total child.
• To provide a nurturing and accepting environment in which each child feels secure, respected, and loved.
• To provide an enriched, stimulating environment with safe limits within which the child is an active explorer.
• To encourage the child to become self-directed.
• To provide a frame work of discipline and personal strength.
• To develop creativity and a positive self-image.
• To provide a cross-cultural environment in which the foundations of global peace may be laid.

In a small cottage nestled in a tropical paradise, a mother with a clear vision for her children’s education, six children, and courageous Montessori directresses (teachers) planted the seeds that have grown into Bridges Montessori.

That was in January of 1992, and by the end of that month, there were twelve. February brought five more children and another directress and by March, we were 22 strong and looking for larger quarters. Temporary lodgings were established which allowed the fledgling school to grow to 35 children and four directresses. They knew, unequivocally, there was a great need for a quality Montessori environment in Martin County.

Thus begun our ascent, which burgeoned to 65 children in 1993, 95 children in 1994 and 120 in 1995. The word was out!

The secret of our success:

· Warm, nurturing and healthful community environment of cooperation between parents, teachers, administrator and children.

· Pursuit of excellence, accountability and achievement of each individual’s full intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual potential.

· Fostering each member’s unique gifts and talents to allow him or her to fully utilize these for personal growth and the benefit of our world.

In 1996, we continued our expansion to 160 children with 12 directresses. We had two free standing facilities totaling 9,000 square feet.

In our pursuit of excellence, we affiliated with American Montessori Society and exceeded all required standards.

Because of our high retention rate of elementary children from pre-primary, we continued to develop a larger and larger elementary population. By 1997, it became clear that Bridges was ready to plan and develop a new campus, designed to facilitate our goal of an expanded Montessori community from infant through middle school. To that end, we all worked tirelessly to design an enriched, integrated, comprehensive curriculum and build our exquisite campus.

Completed in 2001, on 3 1/2 acres of tropically landscaped lawns, an Old Floridian style village is home to 225 Bridges Montessori students, staff and families.