Head of School Welcome
Greetings and welcome to the Sea Pines Montessori Academy website which we hope will be informative and easy to navigate. We are a school that welcomes students from eighteen months through the eighth grade. Founded in 1968, SPMA is proud of its long history of providing an exceptional Montessori educational experience on our beautiful island off the coast of southeast South Carolina.
We think you will see that our website reflects the joy, creativity, and richly interactive learning that takes place at Sea Pines Montessori Academy. In describing our school, we will often speak about “The Montessori Way.” In the words of Maria Montessori, “Education is a natural process - and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment.” At Sea Pines Montessori Academy we enable our students to have these experiences which shape their lives. Our students leave here with the self-esteem and inner motivation they need to think and act independently and responsibly.
Indeed, you can feel the difference at Sea Pines Montessori Academy. When you walk through the hallways of SPMA and visit our classrooms, Studio of the Arts, Chinese Language Lab or Suzuki music rooms, you see children actively engaged in their learning guided by SPMA’s dedicated and skilled faculty. Sometimes they are working in small groups, sometimes they are presenting to their classmates, sometimes they are listening to the teacher, but always they are engaged in their own learning. The teachers at SPMA are an amazing group of professionals. We are creating a place where their energies flow into creating meaningful learning experiences for each student and a high degree of personal satisfaction for themselves.
We seek to prove to the parents that this is a place where your children are safe and secure. We strive to cultivate a place where communication is valued and where parents are a key and a valued partner in the success of the education of their child(ren). At SPMA our goal is to find the passion within each child, the subject or project that the child loves so much it becomes the focal point of his or her learning for that month or the year, perhaps for years to come. Once you find that connection, everything else becomes possible.
Enjoy your virtual visit to Sea Pines Montessori Academy. Please return often. If you would like additional information, please contact us with any questions and to schedule a campus visit and experience firsthand the SPMA spirit! In closing, I’d like to leave you with a thought to ponder when you try to wrap your arms around SPMA - Imagine a school where it is cool to be smart!
Warm Regards,
Darcie D. Patrick
Head of School