Quick Facts & History
Willow Oak Montessori is a combined community made up of both a K-8 public charter Montessori school and a private Montessori Children’s House preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. We are the only Montessori school in Chatham County, North Carolina.
As an authentic and inclusive Montessori community, we foster curiosity and independence to develop learners into compassionate, responsible global citizens. Willow Oak Montessori envisions that through Montessori education our students will develop into thriving individuals that will positively engage and impact the world.
The charter school is open to all K-8 students in North Carolina through an admissions lottery and currently serves 274 students across 6 counties. The Children’s House serves 39 preschool students. The schools employ about 55 faculty and staff members, 20 of whom are Montessori-trained teachers.
Our 17-acre campus houses 13 mixed-age classrooms and many different types of outdoor learning environments, including a dedicated outdoor extension off each classroom. The Charter School grew out of Pittsboro Montessori School, a parent-founded community school for 3 - 6 year olds. Wanting to expand access to authentic Montessori education in Chatham County, the school’s board applied for a charter to open a public, tuition-free Montessori elementary school.
The Charter school opened in Governor’s Village in 2013 with 92 students in grades 1-3. That same year, Pittsboro Montessori School - located on Hamlets Chapel Rd - was rebranded as Willow Oak Montessori Children’s House and brought under shared leadership with the Charter school. In the years that followed, the Charter school grew one grade each year up to 8th grade.
In 2020, after years of growth, fundraising, and hard work, the joint campus on Andrews Store Road opened, and public kindergarten was added to the Charter school for the first time.