Fort Collins Montessori School Plans to Expand by August

Fort Collins Montessori School (FCMS) is making plans to expand this year.

Officials for the public charter school, which is part of the Poudre School District (PSD), announced that they had purchased five acres for its expansion on December 12.

The land is located at 1109 W. Harmony Road in Fort Collins, right next to the Fort Collins Montessori School Building Corporation.

According to FCMS Head Paul Vincent, the expansion "will be the future home of a permanent, unified FCMS campus."

The project is divided into two phases. Phase I will give FCMS three additional classrooms, allowing them to accommodate 200 more students. A groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 1.

The school currently has seven classrooms, which serve 141 students and 21 staff members.

Founded in 2014, FCMS employs the teaching methods of Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and child developmental psychologist.

Dr. Montessori believed that the best way to teach children was by recognizing the "whole child" and encouraging their innate desire to learn.

FCMS is the only school in Northern Colorado that provides Montessori education past kindergarten.

Phase I of the expansion is expected to be completed in August of this year. The school is accepting enrollment applications here.

Phase II, which will make room for an additional 112 students, is scheduled to start construction within the next five years.