Our story

Clanmore Montessori School sprang from a dream, a vision, a desire for a wonderful learning environment for children. Clanmore’s founders, Grace Kidney, Elaine Delsnyder and Cathy Sustronk, who began their work together as teaching colleagues in the 1980’s, were the dreamers.

They had a vision of a strong, supportive school where happy children, whose developmental imperatives were being met, would be happy learners. Dr. Maria Montessori’s approach to children aligned with this vision, and as their own children began entering the elementary years, they felt even more strongly that the time to create an authentic Montessori school offering a full-spectrum program had arrived.

In September 1997, a small group of dedicated families united to create the Clanmore community and Clanmore Montessori School was launched in St. Jude’s Church in Oakville. The following year Clanmore moved premises to a beautiful, turn-of-the-century farm house, which had been owned since 1904 by the Wilson family. Ernest Wilson tells us that his father, Isaac, would be delighted to know that the old family home on the edge of Joshua’s Creek Conservation Area is now a school.

In 1999, the building was extended to house three additional classrooms, and the following year, the Upper Elementary community for 9-12 year olds was established. The Elementary Program was now a full spectrum program for 6-12 year olds complementing the existing Preschool Program for children from 18 months – 6 years.

In 2012, after 15 years of providing high-quality education to hundreds of children, our hopes and dreams continued to grow. In 2013 the farm house was again expanded. The architecturally unique, modern addition, which takes its design inspiration from the traditional Ontario barn, has the largest green roof in Oakville. The expansion was needed to accommodate the growing school and in particular to allow for the addition of a leading-edge Montessori Middle School program for 12-15 year olds. The addition of an Adolescent or Middle School program to our school of Toddler, Casa and Elementary communities allowed us to take the children further along the path of independence as espoused by the remarkable philosophy and methodology proposed by Dr. Maria Montessori. The vision continues.

Our symbol – more than a logo

Our job at Clanmore is to prepare the children for life, and independence is at the centre of this preparation. The Clanmore logo has always expressed love and support for the child in achieving this independence.

Originally our logo showed the partnership between home/family and school (green boundary) in our support for the child (the gold nugget).

With expansion and growth of Clanmore came a redesign of the original logo to reflect these changes. Our logo now stands upright. The new larger gold nugget represents the older child joining the adults in nurturing and mentoring the younger children (smaller gold nugget) within the “prepared environment” of Clanmore. A perfect encapsulation of who we are.