2417 Maplecrest Drive
Nashville, TN 37214
615.885.8822

District 4
 

McGavock Cluster

Principal: Melva Stricklin -
melva.stricklin@mnps.org

District 4 School Board Representative: 
Anna Shepherd - Anna.shepherd@dioceseofnashville.com

District 15 Metro Council Representative:
Phil Claiborne -
phil.claiborne@nashville.gov, 889-2907

What Makes Our School Unique?

    Maria Montessori was a charismatic woman of exceptional genius. In 1896, she became one of the first women medical doctors in Italy and immediately became a prominent feminist, lecturing widely. She subsequently went to work in a clinic for mentally ill patients, in addition to maintaining a private medical practice. In this time, children with learning difficulties were sometimes placed in mental hospitals. Her interest in educating these children led her in 1899, at the age of twenty-nine, to become director of a new school for mentally retarded children in Rome. Intrigued by this work, she returned to the university to study teaching methods, hygiene and psychology. Eventually she was put in charge of a teacher course at the University of Rome.
    Montessori was an outstanding lecturer and she began to experiment with new teaching methods at a school in the slums of San Lorenzo. Her idea was to observe the tasks that children are naturally drawn to and enjoy, and to create learning materials which would meet their needs at each developmental stage. As each material was designed, Montessori observed which were in great demand and which were ignored by the children. Those which were ignored were removed. By 1909, there were four schools using Montessori's methods. Traditional schools with rows of unsmiling children adhering rigidly to rules began to be transformed by Montessori's approach and materials into bright, exciting places full of exploration and discovery. In 1910, Montessori published the results of her experiments in The Montessori Method. 
    Montessori's teaching methodology is now practiced all over the world by individuals with varying interpretations, training and ideas. The system itself, however, is so clearly laid out and so clearly meets the needs of children that Montessori schools and organizations continue to grow and prosper everywhere.

Who Attends Our School?

    Stanford is a design center that has a Montessori program and voluntary enrollment. We are not a zoned school. All students enter the school through the lottery process. The students living in Stanford's geographic zone have priority, but students living in the McGavock High School Cluster and the city may enter the lottery also. For more information, call 259-INFO.

PENCIL Partners

PENCIL Foundation, a nonprofit organization, links community resources with Nashville public schools. A PENCIL Partner is a business or other community organization that teams up with a Metro school to volunteer time and donate resources that promote student success.

Donelson Heights United Methodist Church
Chik-Fil-A Hermitage
ISTS 

Community Partners

Parents and community members donate many hours by tutoring, giving office assistance, library assistance, lunchroom and playground assistance and working with individual teachers.