An application may be submitted for any rising K-8 student who resides in North Carolina at the time of application. Students applying for kindergarten must turn 5 years old on or before August 31 of the application school year.

Please apply for the next sequential grade for your student unless you have documentation from your child’s current school principal recommending a retention. Once enrolled, Willow Oak Montessori administration will determine the appropriate grade placement for each student based on factors such as age, maturity, and past academic background. We are unable to discuss the specifics of a child’s academic situation until they are officially enrolled at our school.

According to the State of North Carolina Department of Non-Public Education, the grade level of home-schooled students is determined by the Home School Administrator. As such, you may apply for a spot in the grade that follows the grade that the child is currently enrolled in. Once enrolled, Willow Oak Montessori administration will determine the appropriate grade placement for each student based on factors such as age, maturity, and past academic background.

In the likely scenario that we have more applicants than available spots in our school, a lottery will be conducted to fill the spots and generate a waitlist. Willow Oak Montessori currently partners with Lotterease to conduct the lottery. In accordance with our Admissions Policy, at least one impartial community member will be present to observe the lottery. 

Siblings will each have their own grade-specific waitlist number except in cases of twins, triplets, or other multiple birth siblings, who will run in the lottery using a single name and will then be assigned sequential waitlist numbers. Once a student enrolls and attends the Charter School, other siblings will have priority in subsequent years’ lotteries, however, there is no guarantee of admittance.

Yes. Children and grandchildren of full-time employees and school board members (who have served for at least one year) as well as siblings of current Charter school students receive priority. We also have an Economic Disadvantage Weighted lottery that gives additional weight to applications from families that qualify for free or reduced lunch based on family income. To read more, see our Admissions Policy.

Yes! Our Diverse Learning Community team is responsible for ensuring that we meet the needs of every child in our school community. We also contract with outside providers, as necessary, for individual services as required. We will not request information about your child’s individual needs, their IEP, or their 504 Plan until after your child has been admitted to our school. Read more about the DLC team here.

We have about 280 K-8 students. We have three Children’s House (preschool - kindergarten) classes, four Lower Elementary classes (1st-3rd grades), three Upper Elementary classes (4th-6th grades), and an Adolescent Community (7th-8th grades).

We wish we could! We have been investigating this, and it is not financially possible at this time. However, we are working out how we might make this a possibility in Willow Oak's future. At the start of each school year, we will do our best to help connect Willow Oak households to one another so that you might form carpools or help with driving for students who live near you or on your way to school. Please reach out to the Main Office if you need help with transportation and we will do our best to help you!

At this time, our school participates with MyHotLunchbox to offer a prepared lunch for a fee one day a week. Families who qualify for free or reduced lunch based on the federal income scale receive a discount. We also seek to assist any family that needs additional nutrition assistance. We ask all families to self-identify if they would qualify for assistance so we can provide support.

Yes! Families can add on before- and/or after-school care for an additional fee. Camp AMP operates our before-school care and our aftercare for grades 1-8. We have an in-house afterschool program for preschoolers & kindergarteners. Care is available starting at 7:30am and up until 6:00pm. More details can be found here.