1
Country Day School
Largo·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~273 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordable
Tuition$15.5K/yr
TypePrivate
Students~273
Best Independent (non-religious) Elementary Schools for Language Immersion
Independent rankings of Independent (non-religious) Elementary schools with Language Immersion programs, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
13 schools indexed0 director-verifiedUpdated this week
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We track 13 independent (non-religious) elementary-level schools across our active markets in Florida and New York. Annual tuition ranges from $7.6K/yr to $17.4K/yr, with a median of $13.1K/yr across schools that publish a number. 12 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 92% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Elementary admissions decisions tend to weigh family fit and developmental readiness more than test scores. Most schools assess via a play-based visit at age 4-5 and rolling interviews for K-5 transfers. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.
See also: Learning Support, Gifted, IB (International Baccalaureate).
Showing 10 of 13 schools
- 2Safety Harbor Montessori Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-09·~165 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$17.4K/yrTypePrivateStudents~165 - 3Palm Harbor Montessori Academy
Palm Harbor·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~129 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$16.5K/yrTypePrivateStudents~129 - 4Montessori House Day School 1
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-06·~78 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$13.1K/yrTypePrivateStudents~78 - 5Garden Montessori School
Wesley Chapel·Pasco County·Grades PK-KG·~65 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$10.8K/yrTypePrivateStudents~65 - 6Montessori House Day School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-06·~36 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$13.1K/yrTypePrivateStudents~36 - 7Montessori Preparatory School
Temple Terrace·Hillsborough County·Grades KG-05·~170 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$7.6K/yrTypePrivateStudents~170 - 8Montessori Academy Of Tampa Bay
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades KG-04·~79 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$7.6K/yrTypePrivateStudents~79 - 9Alegria Montessori School Inc.
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades 01-08·~35 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$9K/yrTypePrivateStudents~35 - 10Academy Of Montessori International
Thonotosassa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-06·~84 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edTuitionFreeTypePrivateStudents~84
How we rank these schools
Built relationships, not scrapers. AdmitCompass ranks schools using a composite score that blends four signals: enrollment size (a proxy for stability and program breadth), tuition reasonableness within the local market, freshness of our most recent verification, and a small bonus for schools with full admissions detail published on their profile.
Public data comes from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and each school's own admissions pages. The information that actually matters to most families — acceptance rates, deadlines, what a director cares about — comes from direct interviews with school directors and admissions coaches across our active markets.
We do not publish scoring weights or per-axis thresholds. That keeps the moat intact: the rankings reflect actual conversations with people inside schools, not a formula anyone with a crawler could clone. Every profile is re-verified on a 180-day cadence, and the "last updated" date is timestamped on every school page.
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Frequently asked questions
What's the average tuition for elementary schools?
Across the 13 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $7.6K/yr to $17.4K/yr, with a median of $13.1K/yr. Many schools offer financial aid, sibling discounts, or accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — check each school's detail page for current aid policy.
How competitive is admission?
Admissions selectivity ranges from open-enrollment (most charters and parish schools) to highly selective (top independent K-12 programs). Each school's profile page lists deadlines, test requirements, and any published acceptance rate.
Do these schools accept Step Up / FES scholarships?
12 of the 13 schools on this page accept Florida's Step Up For Students / FES-EO / FES-UA scholarships. That covers most or all of tuition for income-eligible families. Each school's detail page lists the specific scholarship programs accepted.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
American Montessori Preparatory School is the smallest with 25 students; Country Day School is the largest at 273. Smaller schools tend to offer more direct teacher contact and tighter community; larger schools usually have more elective and extracurricular breadth.
How many schools offer Language Immersion programs?
13 schools on this page have documented Language Immersion programs. Program depth varies — some schools embed it across the curriculum, others offer dedicated tracks or after-school options. Visit each school's profile for specifics.
Is this list updated?
Yes. We re-verify school data on a 180-day cadence through direct contact with admissions teams, plus cross-checks against FLDOE, NCES, and published school sources. Each school profile shows the date of its most recent verification.
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