1
Country Day School
Largo·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~273 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordable
Tuition$15.5K/yr
TypePrivate
Students~273
TAMPA BAY
Best Independent (non-religious) Middle Schools in Tampa Bay for Montessori with scholarships
Independent rankings of Independent (non-religious) Middle schools in Tampa Bay with Montessori programs, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
12 schools indexed0 director-verifiedUpdated this week
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Verified
AdmitCompass tracks 12 independent (non-religious) middle-level schools in Tampa Bay. Annual tuition ranges from $8.8K/yr to $17.8K/yr, with a median of $13.1K/yr across schools that publish a number. Tampa has the highest concentration with 5 schools, followed by Thonotosassa (1). 12 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 100% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Middle-school admission is the most competitive transition point at many independent schools. Expect a standardized test (ISEE, SSAT, or in-house), a writing sample, and teacher recommendations from 4th or 5th grade. 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: Under $20K/yr, Tuition-Free.
Showing 10 of 12 Tampa Bay 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 By The Sea
St. Pete Beach·Pinellas County·Grades PK-06·~101 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$11.8K/yrTypePrivateStudents~101 - 5Southshore Montessori Ii
Apollo Beach·Hillsborough County·Grades KG-06·~94 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$17.8K/yrTypePrivateStudents~94 - 6Montessori House Day School 1
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-06·~78 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$13.1K/yrTypePrivateStudents~78 - 7Montessori House Day School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-06·~36 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$13.1K/yrTypePrivateStudents~36 - 8Community Montessori School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-9·~123 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$8.8K/yrTypePrivateStudents~123 - 9Alegria Montessori School Inc.
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades 01-08·~35 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$9K/yrTypePrivateStudents~35 - 10Montessori Children's House Of Hyde Park
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-06·~109 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edTuitionFreeTypePrivateStudents~109
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 middle schools in Tampa Bay?
Across the 12 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $8.8K/yr to $17.8K/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 in Tampa Bay?
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 12 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?
Alegria Montessori School Inc. is the smallest with 35 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 Montessori programs?
12 schools on this page have documented Montessori 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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