Metricup acquisition to expand Montessori school

Margaret River Montessori School has announced the acquisition of a property in Metricup which will become the school’s second campus in the region.

Principal Lisa Fenton made the announcement on behalf of the MRMS School Council and said the purchase of the 102 acre property at 62 Harman’s Mill Road – the site of recently-closed The Colony Concept – was an “historic” moment for the school.

“This site will not only offer our students access to a world-class, authentic land and place-based education, realising Dr Montessori’s vision for the Erdkinder (land child) experience, but it also provides an opportunity to embed both state and federal curriculum requirements and the National Montessori Curriculum in a practical, embodied way.”

Ms Fenton said the school had been working with the Shire of Augusta Margaret River since 2020 to identify a suitable site for expansion.

“After years of trying, a meeting with the City of Busselton, this year, highlighted that zoning for education facilities within rural settings is possible.

“And when a property that is right on the southern most border of the Busselton boundary came onto the market, we decided to have a look.”

The campus will allow the school to continue with the expansion of their Adolescent Program (AP), which kicked off this year at the original campus on Clarke Road.

“We always knew that the soft start for our AP on our current site would only hold us for two years (2023 and 2024) so we would need to be ready with a new site for 2025.

“We considered options for moving to a Stage 2 interim site, before seeking our Stage 3 ‘forever home’ that could take longer and require finance planning and/or zoning changes.

“As soon as we began looking into this site we started working with the Busselton City Council who have been consistently positive about working with us to ensure the project comes to fruition.

Ms Fenton said plans had been set in motion to establish bus services, and the school community would remain informed while the next stage of approvals was finalised.

“We are so proud of this achievement but still have a way to go with Advance Determination to the Education Minister, Registration with the Department of Education for the use of the site and Development Approval with the City of Busselton all still pending.

“We thank our community for your support and are looking forward to sharing in our school’s very bright future with you all.”