Now Enrolling for 2024-2025

At Ambleside School, our goal is for each student to leave here firmly committed to desire the good, love the truth, and delight in the beautiful. We partner with parents in the high calling God has given us to steward children's experience of the world.

We have limited spots available in classrooms K-8 for the 2024-25 school year. Registration for school visits is now open to introduce parents to our Charlotte Mason philosophy of education. 

While this model of education has been widely practiced and accepted since the early 1900s, our school is the only one in Virginia to offer it to families in a classroom setting.

A Charlotte Mason “Living Education”

We fully embrace the ideas and practices of Charlotte M. Mason (1842-1923), an English author, philosopher and educator. This well-known British educator founded a teacher training college in Ambleside, England and shaped the work of education in hundreds of primary and secondary schools worldwide. 

Charlotte Mason’s philosophy establishes these foundational principles of education:

RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships form the foundation for our life paradigm, therefore we intentionally cultivate healthy relationships with self, each other, God, ideas, and the world around us.

HABITS

The development of life-giving habits helps us reach our God-given potential.

UNLIMITED POTENTIAL

Each child possesses infinite dignity as an image-bearer and unlimited potential to grow through both strength and weakness.

Atmosphere

A non-competitive, stimulating atmosphere fosters a lifelong joy of learning.

Living Education

A living education from original thinkers is not simplified, interpreted, or predigested. By contrast, it stimulates thought, dialogue, and imagination.

Questions? Give us a call at 703-430-4034 or email us at admin@ambleside.org

Learn more about how a living education could impact your family at an upcoming tour.

Admissions Process

1. Tour – RSVP to attend an Open House or School Tour

2. Apply – Create an online account and submit an application.

3. Assessment – Upon receipt of the completed application, we will conduct a student assessment with one of our teachers.

4. Interview – Following the student assessment, we will schedule a parent interview.

5. Admissions Recommendation – Upon successful completion of the application, student assessment, recommendation forms, and parent interview, you will receive notification of admission. If admitted, you will receive more information regarding the enrollment process and how you can secure your child’s seat.

Ambleside Curriculum

In all disciplines, beginning in the very early grades, we spread a rich feast in front of the children with more than sixteen curriculum areas, consisting of the best books, the greatest works of art, the most beautiful music, and the majesty of creation.

Short lessons allow children to remain alert and interested throughout the day. An emphasis on “hands-on” learning and on primary sources allow students to build personal relationships with God’s creation, with great men and women of history, and with the great ideas expressed in history and the arts.

In addition, the classroom schedule alternates between inspirational lessons, such as poetry or nature study, and disciplinary work, such as grammar and math. This constant movement between subjects that encourage reflection and those that require focused skill is constantly refreshing for the students’ minds, as is time spent outdoors in physical activity and exploration.

Program Highlights

Questions? Give us a call at 703-430-4034 or email us at admin@ambleside.org