OUR SCHOOL
At the heart of our approach is a deep respect for each child’s individuality and a joyful connection between children, families, the school community, and the natural world. Our highly trained educators are dedicated to inspiring, guiding, and supporting your child in English, French, and Spanish, while helping them build essential life skills and a strong academic foundation. By embracing each child’s unique potential, we empower them to grow into independent, confident, compassionate, and actively engaged global citizens.
Our Campuses
De La Fontaine boasts two campuses in the Greater St. Petersburg area. Our original location is located in Seminole, Florida, specifically in Pinellas Park. Our second location which opened in 2021 is located in St Petersburg!
Seminole Campus
8351 Bayou Boardwalk
Seminole, FL 33777
(813) 278-2262
St Petersburg Campus
300 58th St N
St Petersburg, FL 33710
(727) 358-4358
Vision & Values
De La Fontaine Montessori School's goal is to educate your students in an immersive language environment where they progress through our school and leave with lasting knowledge and a self understanding that will assist them in their learning endeavors into the future.
Our History
De La Fontaine Montessori School was founded in 2019 with the goal of bringing a truly unique and immersive educational approach to the greater Saint Petersburg, Florida area. Created on the belief that all children are capable individuals that needed to be treated as such, our school was born into an inviting community that embraced this progressive style of learning through language immersion with open arms. Some may still wonder, what or who is De La Fontaine? Our name is derived from the world renowned French fabulist, Jean de la Fontaine. De La Fontaine lived during the 1600's in what is often referred to as The Great Century. De La Fontaine became a renowned poet and fabulist during this time period and is still revered to this day. He is credited with influencing and creating a model for fabulists across many different languages and cultures. This name was chosen for our school as De La Fontaines works as well as the Montessori approach meet at the intersection of creativity and the joy for educating our next generation of critical thinkers.
Jean de La Fontaine’s fables, though wrapped in the charming guise of talking animals and poetic verse, were designed as powerful moral lessons intended to help children—and society at large—become better people. Each fable distills a core ethical or practical truth, such as the value of honesty, humility, patience, or foresight. For example, in The Tortoise and the Hare, the message that slow and steady effort often wins the race is made memorable through character and story. These tales were not just for entertainment; they served as tools for reflection and character building.
La Fontaine believed that by observing the consequences of vice and the rewards of virtue in fable form, young readers could internalize these lessons without the need for harsh didacticism. This approach resonates strongly with the Montessori method of education, which emphasizes learning through experience, reflection, and intrinsic motivation rather than external punishment or reward. These are just a few principles that make De La Fontaine Montessori School one of the best choices in the Saint Petersburg area for your student to attend preschool!
In a Montessori classroom, children are encouraged to explore moral concepts through stories, discussions, and real-world interaction. Like La Fontaine’s fables, Montessori education trusts the child’s capacity for moral reasoning and self-correction. Both systems value storytelling as a means of gently guiding children toward empathy, independence, and ethical decision-making—forming not just smarter individuals, but wiser, more compassionate ones. At De La Fontaine Montessori Schools core is an innate interest to help each child reach their truest potential. By allowing our students access to an informative and immersive environment, we continue to encourage self growth in your children organically, just as Jean de la Fontaines fables were meant to do so many years ago.