Sea Pines Montessori merging with Hilton Head Prep January 2025
They’re already very close and are about to get closer.
By the first school day of the new year, two private schools on Hilton Head Island will combine into one. Sea Pines Montessori Academy will integrate into Hilton Head Preparatory School, taking on its name, the dolphins mascot and its Head of School, Paul Horgan.
Margot Brown, chief advancement officer for Hilton Head Prep who has worked at the school for 20 years, said that this collaboration is a result of a decades-long discussion. The schools are physically close — while standing on their property, she is able to touch one of Sea Pine Montessori’s buildings, she said — and their history naturally connects them.
Charles Fraser founded Sea Pines Academy in 1965. The academy became Hilton Head Prep as its known today. He was married to the founder of Sea Pines Montessori Academy, Mary Fraser.
Originally, Brown said, Sea Pines Montessori served children through kindergarten and Hilton Head Prep started in the first grade, so it was a natural feeder school. When Sea Pines Montessori expanded their program through the third grade, Brown said, Hilton Head Prep started a kindergarten, then a junior kindergarten.
Parents will have the choice to send their children through two different tracks between kindergarten and third grade: a Montessori path, which prioritizes hands on, experiential learning, or a traditional path. Both methods will integrate into the traditional track for fourth grade onward, Brown said.
The decision to merge was not based on the two schools’ finances, Brown said, but it is intended to create a better academic experience for the kids attending both schools. The tuition to attend the two schools were similar to begin with, Brown said, so there would not be too much of a difference in how much families are paying to send their children to the combined school.
Combining the two schools makes Hilton Head Prep the only school on Hilton Head that educates children from 15 months to 12th grade, Brown said. There are currently 460 students enrolled at Hilton Head Prep and 125 students enrolled at Sea Pines Montessori, Brown said.
Both of the schools are non-profit institutions In 2023, the two schools filed the following financial disclosure information with the Internal Revenue Service:
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 1:21 PM.
