Montessori Academy has launched a $10 million capital campaign aimed at taking the school into the 21st Century.

And while chairperson of the school's board of governors Margie Gordyk made it clear that not all of the money needs to be raised at once, she said the school needs to raise $2 million before July 1 (next Wednesday) in order to break ground at a new site in Devonshire by the end of summer.

The school has raised about $350,000 since launching its capital campaign last month.

Mrs. Gordyk noted other donations were also "in the works'' as the school actively pursued international and local companies for financial support.

"We are aggressively approaching Bermuda-based companies with our proposal,'' said Mrs. Gordyk, who is meeting with several companies each week.

"The response has been very positive. I think business leaders recognise the unique contribution our school makes to education in Bermuda and will support us.

"Our most immediate goal is to raise $1.8 million by June 30 for the purchase of the land on Brighton Hill Road,'' she added. "Once we have accomplished this goal, we will set our sights on the additional $6 million to $8 million we need to complete the school as we have envisioned it.'' Montessori Academy, which has outgrown the National Trust's Tivoli property off Middle Road, Warwick where it started out seven years ago with 72 students, has some 130 students and a waiting list of 20.

By next year that number is expected to increase to 70.

The private school has submitted plans to construct a 30,000-square-feet facility at the junction of Brighton Hill and Middle Road, on the 4.86 wooded acres of "Jackson property'' located nearly opposite Lindo's Supermarket in Devonshire.

Keeping with Montessori founder's Maria Montessori's vision of ideal workspace, each of the 900-square-feet classrooms will open to a common courtyard.

The board wants to have the school open by September, 1999.

The new school -- which will include 12 classrooms, a media centre, an art and music room, a full-size gym and an administration centre -- should accommodate more than twice the number of current students when completed.

There are also plans to expand Montessori, which currently takes in children from the age of three to 12, to a middle school for students up to 14 years old.

And new principal Margaret Hallett is reviewing the possibility of a toddler programme for children as young as 18 months and linking the school to an international baccalaureate programme which will take students through senior school.

But Montessori -- which allows children to learn by themselves and help each other under a teacher's guidance rather than by traditional classroom methods -- will maintain the current student-teacher ratio of 12 to one.

The campus will consist of six buildings; one for central administration and research; another for music and fine arts; a third for the gymnasium; and three for classrooms.

However, if funding for the 4.86-acre property -- which will cost some $1.8 million -- does not come about, the board will have to consider other ways of dealing with the demand for spaces.

PLANS for Montessori's new Devonshire campus.