500 E Las Olas Blvd #2403
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

All four children in our family have attended Sunrise Middle School over the span of 15 years. The Montessori Magnet Program at Sunrise Middle School is one of the best-kept secrets in Broward County. The academic rigor is real, but what makes the program stand out is how deeply students are engaged in their learning. It’s not rote memorization or worksheets—students learn to think, question, research, and present their ideas with confidence. they work in collaborative teams and solve real-world problems.The Montessori approach blends beautifully with the Cambridge Global Perspectives curriculum. Students learn to manage their time, advocate for themselves, collaborate effectively, and navigate increasingly complex academic work. By the time they leave Sunrise, they are not just “prepared” for high school—they are ahead of the curve. Many students transition directly into the prestigious Cambridge Magnet at Fort Lauderdale High School, where they continue to excel.The long-term outcomes speak for themselves. Sunrise Middle Montessori students routinely earn significant scholarship money, including major awards through Florida’s Bright Futures program—often totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars across each graduating class. Alumni from the program have gone on to become pilots, engineers, NFL athletes, educators, doctors, lawyers, and successful entrepreneurs.Sunrise Middle may be a public school, but the opportunities it provides are truly exceptional. If you want a place where your child will be challenged, supported, and inspired to grow into a capable, confident young adult, the Montessori Magnet Program is an outstanding choice.

I'm a parent of a Walker Wildcat, and I volunteer in the school's Media Center, and we love this school. The teachers and staff are involved, and the school is one of First Lady Michelle Obama's Turnaround Arts Schools. The Magnet program offers a wonderful, FREE (because it's public school) performing arts program that my child looks forward to every day. The school is in a poor area, so we don't get much in the way of property taxes, but everyone is dedicated and working toward improvement. Instead of looking at a "1" rating and looking elsewhere, I'd encourage parents to come be part of the solution and help make Walker the best school in Broward County. For what it's worth, we researched other schools nearby, too. One in particular, a top-performing school in the area, also has a lot of rich, privileged students, and boy, the ones in my kid's after school martial arts class sure were entitled little people. Not exactly the peer group we were looking for, despite its high Great Schools rating.

This school is so performative I swear. They act like they provide good resources and good support but they don’t. Many of my teachers give too much pressure/work and others don’t even help students in need. These counselors who are supposed to support kids struggling with grades and assignments don’t even help with them all they do is say “just talk to your teachers” and “do your assignments” like they don’t already know that. Those students came for actual support not just more of what they already did. They have so much high expectations for grades, gpa and academic performance. I’m not saying this isn’t supposed to happen but it’s so pressurized and it makes students stressed out so much. They need to lower their expectations and realize not every student is going to be studying all the time and passing. I guarantee they don’t take mental health seriously either seeing how careless they let these students overwork and stress.