About CLA

A Dream Becomes A Reality

Creative Learning Academy was founded in 1972 as the Montessori Learning Center at Temple Beth El, in downtown Pensacola. According to our founder, Mary Lee Porter-Hanson, the vision began as a “dream of a school where children are free to learn and happy to learn by discovery … wherein through their senses they choose that which helps to joyfully construct themselves through purposeful activity and with mastery of each new skill their self-confidence increases, and their love of learning grows.”

After a few years, the school began introducing additional new grade levels. With the expansion beyond the early learning years and a more traditional curriculum in lower school, the school was renamed Creative Learning Center in 1975. The dream continued to evolve and through their vision, according to the director, the school remained uniquely able to, “motivate students to seek knowledge, and then provide the tools to pull them along at the rate best suited to their individual capacities. True learning takes place because children are able to internalize what they learn”.

By 1978, the school had again outgrown its facility downtown and moved to the current campus on Hyde Park Road, in East Pensacola Heights. The school continued to add grades each year and by 1982, CLC graduated its first eighth-grade class. Accreditation was granted to CLC by the Florida Council for Independent Schools and the Florida Kindergarten Council in 1983. In 2003, Creative Learning Center became the Creative Learning Academy of Pensacola.

Graduates of CLA have done especially well in the International Baccalaureate program and Advanced Placement classes in the high school of their choice. CLA graduates often return to visit our school community and credit their academic preparedness on the strong foundation and zest for learning established here at Creative.

We are proud of our long and distinguished role as an academically challenging program that has contributed to the success of our community. We look forward to sharing that legacy with you and invite you to be a part of our future!

Creative Learning Academy was founded in 1972 by Mary Lee Porter-Hanson. She was determined to create a happy place where every child was free and happy to learn through discovery. She wanted it to be a school where when children left at the end of the day, they couldn’t wait to return in the morning. Today, more than five decades later, CLA is still that kind of school. We challenge students and expect them to challenge themselves, but we do so in an environment that is nurturing, supportive, and reflective of our belief that learning at its best is a joyful process.

Our approach to education with a very intentional emphasis to be a happy place of learning, creates an environment where each child is nurtured, supported and challenged as an individual. That is why music and art are so important and are integrated throughout the curriculum at CLA. It is also why P.E. and recess are a huge part of the student experience, along with our emphasis on character education. As a result, our students love learning; they are creative and critical thinkers. They are confident in who they are and feel safe taking risks. They are kind and caring people, who, ignited by our guiding principles, make helping others a priority in their lives. At the end of their eighth-grade year, our graduates leave CLA exceptionally well prepared for high school and, as the problem solvers of the future, are empowered to make positive contributions to the world.

I do nothing to harm myself or others.

I am responsible for my behavior.

I take pride in myself and my work.

I leave it better than I found it.

We are each other’s keepers.

The honor code is a social contract, meaning all of us are connected to and affected by the actions of our peers. As members of the Creative Learning Academy community, we acknowledge that our individual actions and attitudes affect the wellbeing of others as well as the school as a whole. We strive to foster the ideals of honesty and integrity both in ourselves and in others. A culture of learning flourishes upon a solid foundation of personal and academic integrity, made up of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility, which we will do our best to achieve.