{"id":335436,"date":"2026-07-10T07:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/335436\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:16:19","slug":"south-tampa-preschool-becomes-first-stand-alone-ib-preschool-in-florida-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/335436\/","title":{"rendered":"South Tampa preschool becomes first stand-alone IB preschool in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Brief<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Grove Academy in South Tampa became Florida&#8217;s first stand-alone preschool to earn International Baccalaureate accreditation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The school incorporates 10 core principles aimed at building social-emotional skills and global perspectives in young learners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Founder Kelli Cameron established the program to prove children are capable of mastering advanced learning skills early.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; A South <a data-ylk=\"slk:Tampa;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a> preschool has earned accreditation as an International Baccalaureate school, making it the first stand-alone preschool of its kind in Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>South Tampa preschool accreditation<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What we know<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Grove Academy, located on North MacDill Avenue, recently achieved official International Baccalaureate status.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The milestone makes the center one of just five stand-alone IB preschools in the entire country and the only one in Florida.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/wtvt_fox_local_articles_521\/fbcaff781e5d067262434bd4861ec4c2.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Owner Kelli Cameron opened the school in 2024 with a mission to transform early childhood education.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While approval typically requires two years of teaching the curriculum, the school secured its status in just a year and a half.<\/p>\n<p>Preschool International Baccalaureate curriculum<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Why you should care<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The curriculum embeds 10 foundational principles into daily lessons and all subjects, which include encouraging students to become open-minded communicators and confident risk-takers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/wtvt_fox_local_articles_521\/70dfbee409b2a72fb4abc3b54a702f24.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cameron explained that young children easily absorb these foundational concepts while building critical real-world problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I totally believe that kids at this age are like sponges, and they&#8217;re ready for anything that you can throw at them,&#8221; she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Parent perspective<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What they&#8217;re saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Crystal Lewis&#8217; four-year-old daughter, Lilia, really responded to the curriculum.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;These are things that you want to develop in your children at a young age, and it just sparks the curiosity that opens their mind,&#8221; she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/wtvt_fox_local_articles_521\/cdef0867ba4ed38793f233cf49912ac5.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cameron believes starting early can only help as these kids grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It&#8217;s about social, emotional skills, independence,&#8221; she said. &#8220;When they get older, and they come across these bigger problems in the real world, they already know how to tackle it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Future scholars<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What&#8217;s next<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The facility currently serves up to 38 students with a staff of six teachers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cameron said there are still a few spots left for the next school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">You can learn more about the school <a data-ylk=\"slk:here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/groveacademyfl.com\/admissions\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Source<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The information in this story was gathered from owner Kelli Cameron, who discussed the school&#8217;s mission and accreditation timeline, as well as parent Crystal Lewis.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Grove Academy in South Tampa became Florida&#8217;s first stand-alone preschool to earn International Baccalaureate accreditation. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[138171,138172,28,68347,138170,585,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-335436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-crystal-lewis","tag-emotional-skills","tag-florida","tag-international-baccalaureate","tag-kelli-cameron","tag-south-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}