Children must have completed potty training and be able to use the toilet independently prior to starting school. Our facility is unable to admit children in pull-ups or diapers.

First request a tour  to see if our school is a fit for your family. The admissions process then involves completing our application form and submitting a deposit to be added to our waitlist. Re-enrollment for currently enrolled families is completed in February. New families who have completed the application process are notified in March if there is a space available for their child to enroll. Positions on the waitlist are determined by the date order in which completed applications forms+deposit are received. Click here to visit our admissions page for more information and application forms.

Click here to visit our tuition and programs page for detailed information.

Enrollment preference is given in the following order; currently enrolled families, siblings of currently enrolled families, and then our waitlist. Places for current families will be filled in the order of receipt of completed enrollment paperwork+deposit. In the event we have more currently enrolled families requesting enrollment than spots available, a lottery will be held to fill the remaining places using the same priority ordering. Places for our waitlist families are offered in the order in which applications are received.

We charge a nominal processing fee to process your application and manage the waitlist. This is one-time fee that “rolls over” from year to year; meaning that if your child is unsuccessful in securing a place one year, their current place in the waitlist is “rolled over” to the following school year for no additional cost.

We offer several kinds of school tours. This video (link) provides an immediate overview of our school. You may also schedule a live virtual tour conducted by one of school directors (request tour). We are not currently offering in person tours due to COVID health and safety restrictions. Although we cannot welcome visitors onsite at the moment, you are most welcome to come and meet our friendly mini goats that are located on the street side of the school. They love visitors, and there is a good view across the outdoor farm and play areas.

We offer a school calendar that in a typical year approximates the local MDUSD school district calendar. Depending on enrollment, we typically also offer a half day summer program in the month of July.

Maximum 12:1. If we have our maximum allowable 30 children onsite, they are typically supervised by 3-4 indoor teachers and 1 outdoor teacher making our ratios about 1:7.

All our staff are experienced Montessori educators. Our teachers have completed formal training and hold a Montessori teaching credential. Our teaching assistants have completed an Early Childhood Education certification and informally trained with many years experience in Montessori classrooms. Please refer to our staff bio page (link) for more detailed information about our qualified and caring staff.

Our program is for children aged 3-6 years old. We accept children as young as 2 provided their 3rd birthday is on or before Oct 31st. The program includes an integrated kindergarten year for our 5-6 year olds.

My child still naps, or does not nap; do you have a program for me? When we offer full day programs we provide fully supervised nap for children that still benefit from a midday nap. Children are not required to nap and may instead rest during quiet time when we listen to stories, music etc and relax and recharge prior to starting our afternoon work period. Please discuss your child’s needs during your site tour.

Children are offered a nutritious snack provided by the school in both the morning and afternoon. Children staying for lunch eat their packed lunch brought from home using real plates and cutlery. Filtered water is available at all times. Low fat plain milk and water is offered during lunch. We have an onsite kitchen with dishwashing facilities to sanitize all eating utensils after meals.

A mixed age classroom is one of the hallmarks of a Montessori classroom. At school children aged 3-6 learn together. All children choose from a wide variety of materials in the classroom designed for different developmental levels. This helps children learn at their own pace and become inspired by “what’s ahead”. Older children have a special role; modelling classroom expectations and providing support to younger peers, helping to build confidence, empathy and responsibility.

Typically we conduct at least one onsite and one off site field trip during the year.

We use Dr. Jane Nelsen principles of positive discipline. Please click here to learn more.

Yes. We offer a number of different volunteer opportunities for families to both help support the school and become more connected with their children’s school day and activities. We acknowledge that families have diverse needs and circumstances and offer both onsite and after hours volunteering. Some options include family garden day, sharing a lesson or doing cooking, music or dance with the children during circle time, take home lesson preparation – the options are wide and varied. Come with your new suggestions, we’d love to hear them!

All children work together in our mixed age classrooms and may work in any of our classrooms depending on the day’s activities. We offer four different custom-built spaces for learning. The main building includes our large main classroom and a smaller adjoining classroom. Outdoors we consider the farm environment another classroom. Here we have our gardens, animals and play areas. We also have a large, covered area and a small classroom building children use on their “outdoor day”.

Play is an important part of children’s development, and weather permitting, children enjoy playtime outdoors every day. During this time they have free access to the playground and other play equipment, butterfly garden and extensive green space area. Accompanied by a teacher they may work in the vegetable garden, or visit with the rabbits. For safety reasons children do not have access to the other farm animals during playtime. On designated days each week children will spend their entire work period outdoors as part of our outdoor curriculum. On these days they will help care for the farm animals, complete garden activities or work in the outdoor classroom.

The children keep rain boots at school for working with the farm animals and in the garden that are also used for rainy days. Depending on the season, children will keep raincoats, hats etc at school so they can be dressed appropriately for indoor and outdoor work and play. We will stay indoors only for excessively bad weather including extreme heat, cold, rain or hazardous air quality. On these days we have playtime inside and offer a variety of fun activities.

We have mini goats, rabbits, chickens and a horse at the farm. Clear safety guidelines are followed to ensure children and animal safety while allowing children to have a unique learning experience in this truly special environment.

The State of California requires that several health forms be on file at the school. A physical exam and TB test must have been administered within a year of the child’s first day at school. The TB skin test is often waived based on risk assessment conducted by your child’s physician. Immunizations or immunization waiver documentation must be up to date prior to enrollment.