Montessori School of Los Altos

If you are reading this because you are researching Montessori Schools in the Bay Area I urge you to go visit them. Of course no school will be for everybody, but I am always recommending this school to friends.
Our daughter has attended this school for almost a year and we have been extremely happy. The teachers are caring and loving, but also push her intellectually. The classroom and playground are fantastic. Our daughter is a lively spirited child who is thriving at this school.
Periodically throughout the year parents are invited in to observe their children. At the end of the observation they have a tradition that your child makes you a cup of tea and serves you tea and cookies. To see our 3 year-​old looking so happy, carrying a tray with china on, and being able to pour the tea and serve us made us very proud. Its the small things like this that make this school so special. We look forward to sending our son once he is old enough.

This is an exceptional school. My kids each loved their 3 years there, including kindergarten, and was way ahead of their peers when entering first grade in reading and math. More importantly, this Montessori school instilled a love for learning and intellectual curiosity that is still with them.
The best feature about the school is the staff. Each teacher is trained in Montessori education, in addition to having generic preschool experience. The teachers show the kids how to get started in the activities, and then they let them learn the skill on their own.
I’m amazed at how much the kids learn by being allowed to learn on their own using the Montessori materials. The little wooden squares look pretty simple, but they’re perfect for letting kids figure out the relationship between 1s, 10s 100s etc. One thing that sets this school apart is that they use «official» Montessori materials.
This school also teaches multiple languages, hiring native speakers in French, Spanish, and Mandarin. The kids are like sponges and they can soak it up. Amazing that they can find such qualified Montessori teachers in each language.
The materials in the classroom are all top quality. The art supplies are high quality, like bees wax crayons. All the learning materials are official Montessori. Even the snacks are organic from Whole Foods. You get the picture.
The school has been there for 40 years now. They have a website with more info and some videos. (Larry Page and Sergei Brin went to Montessori!) The video from the classroom is pretty typical of what they do day in a day out. I think this is one of the few true full Montessori schools in the bay area. I definitely recommend this school.

I am sad to see that the only people that seem to write reviews for the school in Unilocal are those for whom the school did not work out. Unilocal is the complaints board! Yes, not all schools are a good match for all families, but this school does not deserve the reviews. My children are enrolled in this school, one is now in kinder and has been there for 3 years, the other one has been there for 2 years. Both full time. The school is a wonderful school. Before choosing MSLA I visited and interviewed many so called «Montessori» schools in the area, and this is one of the few that truly follows the Montessori philosophy. Not only the facilities and materials available to the kids are of top quality (you can see that right away visiting), the attention, care, and environment provided for the kids is also top quality. The teachers treat kids with respect and teach them to be respectful. They encourage independence and responsibility, and their approach is always age appropriate. My oldest, now in kinder, is well beyond in reading and math than other friends going to Palo Alto public schools. The difference? The level of dedicated attention that he gets at the school.

Horrible experience. We have attended 2 montessori schools and this is NOT a montessori modeled school. The headmaster is inconsiderate of parents and the welfare of the emotional needs of the child. We are firm parents and this behavior at the school was over the top. Not conducive to positive learning. Some teachers are great but while in attendance for a spring summer and fall, we experienced the better teachers leaving to competitive, real Montessori schools. Save yourself and your child the headaches and a future. Go elsewhere.

I had my 3.5 yr. old son attend this preschool for about 6 months. I loved the beautiful classroom, but the more I got to know the headmaster, the more I realized that though she had spent her entire career as a headmaster at the school, she was consistantly unprofessional and very «hands off.» Don’t let the high quality wooden toys fool you into thinking this is an authentic, high quality Montessori school. I now have my son at a different preschool and both myself and my son are much happier.

This is a Fabulous Authentic Montessori School. We enrolled our daughter at MSLA last year (when she was 3.5 y/​o) and are so very pleased with her development thus far. She is thriving and, most importantly, loves the school and the teachers. Set in a strikingly beautiful facility, MSLA offers a classic Montessori education that integrates art, music, dance, cooking, and outdoor play into a time-​tested curriculum in the core areas of language, geography and cultural studies, math, and science. Daily instruction in Spanish, Mandarin, and French is also included, and we like to observe how the Montessori Method enables the well-​trained and caring teachers to give our daughter a variety of individual lessons throughout the day, all of which are taught with carefully prepared Montessori materials. But, most of all, we love the ways in which MSLA implements the Montessori philosophy of a well-​rounded education that teaches our daughter grace and courtesy, how to care for her environment, and a wide range of practical life skills that are helping her develop independence and self-​confidence.
We, parents, are always welcome to visit the school and join in various activities, and the Director has been responsive, willing to address our concerns, and happy to share with us her vast knowledge and experience.
Let me emphasize that MSLA provides AMI Montessori education and follows classic curriculum and method. This means that, as a parent, you need to be clear about what Montessori education is and is not, level-​set your expectations accordingly, and make an informed decision about whether it is right for your child and your family. Understand the exact sense of structure unique to a Montessori classroom, and familiarize yourself with the Montessori principles and concept of a work cycle. While Montessori students are taught to be involved in self-​selected work, bear in mind that teaching a child to choose what to do is not the same as letting him or her do whatever they want.
If you consider a Montessori education for your child, I recommend MSLA wholeheartedly. For us, it strikes just the right balance of a structured and supportive environment that fosters academic preparation along with independent learning and intrinsic motivation. We are fortunate to be part of MSLA.

Our son has been at the Montessori School of Los Altos for 2 years now (he’s 5 now) and we’ve been very happy with his experience there. In 2008, the school moved to a new campus with a completely renovated classroom. The interiors are beautiful and appealing to the parents as well as the children. We have been able to be involved as much as we want in our son’s school activities and have always felt welcome in the classroom. The teachers are thoughtful and care about the children very much. In the Montessori classroom, children are taught new things as soon as they show an interest and ability to learn the material. We’ve observed that the teachers do keep track of our son’s development and do move him along as soon as he’s mastered a skill. He’s now a good reader and likes to read all the signs around him. We have a second boy and are looking forward to sending him to this school when the time comes.

This preschool seems appealing at first, but the environment is very regimented in practice. Their rules and punishments are silly, and not appropriate for the age group they serve (2.5−6 yrs); they seem designed to make the teachers’ lives easy, but not promote any long-​term learning or good behavior in children. At the same time, they let blatant verbal and physical bullying by the older kids continue by not handling such incidents with the seriousness warranted.
The worst aspect, though, is their discrimination in the second half of the school year against children who do not plan to attend kindergarten there. Once they realize in Jan or Feb that you plan to move on to one of the excellent public, charter or private elementary schools in the area, they will exclude your child from field trips, end-​of-​year ceremonies and farewell parties. Clearly, their bottomline as a business is more important to them than the fragile emotional well-​being of four year olds they claim to serve!
The redeeming feature is a few caring teachers, but they swim against the tide. It is disturbing to watch the pompous director speak sharply to teachers with children and parents present, using words and a tone you do not want your kids to hear.
I would give it zero stars if I could. Go elsewhere and save yourself many headaches.