Fountainhead Montessori

Great school! My 4 years daughter attends Primary class and my 2 years son attends Prep class. Both of them absolutely love the school and feel very safe and comfortable. Everyday they learn new things and bring many projects back home. Ms. Roxanne is very smart and have so much experience and knowledge as Montessori teacher. Ms. Ana is very kind and patient and give great preparation for kids who is moving to primary class. Not only the teachers are great but also the school tries to help busy parents, and I really appreciate to that.
The school is surrounded by beautiful nature and I love that too. We are happy we choose Fountainhead!

This school has some excellent head teachers, responsive administration, and strong Montessori commitment and approach. Very convenient location for commuters but when you are at the school yourself you can’t really tell how close you are to the highway. It feels surrounded by nature. It is also extremely close to the Orinda Police station which is kind of nice for paranoid parents.

My son attended Fountainhead for approximately 3 years. He was 2 when he started and at first it went great. He was with their new teacher at the time, Ms. Ana, and she was amazing. She taught the pre-​school prep class. Then he moved to preschool in Ms. Margarita’s class. He did OK there, but not great. The class size was large on some days and he would get overwhelmed. I also don’t think he was well matched with Ms. Margarita. She kept telling us to give her more time, but we finally had enough and switched him to a smaller class (luckily they had one at the time) with Ms. Virginia. We were skeptical, but our son did GREAT! He was so happy and Ms. Virginia was wonderful with the kids. When it was time for our son to move to the next level, they asked us if we want to move him with his peers or keep him with Ms. Virginia. Since he really felt at ease with Ms. Virginia, we decided to keep him there. Then, without any advanced notice from the school, Ms. Virginia left the school. So, our son was left in a class with a new teacher, almost all new students and students that were 1.5 years younger than him. And, I come to learn that the school knew that Ms. Virginia was leaving and didn’t let us know. When we asked to move our son to a class with his peers and with teachers that he was at least more familiar with, they said there wasn’t any room for him. Our son was struggling. It didn’t help that the new teacher left only after a few months as well. Then, that new teacher left. Instead of finding a new teacher, they decided to combine two classes creating a class size of approximately 36 kids. 36 kids in one preschool class! This was our son’s demise. He was SO overwhelmed. We saw him one day holding his ears it was so loud and chaotic. He started acting out and given the limited staff, the school no longer had the ability to offer the extra support our son needed to transition and find his place in this new large class.
If you want your kids to be physically safe, Fountainhead can provide that. The teachers are willing to meet with you and discuss your child at any time. However, they now have very limited flexibility to do anything with your concerns. I realize that my son is more on the sensitive side, so numerous teacher changes and large class sizes might not be an issue for everyone, but even before I understood my son’s sensitivities, I would have never enrolled him in a preschool class with over 30 students. The school tied our hands. We believe they take on too many students than they can handle. They have MANY preschool kids (3 classes worth), but only one pre-​K class. So, when it is time to move up, parents are all fighting to get their kids in the advanced class. It was a very stressful time.
The school asked us what we wanted them to do to help our son and when we said split the two classes, the director laughed and said «well that we can’t do.» That is the kind of attitude the school has taken with us since all the teacher changes started happening. They are so willing to sit down and meet with you and always seem eager to get your input, but they never take it seriously. Seems like the school found a way to save money at our son’s expense. Sad.
When we were trying to get our son in the pre-​K class (which if we did, he would probably still be there), we didn’t understand why they didn’t plan better to have enough space for the number of kids they had at the preschool level to advance. The executive director Shandy Cole sent me a message stating that it wasn’t the schools fault, but rather parents who keep changing their minds.
One last point — when there is a teacher change, the school does not let parents know until right before the teacher plans to depart. Therefore, there is no time to discuss the transition with your child and in some cases no chances for your child to say goodbye. I still don’t understand this policy.

Awesome school. Our daughter has been to three schools due to moves and this is by far the best. I love the flexible schedule and how the teachers really take time to know your kid. Our daughter has grown leaps and bounds in the short time that she’s been there.

We have been through a few schools with my 3 and 5 year old girls. This is by far the best school for my girls. They LOVE LOVE LOVE going to school and bringing home their projects to show us. I called the school to ask about a change of schedule and got instant feedback on how my kids were doing. The teachers are super knowledgeable and really seem to care about how each child is developing; very personalized attention.

So far, so good… Our four year old just started here.
They begin their day on the large playground and I am already impressed by the wisdom and simplicity of that structure.
It allows the children to acclimate, roam freely doing what they all love, and distracts from the separation and transition. Montessori minds at work, no doubt ;)
Within one minute she had little friends. They addressed her by name and spoke to her as though she had been there all year.
As I drove away next to the playground, relieved and hopeful, I noticed that two little girls were smiling and waving at my car as I drove by, like I was a float in a parade. Cu-​uuute :)