Why Families Choose Scripps

For more than 50 years, Scripps Montessori School has provided children with an authentic Montessori education in a close-knit community where teachers know their students personally and support their individual development.

Select Tab
  • Experienced, Caring Educators
  • Individualized Learning
  • Whole-Child Development
  • A Community They Grow With
A Scripps Montessori guide working alongside a child at a classroom table

Experienced, Caring Educators

Our teachers bring experience, patience, and genuine care into every interaction. They take the time to understand each child's personality, strengths, interests, and developmental needs, allowing them to provide thoughtful guidance and meaningful support throughout the day.

Experience here is measured in decades, not terms. Ms. Ada has guided a Primary classroom for 23 years, Ms. Erika for 21, Ms. Vanessa for 19. That continuity is why children settle quickly, and why families who start with us in the Toddler Community so often stay through Elementary.

Schedule a Tour
A Scripps Montessori child working independently with the sensorial bells

Individualized Learning

In a Montessori classroom each child sets their own pace, follows their own interest, and works free of criticism and competition. Teachers observe closely and introduce each lesson when a child is ready for it, rather than when a calendar says so.

Our Primary classrooms keep a 12:1 child-to-teacher ratio with no more than 24 children, and children stay with the same guide for the full three-year cycle. A teacher who has known your child for three years knows exactly what to offer next.

Schedule a Tour
A Scripps Montessori child preparing food as part of the practical life curriculum

Whole-Child Development

The aim of Montessori is to develop the whole child: intellectual, physical, and social growth are given equal value in the prepared environment. Practical life work builds coordination and independence, and grace and courtesy lessons teach children how to be with one another.

Alongside the core curriculum, children have art, music, gym, and a rotating program of after-school enrichment: Spanish, dance, yoga, cooking, debate, and athletics.

Schedule a Tour
Scripps Montessori children gathered around a globe on the school lawn

A Community They Grow With

Scripps Montessori is small enough that every child is known by name, and established enough that families stay for years. Children can join us at 18 months and continue right through 6th grade without changing schools.

Mixed-age classrooms mean younger children learn from older ones and older children learn by teaching. It is the same community your family joins on the first tour.

Schedule a Tour

Montessori Programs for Every Stage of Growth

From Toddler through Elementary, each program is thoughtfully designed to support your child's development, independence, confidence, and love of learning.

Toddler Community

A nurturing start where children build language, independence, confidence, and practical skills.

Ages: 18 months-3 years

Primary Program

A Montessori class where children build academics, independence, confidence, and social skills.

Ages: 3-6 years

Elementary Program

An engaging class where children build academics, critical thinking, independence, and curiosity.

Ages: 6-12 years

A Different Way to Learn, Grow & Discover

Montessori education recognizes that children develop at different rates and learn best when they are actively engaged in the process.

A Scripps Montessori child matching classified cards on a work rug

Learning Through Exploration

Children work with hands-on Montessori materials that encourage focus, curiosity, problem-solving, and a deeper understanding of what they are learning.

Guided by Their Individual Growth

Teachers observe each child's progress and provide lessons, support, and new challenges based on their readiness and development.

Schedule A Private Tour
See a classroom during the working day and meet the guide who would teach your child. We'll be in touch to find a time.

Testimonials

"I'm so grateful to SMS for nurturing and loving my boys for 6 amazing years."

"Every teacher is amazing, cultured and caring. Everyone has always went above and beyond to see that my boys thrived. I'm so lucky to have found such an amazing school to start my boys education path."

Marlin W.
Alumni Parent

Testimonials

"This school is such a special place. I am blown away each time I observe the classroom environment."

"It is beautiful, calm, loving, and designed for the ultimate learning experience. The teachers go out of their way to provide excellent care and are always so approachable. Most of the teachers have worked at the school for years and are very experienced with children."

"My daughter has some special needs and the school goes out of their way to provide her with care and communicate with me whenever it is needed. I can tell that despite her differences from the other children, she feels very loved and accepted. I highly recommend this school!"

Scripps Montessori Parent
Verified review, GreatSchools

Testimonials

"My 3 children never fuss about going to school. They're just upset when the week is ending."

"The Montessori philosophy is suitable for each of the kids, even though they are each so different in personality and motivation. This school seems to bring out the best in all of them! We all love the staff, especially the director, Ms. Ciara. It's been a wonderful experience!"

Scripps Montessori Parent
Verified review, GreatSchools

Admissions

Getting Started Is Simple

A Scripps Montessori teacher guiding an Elementary student through handwriting
Step 1
Send an Inquiry

Tell us a little about your child and the program you're interested in. Our team will follow up by phone or email to answer your initial questions.

Schedule a Tour
Step 2
Visit the School

Come and see a classroom during the working day. You will meet the guide who would be teaching your child, watch how the environment runs, and get a feel for the community. Most families know within that hour whether Montessori is right for them.

Step 3
Apply & Enroll

Submit your application with the registration fee. Class placement is made in the order applications and registration fees are received, and we cap class sizes deliberately, so applying early matters. If a classroom is full, your family goes on the waiting list for the next opening.

Step 4
Welcome to Scripps

Your child is placed with a guide and a class they will stay with for the full cycle. We help with the transition from day one, and extended care is available from 7:00am to 6:00pm for families who need it.

Questions Parents Often Ask

How is Montessori different from traditional education?

In a Montessori classroom children learn by doing. Each child sets their own pace, follows their own interest, and works free of criticism and competition. The guide prepares the environment and gives each lesson when a child is ready for it, rather than teaching the same thing to the whole room at the same time.

Children work with hands-on materials that let them discover a concept rather than memorize it, and because classrooms are mixed-age, younger children learn from older ones and older children learn by teaching.

Will my child receive individual attention?

Yes. Individualized learning is an important part of the Montessori approach. Teachers observe each child's progress and provide guidance and lessons based on their individual needs.

Our Primary classrooms run a 12:1 child-to-teacher ratio with no more than 24 children, and the Primary cycle lasts three years, so your child's guide will know them for years rather than months.

Will my child be academically prepared?

Scripps Montessori has been educating San Diego children since 1973, and our classrooms carry the AMI/USA school seal. Elementary students work across mathematics, language, history, geography, science, botany, art and music, both independently and in small research groups.

What families tell us matters most is not a reading level but a disposition: children leave here able to concentrate for long stretches, work independently, and ask for the next challenge.

Can we enroll during the school year?

Yes, when there is space. Class placement is made in the order applications and registration fees are received, and we cap class sizes deliberately, so classrooms do fill. Children joining mid-year are billed at a daily rate for the remainder of the school year.

If the classroom you want is full, your family goes on the waiting list for the next opening - which is why we encourage families to tour and apply early, even when they are planning for a future year.

What programs do you offer?

Toddler Community for 18 months to 3 years, Primary for 3 to 6 years, and Elementary for 1st through 6th grade, plus after-school enrichment and a summer camp program.

Full days run 8:30am to 2:30pm and half days 8:30am to 12:00pm, with 3-, 4- and 5-day options in the Toddler Community.

Do you offer extended-day options?

Yes. Extended care is available from 7:00am to 6:00pm, charged by the hour outside the school day. After-school enrichment rotates through music, Little Stars dance, Spanish, debate, Amazing Athletes, yoga, art and cooking.

Scripps Montessori is a school first: extended care is an additional service we provide for working families, not the primary function of the school.

See if Scripps Montessori Feels Right for Your Family

Choosing the right school is an important decision. Come visit our classrooms, meet our educators, ask your questions, and experience the warm, individualized Montessori environment for yourself.

Schedule a Tour