Spring Hill Montessori School

We feel so lucky to have found Spring Hill Montessori. Spring Hill is exactly what we were looking for our daughter's first step out of our home. While our expectations were high after visiting (and thankfully gaining admission), the school has far exceeded our expectations in every way. Mark and Victoria Oliva so clearly love what they do and make such a great team. This school is a true gem. Pros: warm caring environment, great education Cons: nothing more

We have been very fortunate to have all three of our children go through Spring Hill. Mark and Victoria Oliva are wonderful educators who have created a warm and inspiring school where children feel safe and loved. There is a very strong sense of community at Spring Hill, both for the students and the parents. Mark and Victoria don't just teach the kids, they are also there to help parents navigate the tricky parts of parenting we all run into. My kids learned so much there about how to be considerate and valuable members of a group, about how to work together, and about how to work independently when they are ready. The solid foundation Spring Hill gave them both educationally and socially has been invaluable as they have gone on to their next schools. I cannot recommend Spring Hill Montessori highly enough. Pros: a warm, caring environment that builds a great foundation Cons: I'm only sorry my last child has graduated! more

As a Spring Hill parent (two kids, going on three years for each of them) I am so happy with our experience that I want to share it with other parents engaging in the process of evaluating schools. We spent months researching where to send our boys and sat through many interviews and observation sessions in most of Cambridge's preschools. Spring Hill was one of the last on our list and when we walked away from our observation and interview we both felt such excitement and we agreed - if our boys could get in, this was the exact balance of structure and warmth that we had been seeking and hadn't found elsewhere. We are so grateful that our boys did get in and if anything our expectations and hopes have been exceeded! Mark, the head teacher, is magical with children - he is a real academic with theory and many years of practice to augment his natural understanding and gift with preschoolers. Victoria, the director and assistant teacher, is not only great with the kids herself, she also handles all of the myriad details of running the school and the organization is pretty much flawless - from the weekly curriculum updates to the twice a year conferences and reports (filled with incredibly insightful comments about each child), Spring Hill manages to knock the ball out of the park on warmth and structured environment AND on administrative competence - a rare trifecta! Bottom line is that my boys are happy, they feel safe and loved and they're learning a TON - not only how to zip up their coats and other important preschool tasks, but also math, writing, and reading where Mark and Victoria provide all of the building blocks for these critical skills in thoughtful and creative ways. We couldn't be happier with the experience and we're so grateful for everything that Spring Hill has offered to our boys. Pros: Excellent instruction; Environment is warm AND structured Cons: Can't think of any more

Our son has attended Spring Hill for the past year, and we love the school and the husband-wife team that run it, Mark and Victoria Oliva. The director Mark comes from a Montessori background, and is fantastic with the kids; everytime I observe him interact with a child I learn something that I can implement with my son. I've never seen him have an interaction with any child that wasn't great. He's gentle and funny and amazing at what he does. In addition, I value the idea of ""showing"" my son that men can do nurturing jobs as well as telling him that girls can do anything that boys can do. In this sense, I like the balance of the male-female teaching team. Victoria comes from a traditional kindergarten background. She is also fantastic with the kids, and my son responds extremely well to her. Both of them are very gentle and comforting with the children, and they are extremely thoughtful about their work. The insights that they have into my son's abilities and personality have really impressed me, and they put a lot of effort into communicating these insights to all the parents at the end of each day. In addition to these things, my son LOVES going to school, and I feel that Spring Hill has given him a great start in this sense. A previous reviewer commented on people skills; I have found exactly the opposite in my yearlong interaction with both Mark and Victoria. However, I've read that Montessori schools in general can seem a bit cold or stand-off-ish at initial visits, because the method is so child-centric. Certainly at our initial visit, both instructors were very engaged with the kids--they were not engaging in a lot of the ""marketing"" that bigger school do for prospective parents or even trying to impress us. Once your child attends, however, this is a very attractive feature! The other side of Spring Hill that I really like is the parent/social side of things. All the parents have been down-to-earth and easy to talk to. There are no fund-raisers, parent associations, etc. Just an easy relationship with 9 other families, and I find this very nice. It has been a perfect fit for our family. Pros: thoughtful, caring instructors; small, homelike setting Cons: no summer/afternoon programs more

I am new to the Cambridge area and as a Harvard Graduate Student, I have thoroughly choose my method of preference to educate my children, the Montessori Method, for many reasons. Having done my search for Montessori schools in the area, the Spring Hill Montessori looked so cozy, inviting, friendly, almost too good to be true. When I showed up today with my young children, it was anything but inviting. The director was extremely cold and rude and I would NEVER suggest to anybody to choose this school. Too bad, it looked AMAZING on line, but in person it lacked all the skills, starting with people skills. Cons: The director lacked people skills and she was not inviting at all more