North Hill Schools - Creative Montessori Preschool
3101 Vicente Street, San Francisco 94116
North Hill Montessori Schools offer year-round programs to serve the needs of our community. We promote the natural development of young children through natural hands-on learning. We emphasize independence, creativity, problem-solving and concentration beginning at an early age. Each child is valued as a unique individual who is a part of our school community.
At a glance
What this means
Montessori mixes children by age and uses hands-on, self-correcting materials so kids learn at their own pace with lots of independence. Mixed-age classrooms put older and younger children together, so kids learn from and teach each other.
This school teaches in Mandarin but isn't a full immersion program — Mandarin is woven in alongside English rather than being the main language of instruction.
Good questions to ask on a tour
- 1Can you walk me through a typical day from drop-off to pickup?
- 2What are the exact drop-off and pickup times, and is there any flexibility?
- 3What is the current monthly tuition, and are there different rates for different days-per-week schedules?
- 4How do you handle the transition for children starting mid-year or moving up from a younger classroom?
- 5What is your potty-training policy, and how do you support children who are still learning?
- 6How do you handle discipline, conflict between children, and big feelings?
- 7How much of the day is in Mandarin, and do children need any prior exposure to the language?
- 8What is your application timeline, and when do families typically hear back?
- 9How large is each class, and what is the teacher-to-child ratio?
- 10What does parent communication look like — updates, conferences, opportunities to be involved?