Highland Montessori is a small school in a quiet San Mateo neighborhood. Cecilia Boland-Walsh founded it in 1982, and for more than 40 years it has been a place where young children feel at home and families feel part of a community.

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Today the school is led by her daughter, Molly Hanlon, who keeps that foundation and brings in what current research tells us about how young children learn. We stay small on purpose, so every child is known well by the adults who care for them.

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Our program for children ages 2 to 6 pairs the order and independence of Montessori with the curiosity of child-led projects. Children learn to care for their classroom and for each other, to work through big feelings with support, and to follow a question as far as it takes them.