In 1939, hundreds of educators traveled across India to learn directly from Dr. Maria Montessori. That same authentic Montessori philosophy continues at Heritage Montessori School today. The name “Heritage” reflects our school’s direct connection to Dr. Montessori herself. Our former Head of School is a third-generation Montessori practitioner whose family worked closely with Dr. Montessori in India during her pioneering research on early childhood development. Across our three Campuses in Newport Mesa, Lake Forest, and Huntington Beach, your child will learn in an environment built on more than five decades of authentic Montessori practice and a lineage that reaches back to the source itself. For families in Orange County searching for a Montessori preschool, kindergarten, or elementary program, there is simply nothing else quite like it.
April 24, 2025
Very good love it ❤️
March 12, 2025
Our daughter loves attending Heritage! She’s excited to see her teacher every morning and looks forward to share day on Fridays. We also appreciate the exceptional events the schools puts on for the students and their families.
January 29, 2025
We love the small class sizes! All the teachers recognize us and our son and are always so friendly. We also love the individual attention he receives both in extra support or extra challenge depending on his needs for the subject. He’s actually excited to he’s learning to read!
July 9, 2024
My kids have been very well supported by their teachers and aids. All the teachers are very kind, patient, and want the children to thrive. We have been at this school for 7.5 years and absolutely love it. I always feel like my kids are safe here.
Heritage Montessori is one of California’s first Montessori schools, but for our families, it is so much more than a school with history. The name “Heritage” reflects a deeply personal connection to Dr. Maria Montessori herself. Our founding lineage traces back to Ms. Maria Peerzada, who worked alongside Dr. Montessori in India during her groundbreaking early childhood research, and to Qudsia, Dr. Montessori’s goddaughter, who helped bring authentic Montessori education to California and Orange County for the very first time. When your child walks into our classrooms, they become part of a tradition rooted in respect, curiosity, and a true understanding of how children learn best.
Today, across our Newport Mesa, Lake Forest, and Huntington Beach Campuses, children from ages 2 through third grade are guided in warm, carefully prepared environments where they are known, supported, and encouraged to grow with confidence.
As part of the Endeavor Schools network, your family will also benefit from the strength of a trusted education community while still experiencing the close-knit, personal feeling that has defined Heritage for generations. Many of our parents were once Heritage students themselves, and now return so their own children can experience the same sense of belonging, independence, and care.
For more than 50 years, Heritage Montessori has remained committed to helping children become capable, compassionate, and curious learners. Long before modern research confirmed the importance of curiosity and hands-on learning in early childhood development, our school was built around those very principles.
Every lesson, every classroom, and every interaction is designed to help your little one feel confident in who they are and excited about discovering the world around them.
Our mission is to discover the genius in your child. We believe every child arrives already carrying something extraordinary within them, and that the role of a great Montessori school is to create the conditions in which that potential can unfold naturally, joyfully, and at your child’s own pace. We are true to our heritage and to Dr. Montessori’s principles in every classroom, every day.
We want your child to leave Heritage Montessori with more than academic knowledge. We want them to leave with a deep sense of who they are and what they are capable of. As Samantha Tovar, School Leader at Heritage Montessori, explains, “our classrooms are neurological workshops where the Montessori pedagogy serves its true purpose, which is to prepare your child for life.” Every material is paired with your child’s natural brain development. Every arrangement is intentional. The result is a calm, self-controlled, organized, and deeply curious learner.
Your child’s day at Heritage Montessori is built around authentic Montessori learning materials and the freedom to engage with them meaningfully. In our toddler, primary, and elementary programs, your little learner will move through practical life, sensorial exploration, language arts, mathematics, science, geography, and the arts, not as isolated subjects, but as interconnected parts of a rich and purposeful world. The morning work cycle gives your child uninterrupted time to choose their work, return to it, master it, and move forward at their own pace.
What makes our curriculum different is what it asks of your child. It does not ask them to sit still and wait for instructions. It invites them to move, explore, make choices, and care for their environment. Practical life activities teach your little one to prepare their own snack, pour carefully, clean up independently, and take genuine pride in their contribution to the classroom community. These are not small things. They are the foundation of the self-awareness, confidence, and independence that Heritage families see carried through into elementary school and beyond.
For older learners in our elementary program, your child will deepen their academic understanding through interdisciplinary projects, collaborative research, and our Digital Citizenship program, which helps them develop responsible technology skills and critical thinking for the world they are actually growing up in.
There are Montessori schools that teach the method, but here at Heritage Montessori, we have lived it from the very beginning. This distinction shapes everything your child will experience here, from the way the shelves are arranged to the way a guide kneels down and listens before offering any direction.
When you walk onto one of our Campuses, the first thing you will notice is how calm it feels. Not quite in a rigid way, but settled, purposeful, alive with concentration. Children are moving with intention. A four-year-old is carefully rolling a mat before beginning floor work. A seven-year-old is explaining a concept to a younger child with real patience. This atmosphere does not happen by accident. It is the result of a carefully prepared environment and guides who have been trained to trust the child and follow their lead.
The American Montessori Society confirms that Montessori education helps children build concentration, confidence, collaboration, and independence from an early age, and that those qualities contribute to long-term academic and personal success. At Heritage, your family will see this play out not just in test scores but in the small daily moments: a child who insists on buttoning their own coat, a kindergartener who resolves a disagreement with words, a third-grader who approaches a difficult problem with curiosity instead of frustration.
Our mixed-age classrooms are another meaningful difference. When your child spends three years with the same guide and the same peer community, they develop a sense of belonging and security that accelerates everything else. They are not starting over every fall. For families who want that continuity all the way through elementary school, our program goes to third grade, one of the longest Montessori journeys available in Orange County.
Shalane Seymour, School Leader at Heritage Montessori, has been part of the Heritage community for 17 years, and captures what that longevity means in practice. She has watched children arrive at two years old, sometimes not yet speaking, and leave years later as confident, capable young people. She has watched their younger siblings come through the same doors. She has seen the transformation happen so many times that she is no longer surprised by it, only grateful. She leads her campus with a philosophy she holds closely, that children are not things to be molded, but people to be unfolded.
Before a family commits to any school, the question that matters most is rarely about accreditation or square footage. It is about people. Who will be with my child? Do they truly care? Will my little one be known? At Heritage Montessori, the answer to all of those questions is yes, and we can point to decades of evidence. Our guides hold Montessori credentials alongside ECE units and complete ongoing professional development, including Montessori-specific training, Mandated Reporter certification, Pest Management training in childcare settings, and CPR and First Aid certification.
Shalane Seymour has dedicated 17 years to the Heritage Montessori community and leads the Huntington Beach Campus with deep love for the children and families in her care.
Samantha Tovar brings 20 years of experience in early childhood education to Heritage Montessori and has spent seven of those years building something genuinely special at our Newport Mesa location. Her vision for Heritage is simple and deeply felt: a Campus where legacy and learning meet, and where the children who grow up here bring their own children back one day.
At Heritage Montessori School, our Montessori education follows the original philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori and the standards of the American Montessori Society (AMS) and the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), ensuring our curriculum reflects authentic Montessori practice. Our experienced school leaders and dedicated staff create a nurturing school community where your family and our guides work together to support your child’s academic, social, and emotional development. The results speak for themselves. Based on internal assessments aligned with national standards, 98% of Heritage Montessori School students meet or exceed national first-grade readiness benchmarks, demonstrating the lasting impact of authentic Montessori preschool, kindergarten, and early education programs.
“For over five decades, Heritage Montessori has served our community as a place where legacy and learning meet. The most meaningful proof of that is the generations of former students who now return to us as parents, entrusting their own children to the same foundation that shaped them.”
– Samantha Tovar, School Leader, Heritage Montessori
Endeavor Schools is a community of more than 100 schools across the country, brought together by a shared commitment to caring for children during the most important years of their lives. Each school is thoughtfully connected to its local community, creating environments where children feel safe, supported, and encouraged to grow. Behind every classroom is a team of educators and parents who understand how much these early experiences matter, and who are dedicated to helping children build confidence, develop essential skills, and find a genuine love for learning. At the heart of Endeavor Schools is a focus on one simple goal: to give every child the support and foundation they need to thrive, both in school and in life.