Rockland Nursery School

I have 2 sons at Rockland Montessori (3 years now at the school between them) and we love it. We travel from Winchester (15 min. commute) to send them here.
The staff is a wonderful mix of experienced teachers who love the kids and have been at Rockland for a long time, and enthusiastic younger assistant teachers. The building is open, light-​filled and very Montessori-​style. It’s the sort of place you’d like to work/​learn/​play in yourself. Go visit or start by checking their web-​page. The photos you see are NOT stock photos. That’s the beautiful school you see and the actual teachers who work there.
A large part of the curriculum is Montessori. (See Curriculum on their web-​page.) Classrooms are filled with Montessori works and a large part of each day is spent using them. All teachers have certificates in Montessori instruction. They also teach some things in a more traditional-​style. This was ALWAYS very clear to me and was something that actually drew us to the program as, in theory, it helps with a later transition to a traditional public school classroom. In particular, I feel like my kids have learned a great deal of science-​related things via their traditional instruction.
I will say that a typical day at Rockland is not just playtime /​childcare. The kids work hard. I’m not there all day of course, but my kids come home with a good stack of artwork and examples of their letter tracing, push-​pinning, pasting/​cutting projects etc. Their work and progress is obvious. This lack of free /​social play was something we weighed against other school options. (We ultimately decided we could make sure they got those experiences elsewhere or after school.) And… to keep it all honest here, another concern we had with Rockland was that their indoor /​outdoor play space is lacking.
Another thing that attracted us as working parents: The school offers flexible afterschool programs if you need your child to stay longer on any given day — or until 6pm 5 days/​week. Many kids stay and they offer some fun things during that time — karate, cooking, art, yoga, dance etc. They also have a childcare nursery across the street for infants/​toddlers and I can also say the same sorts of things about the staff and building there since my kids went there as well. The school is also near the Wellington T stop — Orange line — lots of parking.
If you’re at all interested, take a tour — & you’ll get why we love it.