Heritage Montessori School is one of California’s first Montessori schools, serving children ages 2 – 10 with nurturing and holistic educational programs that focus on the whole child.
“Heritage” signifies our personal connection to Dr. Maria Montessori, the creator of the educational method that bears her name. Our Head of School is a third-generation Montessori practitioner with roots running directly back to Dr. Montessori through her mother and grandmother.
The matriarch of our organization, Ms. Maria Peerzada, lived and worked alongside Dr. Montessori in India when she was involved in extensive research on early childhood development.
It was 1939 when the first Montessori course was organized for 50 teachers.Ms. Peerzada recalls that the “training class” had to be moved to a flimsy tent with a thatched roof when more than 300 trainees appeared at the scheduled time. Maria Montessori would speak in Italian, and her son Mario Montessori would translate the lectures into English.
Ms. Peerzada, who participated in both the Primary and Advanced Courses under the personal direction and tutelage of Dr. Maria Montessori and Mr. Mario Montessori, worked as a teacher and later as a directress in the model school that Dr. and Mr. Montessori started in Kodaikanal. The Kodaikanal school was intended to serve as an observation school for the students enrolled in the Montessori courses.