About Us

Schoolhouse

Centre Square Montessori School consist of 2 schools:

Centre Square Montessori Schoolhouse – Enrolls children 1 year of age through Pre Kindergarten.
Centre Square Montessori Academy – Enrolls children Kindergarten age through Elementary first, second, third; and fourth grades.

Both schools are on the same six-acre campus, which is located on historic Skippack Pike in Blue Bell, PA.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp was started to meet the needs of parents for year round education and enjoyment.

Licensed & Inspections

Our school is licensed and inspected annually for our toddlers and extended care programs by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Service.
Our nursery (three year olds), PreK (four year olds), kindergarten (five year olds) and elementary programs (grades 1-4) are all licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Centre Square Montessori Schoolhouse and Centre Square Academy meet and exceed PA Department of Education’s standards.

A Montessori educational program has been proven to be a desirable, effective method of teaching for more than one hundred years.

All of our head teachers have been certified by the:

Please contact us for more information about our Montessori school philosophy, our Montessori academic programs, our summer program and admissions.

One test of the correctness of Educational Procedure is the happiness of the child.
– Dr. Maria Montessori

History

It takes a lot of love & commitment to develop smart, happy and inspired children, something the Centre Square Montessori School has been doing from 1972.

Centre Square Montessori Schoolhouse has developed a school you can entrust your children to. We invite you to reach out and get to know why we are a leader in the Montessori School Community.

How did Center Square Montessori school come about?

Patricia Mcnicholas

1960 Determined to have her own school
1966 Graduates from Mount Saint Joseph Academy
1966 Enters Chestnut Hill College
1968 Switches to West Chester University
1969 First sees a Montessori School at Raven Hill
1970 Graduates from West Chester University with BS in Education
1970 Enters Philadelphia Institute of Montessori
1971 Graduates with an AMI degree from Phila Institute of Montessori
1971 Sept – teaches in a parent run school – not satisfied
1972 Sept – Patricia McNicholas starts CSMS called Happy Hours Montessori at Olivet Church
Patricia McNicholas’s Dream of having a RED Centre Square Montessori Schoolhouse Happens
1975 Patricia builds three room red schoolhouse at current location called Centre Square Montessori Schoolhouse
1978 Green Room was added
1988 Purple Room, Foyer and office were added
1990 Patricia purchased neighboring property
1991 Cottage was built as a residence
1992 First floor of elementary building used for classes
1995 Major renovation to the Elementary building which is now our Kindergarten building
1999 Addition built for Kindergarten
2005 Patricia purchased 1755 Skippack for future expansion
2018 School remodeled to original red schoolhouse image
2020 Renovated 1755 Skippack to our brand new Elementary building
2021 Looking forward to 50 year anniversary celebration

Philosophy

Maria Montessori’s approach is based on her concept of the absorbent mind.

Children mature at different rates and are ready to learn different things at different times.
Each of us has known the exhilaration of finally understanding something that has eluded us. In Montessori, we allow the child to ride the crest of that wave of achievement without the fear of failure.

Younger children learn from older children.

Our program is designed to help children progress from stage to stage in a developmental sequence that insures comfort and security.

This creates:

A family like setting
Stimulating social development
Allows children to progress through a very broad curriculum according to their individual needs.

The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.– Dr. Maria Montessori