I am the owner of Premier Chess, which has run a program at Waterfront Montessori for 5 years now. I love working with the administration and seeing the students progress with their chess learning. 5 Stars school. read more

Both my sons have been at the Waterfront Montessori since they were 3. My oldest is graduating from 8th grade this year! The Waterfront Montessori offers a great learning and nurturing environment for children. The teachers are true educators focusing on academics, soft skills, life skills, independence and instilling intellectual curiosity. The staff is very supportive and the school has a great community atmosphere. As young pre-schoolers, my children developed strong linguistic and functional skills at a young age. When my oldest was applying to high schools, the school counselor was very supportive and guided us throughout the process. The music and theatre curriculum is excellent and has been a tremendous compliment to my children's education. It has been a great decision for me to enroll and keep my children at the school. Strongly recommend! read more

I have only been a teacher at Waterfront Montessori School for a year, but in that time, I feel like I have become part of the family. Students, parents, and my fellow teachers have been incredibly welcoming and supportive. I enjoy coming to school each day to teach our students and to see how much they have grown and learned. And even though it seems like the end of the school year has come too fast, I am looking forward to having our 8th graders embark on the adventure of high school, well prepared to take on new challenges. And I am happy to know that I took part in their educational journey. read more

Waterfront Montessori fosters an intense learning environment where students learn analytical and critical thinking skills. This environment is well-balanced with creativity, language acquisition, and health and wellness. Students are rigorously challenged in academia and in the arts. read more

Where to begin? Beware of the great articles and all the PR they had done. It was years ago and just part of their ploy to get you in. When I toured the kids were learning and making watermelon juice which now looking back was strategically planned for when I went in there. There is no waitlist- there used to be because there were no other schools in the area but now there are so many choices. Don't let them trap you by letting you know there is 1 or 2 openings. I will give you the PROS first- they have great after-school activities like karate and ballet for the kids which our daughter loved! Cons: -This school has no counselors. The teachers would deal with any issues we had internally. -There is no school nurse. Incident after incident report is made and the nurse they had must have smartened up and got out of there as soon as she could. -Montessori schools are typically suppose to have no more than 12 children per class. Waterfront Montessori has around if not more than 30 children in the classrooms with 2 teachers. Our daughter told us she was free to do as she pleased and pretty much hung out all day at her leisure. -The children are allowed a free for all for 2-3 hours of "snacks": This includes goldfish, raisins, and cheerios. Basically sugar ridden\gmo junk that they fill up on. You are not allowed to bring their own snacks unless you provide a doctor's note. -Every rule in place seems make it easier on the staff and their administration and more difficult on the parents. They claim it is for the best interest of the children. This includes snack time, shoes and clothing must be able to be taken off and on by the children. If they require assistance from staff it is banned. -Our daughter is trained but at only 4 years old she cannot fully wipe herself. The staff would let her wipe herself and it was not sufficient. She would come home with dirty underwear constantly. -She began wetting herself multiple times a week. We were told it was because she would get it on her pants when going to the bathroom but her pants would be SOAKED. If this was an issue why wasn't she given assistance in the bathroom? Towards the end we realized this was because something emotional was going on with her as she was trained fully for over a year and this began. -On parents night a few parents brought up some concerns. The owner became irate and extremely unprofessional. When she could not provide a correct and professional answer to the parents she got extremely agitated and stormed off out of the building! Her "puppet" (assistant), attempted to deflect any issues although we all spoke of this situation and how we could not believe the owner of a school would behave in such a manner for a month after! One day she is glaring ear to ear with her fake smile the next if your kid made a wrong move the day before she is flashing you a dirty look. She is always micromanaging and if you notice throughout the days she is bouncing from room to room staring over the teacher's shoulders instead of doing anything productive. -One thing you should know is the school is under 24/7 fully microphones and video taped. We loved this as we thought it was for the best of the children. However, as time went on it seems it is so the owner can keep all of her employees under supervision so there is there no rebellion or chatter about the major issues that are going on at the school. -The way some of the teachers speak to the children is completely out of line. The first day our daughter had a tantrum. Through the door we sat and we heard her tell our daughter "Keep it up. I will make sure you are the last one out of here." Now is that a way to speak to a child on their first day at a new school and set the tone....definitely not! -One other instance I brought up our concern to the staff about how one of the teachers spoke to our daughter and her tone. They let us know that "Our child was one of the worst children at the school and all the teachers agree!" WOW! Is our daughter a saint- definitely not. That is why we went to her Waterfront Montessori! However, when someone is paying $30,000 to get their child a proper education and be in a caring environment you do not ever say that! But after this it was clear why our daughter was coming home upset daily, wetting her pants, and telling us the only time anyone ever smiled at the school was when she would get applesauce on her shirt and the one child would make fun of her! We had a conference 2 weeks before this and it was not brought up once! -If I could compare this school to anything I would have to say after watching the Leah Remini Scientology Special. I really loved and believe in the Montessori method but this school and it's ex-pta wanna be control freak ceo and administration are nothing but a cult like environment. If you speak up the parents bully you on social media and will do anything to preserve their "image". read more

Waterfront Montessori is an authentic Montessori school in the beautiful Paulus Hook area in Jersey City. I have been working here as a teacher for 2 years. I have loved every day of being here with the children in an environment that is safe and nurturing. I have worked in other school settings before and I found Waterfront to be a place that cares and brings families, children, teachers and its staff together in the most phenomenal ways. The school is rich in Montessori philosophy, providing us teachers the best resources and teams to help us create an environment that works with the child to make them independent, self-motivated to learn and work together in a mixed age classroom. The private playground at the riverfront provides a lovely outdoor space. Children stay here from toddler to middle school because of the school being truly Montessori. There is heavy focus on socioemotional intelligence alongside academics. Children graduate as confident, competent critical thinkers. read more

Interviewed them while searching for a school for my child and did not proceed for 2 reasons: 1. The class sizes seemed too large 2. The Head of school was extremely aggressive during Q&A They do a great job of managing their image by indicating a scarcity of spots, whereas in reality there are usually spaces available in most classrooms. read more

Our daughter has been in 5 different Montessori programs over her short life thanks to my chosen profession as an executive nomad. All the schools we've been a part of are different and have different specifics but with common core values. My daughter has been at Waterfront for just under a year and there is no doubt in my mind that Waterfront captures the Montessori spirit in spades. When we moved to Jersey City my daughter's skills were not completely aligned with the other kids her age in Waterfront. She had more experience in certain areas and less experience in others. I was concerned that she would feel overwhelmed and get discouraged because she had not been exposed to some of the work her peers at Waterfront had already done. I discussed this concern with the teachers and they were not only supportive, but by the time we talked they had already observed what I was concerned about and implemented a plan to help keep my daughter from getting overwhelmed. I was impressed. Their observant attitude and willingness to meet my daughter where she was and encourage her have been a wonderful help to our adjustment to Jersey City. All the montessori schools we have been a part of have expectations of independence that typically exceed social norms. My daughter learned to tie her shoes at age 2 at Brickton Montessori in Chicago. In that same school she was potty trained (in coordination with us, naturally) and learned basic grooming. Learning to be a responsible young person is messy because it requires struggling and failure. I have always had the attitude that the best thing I can give my daughter is safe places to fail, struggle, and make messes. I see this same, "safe place to struggle" attitude in Waterfront. While my daughter is many years past diapers, her struggles are more around time management, spelling and social dynamics. I'm very glad she's part of the Waterfront community during these struggles. My observation, however, is not all parents are emotionally and logistically ready for Montessori programs. There seems to be an attitude among some parents that paying for a private school means the school should not allow their kid to struggle and sometimes safely fail. I think those parents get very frustrated, not only at Waterfront, but also at other schools I've been a part of. As a parent, if we want our kids to successfully learn self sufficiency, we really have to let them struggle, get frustrated, and learn to get back in there. Sometimes it's messy. I've found Waterfront to be a wonderful partner in embracing the struggle. It's what they do, and they do it well. read more

We couldn't be happier with WFM. Our boys have been at the school since they were three. Now one in middle school and one in lower elementary. We feel so fortunate to be a part of this great community and top-notch school. Only regret is that it ends at eighth grade. #wfmhighschool. read more

Over the past couple of years at Waterfront Montessori, our daughter has grown and excelled in all areas of her life. Her experience with the fabulous teachers and advisors throughout our school have opened her eyes to new cultures, languages, religions, geography, music, art, math, early reading, martial arts, etc. WFM has exceeded our expectations in every way possible. We feel privileged to be a part of the Waterfront Community and highly recommend it to all families who are looking to raise curious, engaged, resourceful and self motivated children. I encourage parents to take the time to get to know the faculty at Waterfront. They are wonderful. At 5 years old my daughter is extremely clear in her feelings and she loves it. She is a capable and confident little girl. When she first attended Waterfront she had terrible stage fright and her teachers worked with her. She is now able to perform a solo in front of parents, teachers and her peers. There are 27 students in her classroom, 3 teachers and many specials teachers through the week. The ratio works very well. You will find the children motivating and assisting each other which develop amazing life skills that include collaboration, leadership and camaraderie. Good luck to all prospective parents and students. read more

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Such a great school with vibrant facilities and incredible hands-on learning. Their children are amazing and teachers so committed, very impressive program. read more

At first we were very excited about Waterfront Montessori. The facilities look nice and we believe in the Montessori educational philosophy. The school is more expensive than most schools in the area but it seemed worth it for our child to have a good formative experience. Once the school year started, though, we discovered that the school is more show than substance. There isn't enough for the kids to do who are in the full day program at the Toddler/Primary level. The morning program seems ok but in the afternoon, every day for hours on end the kids are basically offered only to draw with pencils on used copy paper or to play with a single color of play dough, not even multiple colors. No group activities, no toys, no games, no variety of options for them to do. I understand they are young and can't do can't do complicated art activities but they can certainly do more than just doodle, especially given how much parents are charged for "materials" (which is a separate fee from the tuition). There are no sports or much active play for this age group and the school doesn't have an indoor playground so in the winter when the weather doesn't permit them to go to the outside playground the kids get very little active play. The school doesn't have traditional toys or play-acting sets either like kitchens, etc, as other schools do for this age group. This would be ok if they offered alternative activities but instead the little kids have nothing to do, just moving aimlessly around the room they are kept in the afternoon (which is different than the morning). If you are considering a full day at WM for your child, make sure you visit the school not only in the morning but also during after-school so you get the full picture of what your child's day will look like. Unfortunately on top of the lack of activities, the school has bad management. The school director who founded the school is very unprofessional towards parents when a subject comes up that she disagrees with. The school also doesn't care about families about what hardships families might be going through. They have charged the full-year tuition for the following school year (due to contract they make parents sign) to families that have had unforeseen changes like moving out of the state etc even though they gave the school half a year's notice and their kids' spots were re-filled before the school year started. On the positive side, the school goes up to middle school. read more

We loved Waterfront Montessori. Our son started in the 2's classroom which was such a warm environment. We moved away from the area after my daughter was in the 4's program. Both of my children grew so much, made wonderful friends and gained independence. I would absolutely recommend Waterfront Montessori! My son is now at a Montessori in the suburbs and we love our new Montessori but do miss some things about Waterfront like changing into indoor shoes every morning (independence skills), and the the additional enrichment (separate teachers for music, Spanish, gym). read more