Community Cares
Our school relies on donations and fundraising activities to help us achieve important goals like offering tuition assistance to families, upgrading our school facilities and purchasing classroom materials.
Equitable Access Tuition Assistance Fund
Our after school enrichment program runs five days a week, from 3 PM to 5 PM. During this time, children have more time outside, more snack, and fun activities in our flexible studio classroom space. After care is run by classroom assistants and program support staff.
Family Resource Fund
The Portland Montessori School believes that a strong community can create meaningful change. When we come together, we can uplift and support one another through difficult times.
Through our Community Cares Family Resource Fund, we support families experiencing unexpected financial or personal hardships that may impact a child’s well-being and access to education. By helping meet basic needs and providing stability during times of challenge, we strengthen our entire community and help every child continue to learn, grow, and thrive.
Educational Enhancements
Children need opportunities to play and learn in settings outside of the classroom. Extending the classroom outdoors is a core component of the Montessori experience. Experiential and facility enhancements are necessary for every child’s experience as they grow, learn, and play. All ages benefit.
Community Cares asks you to consider helping The Portland Montessori School achieve these goals by supporting the development and enhancement for new experiences and structures. Gifts will increase opportunities for TPMS to continue to provide outstanding education in unique and important ways such as field trips, our Seed to Snack Garden, and enhancements to our multiple play yards.
Supporting Annual Operations
Every non-profit organization needs general operating funds. The Portland Montessori School is no different. Community Cares is about celebrating staff, holding family engagement events, and making sure the school has what it needs to thrive each day. Every gift goes directly back into the school to strengthen everyone’s experience in our unique educational environment.
School History
The Portland Montessori School, formerly Providence Montessori School, was founded in September 1962 under the direction of Sister Francella LaFramboise, who studied extensively at Montessori institutes in both the United States and Europe. In 2012, the school celebrated its 50th birthday, and we have the proud distinction of being the first Montessori school in the Northwest.
THE TRANSITION TO THE PORTLAND MONTESSORI SCHOOL
On January 1, 2013, Providence Montessori School officially became The Portland Montessori School, an independent, non-profit school. This successful transition resulted from the dedicated efforts of the school community, and the hard work of many parents, teachers and staff. Providence Health Systems, the organization that previously operated the school, also provided significant support throughout the transition. Now operating independently, the school is guided by a board of directors with active involvement and input from an engaged parent advisory committee (PAC). Our school retains its former character and community, including its rich history of providing a Montessori education to Portland-area children.
AN APPROACH TO EDUCATION DEVELOPED BY DR. MARIA MONTESSORI
At The Portland Montessori School, we educate children according to the Montessori method of education developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, and a pioneer in the study of child development. This method is based on her work with developmentally challenged and underprivileged children in Italy, which she began after graduating from medical school in 1896. The approach quickly earned worldwide acclaim and became a standard approach to educating children.
THE MONTESSORI APPROACH
In a Montessori education, children learn concepts while working in a carefully prepared environment designed to stimulate each child’s interest and understanding. Children work independently and in small groups with mixed-ages ranging approximately three years. Because a Montessori education instills the value of caring for our earth, the classroom often extends to the outdoors. The Montessori approach helps each child develop according to his or her inner clock. The guide, or teacher, acts as a catalyst in each child’s unique journey of development and aids them in their natural process of growth and learning.
The time-tested principles, methods and materials used in a Montessori education are scientifically supported and researched. After more than a century, this method continues to work because of its foundation in both observable and inherent human developmental principles that Dr. Montessori explored during her many decades of scientific observation and practice.

