Metropolitan Montessori Schools opened its doors on May 23, 1986, in the heart of downtown Houston. From that very first day, the organization was built on a clear and enduring purpose: to provide young children with the kind of early learning experiences that do not simply prepare them for the next grade level, but lay a foundation for a lifetime of growth, curiosity, and confidence.
Our story began at Cathedral House Episcopal School, our founding location and the place where the Metropolitan Montessori Schools’ mission first came to life. It was here that the organization’s family-centered philosophy took root – welcoming children, partnering with parents, and building the kind of warm, purposeful learning environment that would come to define the MMS name across the Houston community.
For more than two decades, Cathedral House Episcopal School stood as a singular testament to what quality early childhood education could look like when it is guided by the right values and delivered with genuine care. Then, in the fall of 2008, Metropolitan Montessori Schools expanded its reach with the opening of the Center for Early Childhood Education at Rice University, bringing the MMS approach to a new community of families and deepening the organization’s presence in one of Houston’s most vibrant and intellectually rich neighborhoods.
That growth was not simply an expansion of geography. It was a reflection of the trust that Houston families had placed in Metropolitan Montessori Schools over more than two decades, a trust earned one child at a time, one family at a time, one school year at a time. By 2008, MMS had already become something rare: an early childhood organization with a genuine legacy, a proven model, and a community of families who believed deeply in its mission.
Today, more than forty years after that first morning in downtown Houston, Metropolitan Montessori Schools has become a true staple of Houston’s early childhood community. Thousands of children have passed through our programs. Countless families have found in MMS a partner they could count on during the most formative years of their children’s lives. And through it all, our commitment to providing early learning experiences that promote optimal child and family development has never wavered, keeping MMS at the forefront of excellence in the early childhood field, just as it was on the very first day we opened our doors.
For additional information on our early childhood programs, please click on the links below.
Cathedral House Episcopal School (CHES)
Rice Children’s Campus (operated by Center for Early Childhood Education)