Montessori Kindergarten near Daly City
The third year of the three-year cycle, and the one most families are tempted to skip for a free public place. It is the year the two before it were building towards. Mills is about 3 miles from Daly City, at 1400 Hillside Blvd. in South San Francisco.
Why families here choose it
Families from Daly City usually arrive with the same two questions: how long is the day, and what happens after kindergarten. The answers are 7:30 am to 6:00 pm, and fifth grade.
Daly City is the largest city in San Mateo County and sends us a steady stream of families, particularly from the Westlake and Serramonte sides which are closest to the school. The extended day to 6:00 pm matters here: plenty of Daly City parents commute into San Francisco rather than down the Peninsula.
What Montessori kindergarten at Mills actually is
In Montessori, kindergarten is not a new stage — it is the completion of one. The child becomes the oldest in a room they have grown up in, the one younger children ask, the one who demonstrates. Academically it is where the concrete materials finally hand over to abstraction: reading fluently, writing at length, four-digit operations, fractions and geometry. Families who leave after year two have paid for the investment and moved out before the return, usually without anyone explaining that is what they were doing.
- The third year is the payoffThe first two years are largely investment. In the third the child consolidates, abstracts, and uses the whole environment fluently.
- Leadership that is earned, not assignedBeing the person who knows how does more for a five-year-old's confidence than any certificate.
- And it does not have to endBecause Mills continues through fifth grade, the kindergarten year is a step rather than the exit. That is unusual on this part of the Peninsula.
The details that decide it
| Our campus | 1400 Hillside Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080 |
| Distance from Daly City | About 3 miles |
| Getting here | Along Hillside Boulevard, or down Mission Street and John Daly Boulevard. |
| Area | San Mateo County |
| Local public district | Jefferson Elementary School District |
| Ages served | Two through fifth grade |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 7:30 am – 6:00 pm |
| Enrollment | Open year-round, subject to availability |
Distance is approximate and measured in a straight line. The honest test is to drive it once at drop-off time — book a tour and you will.
What Montessori kindergarten costs
From Daly City the drive is short enough that a morning-only place is genuinely practical — plenty of families this close start there and lengthen the day once their child has settled.
- AgesThe kindergarten year
- Rates$1,200 morning · $1,400 full day · $1,750 extended full day, monthly. Every fee is on the tuition page.
- SchedulesMorning, full day, or extended full day 7:30 am to 6:00 pm — three, four or five days a week.
- EnrollmentOpen year-round, subject to availability, with a one-time $200 new-student fee.
What Daly City families ask about Montessori kindergarten
- Why not just take the free public kindergarten?It is a fair question and cost is a real factor — we wrote an honest comparison at free TK vs. Montessori. The short version: the public option is free and perfectly good, and the Montessori third year is a specific thing you give up to take it.
- What happens after kindergarten?Children can continue at Mills through fifth grade — no new school, no new method, no starting over.
- Is the Montessori kindergarten different for families traveling from Daly City?No — there is one program and one campus. What changes with distance is the schedule that suits you: families driving further usually choose the extended full day so they are not fighting the peak twice a day.
- Do you give priority to families from Daly City?No. Enrollment is open year-round and offered in the order places come free, regardless of which town you are driving from.
- Is there before and after care for a longer commute?The extended full day runs 7:30 am to 6:00 pm, which is the whole point for families driving any distance. It is a schedule, not an add-on billed by the hour.
- What does it cost?Between $1,100 and $1,750 a month depending on the program, days per week and length of day, plus a one-time $200 enrollment fee. Every figure is on the tuition page — we do not make you ask.
- Can we start mid-year?Yes. Enrollment is open all year, subject to availability, so families move to us when a childcare arrangement changes rather than waiting for September.
Come and watch a morning
Tours run mid-morning during the work cycle, year-round, by appointment.