City Garden Montessori School

City Garden Montessori School (City Garden) was founded in 1995 as a Montessori Primary, or preschool, program. As a response to the education inequity that exists in the City of St. Louis, City Garden opened a charter elementary school in 2008, under the sponsorship of Saint Louis University.

We achieve our mission by combining the Montessori Theory of Development, rigorous state standards and an Anti-Bias, Antiracism (ABAR) framework to provide culturally relevant, hands-on, individualized educational experiences for children in preschool through eighth grade. We also work in partnership with parents and neighborhood residents to create a hub of activity, community building, education, and advocacy.

City Garden expanded our preschool and charter school programs this year. Our Tower Grove Avenue location is now our Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC), serving 210 preschool and kindergarten students. A newly renovated building on Folsom Avenue is our Elementary and Adolescent Education Center (EAEC), that will ultimately house 540 first through eighth grade students. To support the growth of our school, we launched our Teacher Training Institute in July, 2020, and we are developing plans for a Center for Equity, to empower students, parents, teachers and neighborhood residents to advocate for positive change in our schools and neighborhoods.

By increasing access to excellent Montessori education and bringing a state-of-the-art facility to this part of the city, we know that City Garden's expansion will have a tremendous impact on our neighborhood-the central corridor of St. Louis-and the entire region.