Our family enrolled our 2-year-11-month-old daughter at Rowntree Montessori Downtown in September 2025 with high hopes. Sadly, within a month, we withdrew her due to repeated concerns about how she was being treated and how the school handled communication. Our daughter went from being confident and joyful to withdrawn and anxious, even having nightmares about being reprimanded and about another child who repeatedly hit her -- incidents we were never informed of until we asked. The school's approach to discipline relied heavily on timeouts, with little emotional coaching or empathy. We were also shocked by some of the principal's remarks, including, "Some parents even hit their children to teach discipline." The environment felt rigid and developmentally inappropriate for such young children. While the school did mention that they do not offer naps, they never explained that they also would not assist in the transition away from them. Although our daughter had already transitioned out of naps before joining, she began struggling again due to the long, structured, and tiring school days. Instead of recognizing this as an adjustment issue, the teachers were uncooperative and placed the blame on us as parents. Ironically, after we withdrew and raised our concerns with the Head of Education, we were told, "You should have told us -- we could have set up a resting corner for her, like we do for other children at our Academy campus." Hearing that after the fact was incredibly disappointing and showed how much miscommunication and lack of empathy there had been. We hope Rowntree Montessori takes this feedback seriously and re-evaluates how it supports its youngest learners. Parents -- please ask detailed questions about teacher qualifications, discipline methods, and communication practices before enrolling your child. read more

I am writing about Rowntree Montessori Schools, Sunforest Dr., Brampton One of the worst school I have seen. The atmosphere is so mechanic which mean that they have no idea how to relate with younger kids. They want to build machines and which are followed as it is. Discipline is good but not to the extent it looses any kind of compassion. They don't have enough staff and fees is so high. Everything is charged so high. Parents get feeling that they are sending kids to high tech school initially but its not even a school. It's a machine factory . Its more of a show off school than actual school where you can make mistakes and learn from it and grow. You have to be like a machine to sustain in that environment. Just follow them. If they can not handle you bcz you are not machine, you will be kicked out by making horrible reasons. Bcz they don't have enough staff, they can not pay attention, bcz they can not pay attention, they don't want you. Parents will be made to feel like as if their child has a problem but in reality they have a problem. They don't want to nurture kids and make difference. Their principal Mr. Harris looks gentleman from face and when you talk but in reality he is so cunning. He will talk to you and show your kid has all the problem so you take that kid out of the school bcz kid is not for that environment. I had worst experience with that person where he intimidated us and told that he knows other ways to throw out kid if kid is not taken out by itself bcz kid is not fit for the school and he can do that. He also said no one will question him. Whereas he himself has stage frightness where i have seen his hands shaking while addressing audience in annual day. So that means is he not good for that role? we don't judge people like that but he surely judge kids like that which is shameful and teachers also who does that and report horrible things about kids bcz they themselves doesn't want to take any extra effort. I wont blame them too bcz they are so much under-payed. Schools should be good enough to provide supportive environments to all the kids where they can grow. Kids should enjoy every moment in the school. It should be the safest environment other than their home. Sadly this school is not that and I am happy that we found much better school than this. This school just wants to look lucrative but I ask parents is that what you want ...sending kids to lucrative schools and turn them into machines. They should enjoy their childhood and grow happily. read more

I agree with Kaylee's negative review, if your younger child needs special attention, this is not the right learning environment. They do not allow resource workers or speech therapists to go on site unlike their competitor peekaboo. I think the hardest fact to swallow is their staff is paid about $12 per hour, which equates to high staff turnovers and disruption to childrens routines and familiarity. I also found there were a lot of additional fees each month in order for your child to participate in the cool events they planned. Another problem is food is not included in their tuition price. There are much better preschools available. read more

One of the teacher's from this school called my workplace to book a field trip for her students. When she didn't like the programs we had to offer she hung up the phone while I was mid sentence. RUDE! read more

My child went to this school for half days a couple of years ago for a few months and was miserable. First, this is not a true montessori school. Individuality is not encouraged here. Kids are expected to function at a particular standard with the minimal or no attention and those who do not conform are deemed 'unfit' for this elite school. The other motive to get my child out as soon as possible was to fill the spot with a full-time student. My daughter actually regressed in her learning and literally shut down when she started to attend this school. This is a money making racket and the principal is absolutely unfriendly and unhelpful. I only found one teacher worth calling a teacher. Also, the rooms are dark and dingy and actually quite depressing. This school had great kids shows but everything was extremely expensive. Expect to pay and pay and pay if you put your child here. The reason I am writing this is to let other parents know that a good daycare is much better than a bad montessori school. read more

Very stuffy atmosphere with mostly inept teachers/principal who do not know how to relate to younger kids. This school does not want the burden of having to help one child individually. If you're child needs any extra help to catch up please don't consider Rowntree as they will make you and your child feel badly about yourselves in an effort to steer you elsewhere. I'm really not sure how this school won a reader's choice award. Not at all surprised to find the other poor review on this site. I couldn't agree more that the children they wish to keep must fit a certain standard. This is likely in order to maintain their high test scores and to look good in comparison to other private schools they compete with. We have since found better options for our child which have much friendlier and supportive environments with teachers who enjoy teaching and who know how to make a difference. Also note that the class sizes at Rowntree are the same as at a public school. In response to Rowntree's comments, the classes do not come close to 14 students, try mid 20s. The fact that some go as high as 26/27 kids should tell you they do not care about keeping classes small. Public schools have teachers assistances also. Big deal. Private schooling is a very lucrative industry as you can see Rowntree has multiple sites outnumbering other public schools in the areas by far which would generate many more parents voting to keep their school tops for readers choice awards. Who else would be voting or even care other than parents who are spending 12k/year. It is also a very competitive industry where schools try to maintain high test scores. read more