The MTS Experience

The Mount Tamalpais School experience is one of joyful, engaged learning.

Our kindergarten through eighth grade students spend much of their day smiling. They skip to class, light up when raising a hand, and ebulliently share ideas with a partner. MTS students are not just happy, but also engaged. Whether a first-grader exploring mass and balance in math class, a fourth-grader writing a poem inspired by Cleo Wade, or an eighth-grader extracting DNA with a lab partner, MTS students are focused and active in their learning.

The MTS family experience is similarly joyful and engaged. Parents and guardians are invited to campus to share stories and passions and to volunteer in numerous capacities. Throughout the year we gather in person as grade-levels and as a whole school – both on campus and off – for a wide range of events, forming family friendships that last for decades.

Joyful Learning

Joyful Learning - Departmentalized Instruction

Departmentalized Instruction

Mount Tamalpais School provides students with a solid academic, artistic, and athletic foundation to foster a lifelong passion for learning. Our departmentalized curriculum is structured so that teachers specialize in their particular areas of expertise and teach their subject at various grade levels, often in both the lower and middle school. Students interact with a variety of teachers on a daily basis, translating into a deeper and richer student experience as they progress through their years at MTS. This close bond with teachers helps our students develop independence and maturity, while also fostering a deeper connection to our community.

With our departmentalized structure, students frequently change classes throughout the day, allowing all students K-8 freedom of movement, time for socialization, and a chance to switch gears as they change their areas of focus and instructional space.

Joyful Learning - Buddy Bears

Buddy Bears

At MTS, the relationships forged between students remain one of our biggest priorities. We pride ourselves on creating initiatives that help children step outside their grades to build friendships. The MTS Buddy Bear Program is foundational to that effort and provides the building blocks for friendship and mentorship across all grades.

Joyful Learning - Lower & Middle School

Lower & Middle School

At MTS, we keep kids younger, longer. We call it “mature innocence.” We strive to preserve the innocence of youth, while instilling in our students the values, morals, and knowledge that make up a mature, well-rounded member of society.

How do we do it? By having older students mentor younger ones. By prohibiting the use of cell phones on campus. By holding recess for the entire school at the same time, so all ages can mingle, learn, and grow together. By implementing a uniform dress code, so no one cares about or judges what someone else is wearing.

The result? Graduates who are poised, polite, well spoken, and ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead.

Joyful Learning - Close to Nature

Close to Nature

Situated on the shoulders of Mount Tamalpais, our five-acre campus is one of our greatest assets. As students move from class to class in our departmentalized program, they breathe fresh air and enjoy the sun, fog, rain, or whatever the day brings. Whether in physical education classes or at recess, our students run across our large grass field with Mount Tamalpais in the background. Our lower school engineering and science classes take their learning into our outdoor learning spaces, garden, and grove. One of the many beloved recess activities for our younger students is to play together along the perimeter of the field, creating “mini cities” with sticks, leaves, and “gold” made from acorns.

Student playing guitar during enrichment class

Joyful Learning - Integrated Arts & Athletics

Integrated Arts

At MTS, the arts are co-curricular rather than extra curricular. Studio art, art history, drama, music, movement, and dance are not add-ons in the week, but integral to the overall program. Students have opportunities for public speaking and performance throughout the year. Beginning in 4th grade, our students participate in full ensemble musical productions. Enrichment classes in middle school allow students to take deeper dives into a focused art program of their choice.

Joyful Learning - Physical Education, Health & Fitness

Physical Education, Health & Fitness

At MTS, we believe a strong body supports a strong mind. The school's extensive physical education program addresses the age-appropriate physical development of each student in classes that meet five times per week in grades K-5, and a minimum of three times a week in grades 6–8.

A focus on health and fitness is woven throughout the curriculum. The large outdoor campus, full scale gym, climbing wall, and outdoor basketball courts allow students ample opportunities to move their bodies every day. Athletics are offered each trimester organized by our outstanding coaching staff.

Vision, Mission, and Values

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