You didn’t move to San Francisco so your kid could sit in a row of desks, waiting for the bell.
At The Dahlia School of San Francisco Elementary, your child plans their own expeditions across the city, thinks and speaks in Spanish all day, and is known — by name, by gift, by curiosity — in a Montessori community built for exactly who they are.
K–5
A full elementary home, Kindergarten through 5th grade
100%
Spanish immersion, every lesson, every day
SF’s only
School pairing authentic Montessori with full Spanish immersion, K–5
Top scores
Our students consistently surpass national achievement benchmarks on the MAPS exam
WHY FAMILIES CHOOSE DAHLIA
This is what a different kind of childhood looks like.
Three things set a Dahlia education apart — and you'll feel all three the moment you walk through our doors.
Authentic Montessori.
Your child sets the pace. Credentialed guides offer small-group lessons across math, language, science, history, and the arts — no rigid schedule, just real self-directed learning.
Spanish immersion, lived not taught.
All instruction happens in Spanish, delivered by native-speaking, Montessori-trained guides. Language isn’t a subject — it’s the whole environment. Children emerge reading, writing, and thinking with confidence in two languages.
A community that knows your name.
Dahlia is boutique by design. Guides know every child and every family — not as a roster, but as people. Parents don’t drop off and leave; they become part of something that lasts.
OUR STORY
Redefining education in San Francisco — one child at a time.
The Dahlia School of San Francisco Elementary is a boutique Montessori microschool at 1245 4th Street in the heart of Mission Bay — San Francisco’s only school combining authentic Montessori education with full Spanish immersion from Kindergarten through 5th grade.
We’re building a multilingual, multicultural community where children don’t just learn about the world — they go out into it. Our students plan their own excursions across San Francisco, conduct independent research, and grow into the kind of people who can walk into any room and feel ready.
This isn’t a school where your child is one of many. It’s a place where every guide knows every child by name, where the work is self-chosen and deeply personal, and where your family becomes part of a community that shows up — for birthdays, for “Going Out” adventures, for each other. That’s the Dahlia difference, and it’s who we are every single day.
"Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment."
— MARIA MONTESSORI
Apply for 2026–2027
Rolling admissions are open now for grades K–5.
Affording Dahlia
Customized tuition and scholarships make Dahlia possible for more families.
Support Our Students
Every gift helps a child learn, in two languages, in a school that sees them.