More Than a School
A bilingual community built on curiosity, independence, and the belief that children deserve an education designed around how they naturally learn and a system accountable to helping them thrive.
A Message from our Founder
I have always been curious. That has never changed; only increased as I’ve grown older. I am lucky that my family and my education have afforded that. They have provided other things that prepare me for life, but none proved as important as this curiosity.
The more I learn, the more curious I get. What I learned in the Montessori classroom transformed me. A full class abuzz in productive work, a quiet child perfecting a pouring exercise, a child waiting patiently for a classmate to finish their work, to then collaborate with them and make a free-standing pink tower.
Independent Focus, Self-love, Transformative Community, True Friendship.
The Montessori classroom proves powerful because it plays upon the inherent strengths of the child. Children love to learn. They learn better in motion, through their hands, with room to explore, fail and learn from those failures. To develop their innate curiosity, and build an identity around success as they explore the world and their place in it.
What can we do to grow this idea, and let more and older children into this world?
My infinite curiosity drove me to answer that question through C’E Montessori. We did not change the traditional Montessori classroom; but did unleash its power and changed it to something transformative. We know that the worst thing to do, when you’re curious, is just tell what it is; Maria Montessori taught us that.
I will tell you, though, that we are excited, and that our changes have transformed the Montessori classroom experience. I invite you to learn more here, to visit us in Williamsburg, and to participate in our community of lifelong, curious learners.
Sincerely,
Fernando Camberos
Learn more about us
-
C’E Montessori is a founding member of the American Montessori Association (AMA). Recognized as a member school by the Parents League of New York, a Legacy School by The Montessori Model United Nations, and runner-up ‘Best Montessori School’ in the nation by Education Insider Magazine in 2025.
-
Founded: 2016
Students: 166
Countries Represented: 42 over 5 continents
Montessori-Trained Lead Teachers: 24 (100%)
Spanish Native-Speaking Staff: 50%
Overall Student–Teacher Ratio: 5:1
3 outdoor gardens
Over $2.4 million awarded in tuition assistance since 2020
-
Each classroom at C’E Montessori has both an English and Spanish speaking Lead Teacher. Lessons, circles, curriculum and community events are delivered interchangeably in Spanish and English. Our Director of Spanish Johanna Ocampo works with families, teachers and students to ensure curriculum delivery and learning is cohesive across our programming.
-
In the best Montessori classrooms, the greatest freedom comes in a perfectly organized and accountable system. By closely tracking student data we create the greatest possible freedom. Then, we make the data transparent, interesting, and available to number-conscious parents, so that they are willing to embark in the adventure alongside their children. We use the Montessori Records Express app to keep our families updated each day their child is at school.
-
Developing a great early relationship with real food and its impact on our health is an important part of our curriculum. We have monthly tastings, meet about menus, have weeklong snack helpers that prepare food for our whole school, grow our own food in the garden and explore culture through food.Our inclusive lunch program is provided by Rainbow Kitchen. They work carefully with our leadership staff and families to provide the quality ingredients for a whole foods lunch served family style without using plastics, wasting containers or diverting from our mission.
-
Beginning in Kindergarten our students take the NWEA MAP Growth Test yearly and the NYSTP (New York State Testing Program) in third grade. Over the past five years, our students have achieved an average performance above the 85th national percentile—equivalent to performing approximately one and a half grade levels above their current grade.
Our goal is not simply to prepare students for the next test, but for the next stage of their educational journey. Whether graduating from Kindergarten, Elementary, or Middle School, C'E students leave with the confidence, independence, and academic foundation to thrive in a wide range of educational settings. Our individualized outplacement process helps each family find the school that best matches their child's strengths, interests, and aspirations, and our graduates have gone on to attend an exceptional range of independent, public, and parochial schools.
The people who shape a school's culture matter just as much as its curriculum. Our leadership team works closely with students, families, and teachers every day to ensure C'E remains a joyful, ambitious, and deeply caring place to learn.
-
Hanane Zayer
HEAD OF SCHOOL
"Why should the tools that help one child succeed be reserved only for children who need them most?"
Hanane leads C'E Montessori's programs while fostering a cohesive educational experience from classroom to classroom. She partners closely with teachers to strengthen curriculum, deepen Montessori practice, and design individualized learning pathways that allow every child to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
A passionate advocate for inclusive education, Hanane believes that the supports often reserved for children with the greatest needs can make learning richer for everyone. She works to cultivate a school community where every child, teacher, and family feels seen, valued, and empowered to contribute. Beyond the classroom, she leads many of C'E's community-building initiatives, including the annual Williamsburg STEM Fair, which brings together schools from across Brooklyn and beyond, as well as C'E's participation in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Born and raised in Queens to a Moroccan family, Hanane is an experienced Montessori Elementary educator who has also taught in traditional schools in New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina. Outside of school, she enjoys cartoons, board games, rugby, and gardening.
-
Fernando Camberos
DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS
"How can we extend the transformative power of Montessori to more children, for more years of their lives?"
As Founder and Director of Schools, Fernando leads C'E Montessori's educational program partnering closely with teachers, students, and families to cultivate a school where curiosity, independence, and joyful learning are at the center of every child's experience.
Fernando was first introduced to Montessori education and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at Charlotte Preparatory School, where he also received his early Montessori training. He has spent more than 15 years in school leadership and has presented at Montessori and IB conferences around the world on developing coherent, sequential curricula that strengthen student voice and help progressive schools continuously improve through thoughtful accountability.
Originally from Argentina, Fernando has lived in seven cities across three continents before studying education at Duke University and New York University and making Brooklyn his home. He believes that great schools are never finished, they are continually refined through curiosity, reflection, and a commitment to helping every child discover what they are capable of.
Meet our Leadership Team
-
Katherine Correa Acosta
EDUCATION DIRECTOR
Katherine graduated from CUNY - Staten Island with a BA in Early Childhood Education and has been a teacher for the past five years. She interned and worked at a Montessori-based school in Staten Island where she discovered the philosophy and loved the feeling of giving children the freedom and respect necessary to grow independently. She was born and raised in Brooklyn and has lived here all her life with three sisters that she still considers her best friends. Her family is originally from the Dominican Republic and she visits her extended family there quite often. She is herself athletic and believes in creating environments for children in the Primary classroom to experience many different opportunities to use and improve on their gross motor skills. Many iterations of her Primary classroom look like mazes or obstacle courses designed to give children opportunities to walk around and explore.
-
Franny Murphy
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Jordan received their B.A. in Education Studies from New York University. Though their major focused on education from an interdisciplinary perspective, they feel most energized while in the classroom with children, which is what has been their focus during the last few years. Before coming to C'E Montessori Jordan worked in classrooms and tutoring centers with young people of different backgrounds and grade levels. They have spent time working with English Language Learners, and adult learners in Rikers Island through a visual arts and human rights education non-profit. They are an AMA certified Montessori Primary teacher, eager to learn more and more about teaching young children about advocating for themselves and others. They spend a lot of their free time painting and drawing and studies Quechua, hoping to move to Peru one day and work in Quechua communities. They joined C'E Montessori in 2020 looking forward to being a part of a community that values anti-racist education, gender inclusivity, and sustainability.
-
Mary Beth Kennedy
ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR
Mary Beth Kennedy is the Director of Admissions and Parents at C'E Montessori. She is one of the founding families at C'E Montessori. She has three children at C'E, a set of twins in our IB Middle Years Program, and another daughter in our Lower Elementary program. She is our prospective parents' first point of contact as they learn out about our school and continues that work curating monthly family events and answering questions for parents throughout the year. Email her if you have any questions about admissions or if you would like a parent's perspective of life at our school.
-
Siri
DIRECTOR OF EXPANSION
Siri is the Director of Expansion that has overseen C’E grow from a single classroom school to a community of 150 students from the Infant classroom to our IB Middle School She has lived her life in and around New York City, graduating from the New School with a specialization in teaching Environmental Sciences and Sustainability. In this, Siri carves out one of her most important contributions to the classroom and to our school community in general. When reimagining Peace Education and the responsibility to develop lasting peace in the 21st century C’E recognizes the central importance of guiding children towards protecting our environment. Siri helps in creating and implementing curriculum from the Toddler to Lower Elementary classrooms that foster a relationship between the child and the environment that grows from appreciation to care to activism. She also leans in on her experience and love for design and decor in creating classroom spaces that are beautiful, attractive to children and enriched.
-
Kim
TODDLER TEACHER & COORDINATOR
Kim graduated from Queens College with a BA In Sociology focused on the Modern Urban Community. She has been at C'E for the past three years, and has been a trained Montessori teacher and a Lead in the Toddler classroom for the last two. She grew up a star volleyball player for her high school and college and brings lessons, warm-ups and games learned during that experience into our Toddler classroom and Extended Care program. She had previously worked helping children in Corona, Queens as part of a foundation called STACKS run by the New York City Public Libraries to bring more children into the library community through fun after school activities and tutoring programs. She is (proudly) from Queens originally and has lived in and around New York City all of her life, her roots and extended family are from Ecuador. She is C'E's go-to teacher for training new staff in having fun on the playground.
-
Victoria
PRIMARY LEAD & MUSIC DIRECTOR
Victoria is from Argentina and first came to C'E Montessori as a visiting teacher for a Spanish immersion experience through music. She is an artist first, a proud graduate from AMDA Integrated Conservatory in NYC after training at the Fundación Julio Bocca in Buenos Aires. She sings, dances and acts through each one of her days at C'E Montessori and outside of school in performances at Teatro Sea, LATEA and Cuchame theatre among others. She has been an important part of school for the past four years, and in 2020 decided to complete her Montessori training and take on a Lead Teacher role in one of our Primary classrooms. Victoria injects artistic flair into everything she does, nap-time included, but most notably plans, designs and runs the C'E Montessori Winter Concert. This yearly December event is the culmination of the fall semester and a great way for children at our school to take on different responsibilities and roles in developing voice and stage presence.
why montessori?
Montessori is Moving
Humans were meant to move, exercise, explore. In Montessori this never stops. We allow our children to move, to discover, to think and learn on their feet. Lessons are short, sitting around is minimal. Walking around the classroom is encouraged, this is where spontaneous encounters occur, with a new friend, an interesting lesson, an opportunity, an obstacle.
Montessori is Manipulatives
The connections between our hands and our brains are crucial in strong early childhood development. Here, we learn through our hands using Montessori materials, we build our knowledge and our experience through touch. There are no screens, no handouts no lectures. The Montessori Method relies on a classroom that we interact with constantly by moving through it, touching it, and manipulating it. Maria Montessori said, "What the hand does, the mind remembers." If a child is able to use their hands to discover, their discoveries become more meaningful to them. The concepts they learn are much more rooted than any rote memorization could be, because in using their hands, they experience their learning. They are an active participant.
Montessori is Choice
Children like coming to school in the morning because they know the day is theirs. The choices that they make and the work that they explore is entirely up to them. Adults are there to guide. A relationship to learning and empowerment is developed from the very first day of school. Maria Montessori understood that all children, indeed all people, have different strengths and interests. The Montessori Method offers children the “freedom of choice” in order to maximize the learning process through these individual differences. Some people misunderstand “freedom of choice” to mean that children just do whatever they please and/or there is no such thing as discipline in a Montessori classroom. This is actually far from accurate. Through careful observation of the child, teachers (and parents) can provide the right activities and create the prepared environment ideal for the child’s development.
Montessori is a Sequential Curriculum
Montessori classrooms hand over real agency to children by delivering a curriculum available to them through the prepared environment. While children follow their own path and can advance through the curriculum at their own pace their experiences are backed by a scaffolded and mastery-based closed system.
Math, Language, Sensorial, Practical Life, Cultural Geography and Sciences. All sequential, all available, so that the promise and power of an individualized curriculum owned by children is delivered each morning in the prepared classroom environment.