Anyone in Portugal can call a school “Montessori”, because the name isn’t protected. This page starts with the 7 schools in the RAMP network run by the Instituto de Educação Maria Montessori Portugal, where every environment is led by guides with international AMI certification. Montessori-inspired communities follow, then what to check before enrolling.
7 Montessori schools · 5 Montessori-inspired communities
Environments led by AMI-certified guides, as listed by the Instituto de Educação Maria Montessori Portugal. Each is licensed separately, as Montessori is not its own legal category in Portugal.
Ferreiras, Albufeira
International Montessori school in Ferreiras, Albufeira, founded in 2018 by a group of families who spent three years building it. It teaches in English and Portuguese from Children’s House (3–6) through Elementary (6–12). The school combines Montessori with the International Baccalaureate: it is a candidate school for the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP).
Bonfim, Porto
Porto’s AMI Montessori school, founded in 2018 and now based in Bonfim. It runs mixed-age groups from a toddler community (18 months–3) through Casa das Crianças (3–6) and into the 1.º and 2.º ciclo, making it the only RAMP school in the North with Montessori primary. Children choose their own work with self-correcting materials while AMI-trained guides observe and follow their interests.
Bordinheira, Torres Vedras
Bilingual English–Portuguese Montessori Children’s House for ages 3–6, which opened in September 2022 in a restored village school in Bordinheira. That puts it about 10 minutes from Torres Vedras and 10 minutes from the Silver Coast at Santa Cruz. It also runs 0–3 playgroups and a second campus in Amoreira, Óbidos. The team follows AMI principles and works closely with Portugal’s AMI training centre, and families come from more than 14 nationalities.
Quinta da Marinha, Cascais
Catholic Montessori school founded in 2017 at Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, between the beaches and the Sintra hills. It runs from age 3 to 18, combining the Montessori method with Cambridge International assessments for older students. School life includes a farm programme, art and music, religious formation through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and a deliberately low-tech (“technological minimalism”) approach.
Cascais
Not-for-profit, co-educational Montessori school in the Cascais area, founded by Ivona Rozanovska (who also founded Vilnius Montessori School). English is the main language of instruction, with Portuguese taught by classroom assistants and specialist teachers at native or non-native level. Classrooms are mixed-age from Casa (3–6) through Elementary (6–12), and every lead teacher holds an AMI diploma. Not to be confused with Montessori Bright Academy in Lisbon, whose website is lisbonmontessorischool.com.
Alvalade, Lisboa
Small international Montessori school on Av. Almirante Gago Coutinho in Alvalade, Lisbon: about 70 children from 37 nationalities in five classes. Every guide is AMI-certified, and the school reports a 1:4 guide-to-child ratio. Children have 20 hectares of surrounding green space for outdoor play. Programmes run from Toddler (1–3) through Primary (3–6) to Elementary (6–12). Its website is lisbonmontessorischool.com, but it is a different school from Lisbon Montessori School in Cascais.
Estrela, Lisboa (next to Tapada das Necessidades)
Licensed bilingual (English–Portuguese) Montessori preschool for children from babies to age 6, next to the Tapada das Necessidades park in Estrela, Lisbon. It focuses on the first plane of development (0–6) and on supporting families, with outdoor learning spaces and an international parent community.
Communities that use Montessori ideas alongside other approaches. They are not RAMP members and many are not schools in the legal sense. Children are often enrolled elsewhere through ensino doméstico.
Arruda dos Vinhos / Cardosas
Community learning / ensino doméstico support / Montessori-influenced activities.
Leiria region (former EB1 Souto de Baixo)
Per a Jornal de Leiria article: an old primary-school building reopened as a learning community using Montessori inspiration and tutoring for homeschooling families.
Monte do Cerro, Relíquias / Odemira
A holistic learning space at Tamera for children from the community, the region and internationally. Inspired by progressive/free-school models.
Sintra Park
A bilingual forest learning community in Sintra blending Montessori, Waldorf and Forest School principles, with child-led learning and nature-based rhythms.
Penela / Vila Espinhal, Coimbra
A bilingual learning community in central Portugal with two spaces: “the Valley” and a village house in Vila Espinhal. Programmes include Wildflowers Early Learning Community (~3–6) and River Flower (~6–10), described as alternative education through homeschooling with Waldorf/Montessori inspiration and nature-based learning.
Maria Montessori opened her first Casa dei Bambini in Rome in 1907. A Montessori classroom groups children in three-year age bands (0–3, 3–6, 6–12, 12–18). It is a carefully prepared environment of hands-on materials, and children get long uninterrupted work periods in which they choose their own activities. The adult is a “guide” who observes and presents materials rather than lecturing the whole class. Montessori founded the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) in 1929, and AMI still trains and certifies guides today.
Lisbon and Cascais have the most AMI environments: Montessori Bright Academy in Alvalade (1–12) and OmOntessOri in Estrela (0–6) in Lisbon, and Lisbon Montessori School (2½–12) and Kairos Montessori at Quinta da Marinha (3–18) in Cascais. Lisbon Montessori School teaches mainly in English, OmOntessOri is bilingual, and Kairos and Montessori Bright Academy are international schools. Kairos is also the only Catholic Montessori school in the network.
Porto has Escola Montessori do Porto in Bonfim (18 months–12). Near Torres Vedras, Montessori HUMANS runs a bilingual Children’s House (3–6) in Bordinheira. In the Algarve, Eden Montessori International School in Ferreiras, Albufeira teaches in English and Portuguese from 3 to 12 and is an IB PYP candidate school.
Secondary-age Montessori (12–18, the “Erdkinder” stage) is rare. Kairos Montessori in Cascais is the one RAMP school that clearly runs it, with Cambridge International assessments for older students. RAMP also lists 12–18 for Eden Montessori, but the school’s own website currently only describes programmes up to age 12.
Each Montessori school in Portugal is licensed in its own right, as a creche, pre-school, private school or international school, so ask exactly what the licence covers. If you plan to stay in the Portuguese system, check which certificate your child gets at the end of each ciclo: Portuguese, international, or both. English-language international programmes need a Portuguese equivalence (equivalência) if your child later moves into Portuguese secondary school or university. See the legal context section for the general rules.
Ask whether the lead guides hold AMI (or AMS) diplomas for the age group they teach, whether classes really mix ages across a three-year band, and how long the daily work cycle is (around three hours is standard). Watch a class in progress: children working on their own and a calm, orderly room are good signs. Compare fees, language of instruction and what happens at 6 and at 12, when many schools stop.
Frequently asked
Montessori Bright Academy and OmOntessOri are in Lisbon itself. Lisbon Montessori School and Kairos Montessori are in Cascais. All four are in the RAMP network of AMI-certified environments.
Yes. Lisbon Montessori School (Cascais) teaches mainly in English. OmOntessOri (Lisbon), Montessori HUMANS (Torres Vedras) and Eden Montessori International School (Albufeira) are bilingual English–Portuguese. Kairos Montessori and Montessori Bright Academy are international schools; confirm their language set-up directly.
Yes. Escola Montessori do Porto, in Bonfim, is part of the RAMP network. It runs from a toddler community (18 months–3) through Casa das Crianças (3–6) and the 1.º and 2.º ciclo (6–12).
Kairos Montessori in Cascais runs from 3 to 18, with Cambridge International assessments for older students. RAMP also lists a 12–18 group at Eden Montessori (Albufeira), but check with the school: its website currently describes programmes only up to age 12.
Montessori is a teaching method, not a legal category. Each school is licensed separately as a pre-school, private school or international school, so check the licence and certification of the specific school you’re considering.