Accreditation & licensing
The word is not trademarked in Canada. Any nursery can use it. These are the four credentials that actually distinguish one school from another, and where to verify each of them yourself.
Accredited member of the Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators
CCMA accreditation is granted only to schools that meet national standards for Montessori curriculum, materials, teacher credentials and classroom practice. The organisation now operates as Montessori Canada.
Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 — Ontario Regulation 137/15
Licensed by the Ontario Ministry of Education, with the ratios, safety, health and record-keeping requirements that licensing carries. Those same requirements apply to the new location we are moving into.
BSID No. 886754 — Ontario Ministry of Education
Registered with the Ministry of Education as a private elementary school, which is what allows the elementary years here to count as elementary schooling.
Canadian Association of Montessori Teachers
Every teacher in our classrooms holds a Montessori teaching diploma and is a member of CAMT.
What each one covers
Because we take children from 28 months through to Grade 4, we sit under two separate parts of the Ontario system at once, and are inspected by both.
Our preschool and kindergarten operate under licences issued by the Ministry of Education under Ontario Regulation 137/15 of the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014. A licence sets staff-to-child ratios, health and safety requirements, daily observation of every child on arrival, immunisation record-keeping, emergency management policies, serious-occurrence reporting, and inspection.
Licensing is why we ask for immunisation records at registration, why a child who becomes unwell is separated and sent home, and why an accident report is written and given to you if your child is injured.
Our elementary programme is registered with the Ontario Ministry of Education under BSID 886754 as a private elementary school. Registration is what allows the years your child spends in our Grade 1 to Grade 4 classroom to count as elementary schooling.
Worth knowing, because schools are sometimes vague about it: private elementary schools in Ontario are registered rather than inspected. Ministry inspection applies to private schools granting secondary school credits, which we do not. Any elementary school implying otherwise is overstating its position, and we would rather be precise than flattering.
Neither of the above says anything at all about whether a school is genuinely Montessori. That is what CCMA accreditation is for. The Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators grants accreditation only to schools that meet national standards for curriculum, for the full complement of Montessori materials, for classroom practice, and for teacher credentials. The organisation renamed itself Montessori Canada in 2025; you will see both names in use, and accreditation carries over unchanged.
It is the single most useful question to ask any Toronto school calling itself Montessori, and a surprising number cannot answer it.
Accreditation covers the school. The Canadian Association of Montessori Teachers covers the individuals. Every teacher in our classrooms holds a Montessori teaching diploma and is a CAMT member, with training recognised through the Pan American Montessori Society and MACTE.
Discovering Minds does not take part in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) programme, so our fees are not reduced under that scheme. We would rather say so plainly here than have you find out at the end of a tour.
Ratios, credentials, inspection history, what happens when a child struggles. Bring the list. We would much rather answer it now than after you have enrolled.
