LePort Montessori (Huntington Harbor)

My son started attending Leport at 10 months old after being home. We toured the school when I was still pregnant and were blown away by the independence of the children in the infant room. It was a totally different environment from the other schools we toured. My husband and I left the tour having made our decision. We were placed in Ms. Zappa's class and could not be happier. Our son has learned so much in the 4 months that he has been attending class. When he first started, he still wasn't sleeping through the night. He was waking up every 45 mins to 2 hours. It was exhausting. Ms. Zappa guided us on how to introduce a floor bed and prepare his bedroom in a way that would foster independence and sleep. I was initially hesitant but gave it a go since nothing else had worked for us. Within 3 days, our son was sleeping through the night. He would fuss a little but put himself right back to sleep. Now he sleeps 12 hours, continuously, a night. We thought this day would never come! It is not a daycare; it is a school with structure, routine, and high expectations. It required us to change the way we did a lot of things at home, but I feel these changes have made us better parents. The growth of our child justifies the cost of tuition. I am so happy we made this decision! Thank you to Ms. Zappa, Ms. Fells, Ms. Briseno, and Ms. Martinez for the exceptional care and education they provide to all of the infants in B8.

We first learned about Leport from some dear friends that had wonderful experiences with the company of schools, but we were wary of the cost. We were thrilled when we found out about their parent & child (P&C) program (a 1.5 hour one day/week parent and child class) because it was a low commitment/reasonable cost way to see if Leport Montessori would be the right fit for us and our daughter (who, at the time, was about 14 months old).

We consider ourselves so fortunate that we were enrolled in Ms. Zappa's P&C infant class. Her kindness, attentiveness, warmth, brilliance, and graciousness enriched our lives so much.  She has a certain intentionality behind every word she utters, and every action she undertakes...which ultimately makes her an ideal role model for our daughter and even for us as parents as to how we "should" strive to be. Our daughter was immediately drawn to her and receptive to her guidance. We still refer to her by name when we do different things that we learned in our Parent & Child class. It's easy for us to say that Ms. Zappa's amazingness made up a large percentage of the reasoning behind our decision to enroll our daughter in Leport full time. We were only bummed that our daughter was too old for her class at the time we decided to enroll. But even after the class was over, Ms. Zappa was so kind to offer her time and counsel in helping us think about what was best for our daughter, and how to guide her to be independent, confident, and graceful. We will forever be grateful to Ms. Zappa.

Another large element of our decision to enroll was their amazing Admissions Director, Ms. Gump. As a fellow mother and parent of a Leport student, she was empathetic, patient, professional, and so kind throughout the whole admissions process. She never made us feel like we were asking too many questions, even though we probably were! She made the process as seamless as possible. And she will always be a friendly face and resource we can turn to at Leport.

Our great fortune continued when we enrolled our daughter in Ms. Arzate's class. Ms. Arzate is a special kind of human. Upon meeting her, her peaceful aura, welcoming demeanor, and her excellence in teaching became immediately apparent. And that has only been further affirmed in the last few months in her class. Ms. Arzate has become a co-parent of sorts for us- she really spends the time to discuss and work through the countless questions and journeys we go on as parents. And she does it all with such grace, compassion, and a lack of judgment. Our daughter adores her and her wonderful Assistant Ms. Satiyani. They have become household names in our home, and have been an integral part of our daughter's "toddlerhood." They see and nurture her strengths, and patiently guide her through any of her challenges. Our daughter comes home happy and looks forward to her time at school. Ms. Arzate will always hold a special place, filled with immense gratitude, in our hearts, and in our memories about our daughter's early growth.

The whole Leport family has been so kind to us...and after just a few months with Leport, we feel at home and are so grateful to every individual that we have interacted with at Leport. We highly recommend the Huntington Harbor school.

Our daughter joined the Spanish Immersion program two years ago when it was launched. Although I speak Spanish to her, we felt it was important to have full command of the language by learning to read it and write it properly.  We thought we would only commit to the Primary Program because our commute from Orange is quite long. However, we've been so pleased with her progress and the wonderful development of her personality and skills through the Montessori program that we decided to continue for Lower Elementary.  I cannot say enough good things about Mr. Mazari and Ms. Noorzad. The warmth, the qualifications of the teachers, the care are comparable to none. The continuation of the Montessori and Spanish programs through Lower Elementary help the children put together and utilize everything learn in the Primary Program. For me is almost a dream come true  to have the best academics, Spanish and quality care for my daughter. All I'm missing is a campus closer to Orange. Sadly the commute is worth it for me.

As two attorneys that both work extended hours, it was important to us to find a daycare that provided an environment that would be like a second home to our son and also focused on teaching important life skills from a young age. We got very lucky that our son is not a “crier.” Unfortunately that meant that in his first day care he was often ignored while the teachers soothed the babies that made the most noise. As a parent, I can totally understand the desire to soothe a crying baby. But because my son wasn’t a squeaky wheel, he was constantly being ignored, left on a play mat with little adult interaction. And then he started to fall behind on milestones. I started looking elsewhere to take him and found LePort. I expressed my concerns about my son’s current school ignoring him for the sake of the crying babies. I am SO grateful for LePort. I saw an immediate turn around with my son and his milestones after enrolling him at LePort. Within days I could see a difference in how excited he was to go to school and how happy and fulfilled he was when he would come home. Now, several months later, he is excelling in every way and is advanced for his age in many skills and milestones.
His teachers are so attentive and he loves his head teacher Ms. Zappa. She has consistently discussed with us ways to make sure that the skills they are teaching him are consistent at school and home. She is always full of good ideas on ways to help our son grow and to address concerns we are having about issues with sleep, eating, or anything else. We seek out and take her advice on many subjects we have encountered with our son. It is sad to admit, but because of our schedules, our son spends more time with his teachers at school than he does at home with us. But we couldn’t be happier with them. They genuinely love our son. Both of us and our son will be truly heartbroken when he has to switch classes eventually and leave Ms. Zappa’s class for the next stage class.

We wanted the best Montessori school for our daughter, so we toured every Montessori in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach. We found Le Port school to be the best in terms of hygiene, environment, teachers and administration. We were impressed when Mrs. Kim came home on a Saturday to visit us and understand my daughter's behavior and needs before she joined the upper infant class. Mrs. Kim & Ms Tapia helped her transition smoothly to the toddler class as well. Ms Hattery and Ms Leiva have helped her gain more independence and better mannerisms. I am also impressed with how all the teachers know all the kids by name, irrespective whether they are in their class or not. I definitely recommend this school!!!

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