Twenty-nine years on Lees Corner Road.
Some schools tell you they are established. We can introduce you to the parents who sat in these classrooms as children.
Our Story
The school that stayed.
In 1997, this corner of Chantilly was quieter. Montessori was something most Fairfax County parents had read about but rarely seen done well. That year, the Montessori School of Fairfax opened its doors with a plain intention: teach the method properly, keep the school small, and let families judge the results in person.
Twenty-nine years later, the fundamentals have not moved. We are still independent. We are still small on purpose, around 130 children from 18 months to 12 years, with a 3:1 ratio in the toddler room. We still run full three-year cycles with trained guides and real materials.
What has changed is the second generation. Many of our first students are now parents themselves, and on tour mornings some of them stand in our hallway holding their own child's hand. A school earns that kind of return one family at a time.
Timeline
1997 to today, in six chapters.
No single year explains a school. Together, they start to.
1997: The first morning
Sedi P. Amiri opens the Montessori School of Fairfax in Chantilly with a single classroom of thirteen children and a full set of Montessori materials arranged on low shelves.
Early 2000s: Elementary begins
Families who watched the Kindergarten year come together asked a fair question: what comes next? The school extended its three-year cycles upward with an Elementary program for ages 6 to 12.
2000s: A campus built at child height
Classrooms were renovated and the grounds took shape: gardens the children tend, a playground, and quiet corners for work that wants to happen outdoors.
2010s: The first alumni parents
A former student schedules a tour, this time for her own daughter. She was the first of many. Inquiries that begin with "I went here" are now a regular part of every admissions season.
2020: Steady through the hard years
Small classes, patient guides, and a close community carried the school through the pandemic. The families stayed, and so did the teachers.
Today: One campus, about 130 children
Five programs run under one roof at 3411 Lees Corner Rd: Toddler, Early Childhood, Kindergarten, Elementary, & Enrichment, with doors open 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Some of the drop-off hugs now come from parents who once hung their own coats on these hooks.
Our Founder
It began with one educator.
The Montessori School of Fairfax was founded in 1997 by Sedi P. Amiri, an educator whose classroom experience began long before Chantilly: leading curriculum committees in Tehran, teaching preschool and kindergarten, and working with children with hearing and vision impairments. After completing her Montessori training, she opened this school with a plain conviction: local families deserved the method done properly, at a price a working family could reach, taught by guides who would stay.
The first classroom held thirteen children. Today the school runs six classrooms and about 130 children, and Mrs. Amiri still leads it. Parents who tour on a Wednesday morning usually meet her in the hallway, because the founder of this school has never run it from an office.
What 29 years means
Time does not make a school good on its own. It makes a school knowable. Ask around and you will likely find a neighbor whose child is here now, or who sat in these classrooms themselves. The record is public, and we are glad it is.
For the practical case, side by side with the newer options nearby, start with why families choose MSOFx. To hear it in parents' own words, read their reviews. Then come see a morning for yourself; this story makes more sense in a hallway than on a page.