Thank you very much for your interest in our school. We are very excited about the work that goes on here, with people both big and small, and are appreciative of the opportunity to tell you more about it!

GMS was founded in 1979 in Silver City with the goal of providing the best in Montessori education for Grant County children, without the high tuition levels usually found at private schools. Dedicating itself to maintaining cultural and economic diversity, GMS is celebrating 28 years of educational excellence and service to the community in the school year 2007-2008.

GMS is a leader in alternative education, one that strives to help its students become citizens who can make meaningful contributions to society. Internally, the school is well-staffed, well-managed, and is highly diverse. In the local community, GMS is perceived as an asset, a resource and an integral part of the community, and as a seed bed for young community leaders. In the Montessori community, GMS is viewed as a model school for Montessori-based education.

GMS is a community of 75 students from 60 families. Our students range in age from 1 through 12 years in five different classrooms. Our commitment to maintaining as much ethnic and economic diversity as possible is reflected in the make-up of our student body: 40% are people of color, 59% come from low-income families (as defined by federal guidelines) and 51% of our students receive CYFD (State) need-based childcare assistance. To achieve the greatest diversity possible in our community we keep our tuition low compared to industry standards and assist qualifying low-income families with scholarships and work exchanges for tuition.

The Montessori Method provides an enriched scholastic program within a loving, accepting and cooperative environment. At GMS we value the development of the whole person and have not sacrificed programs in art, music and foreign language in order to meet standardized academic goals, as have many schools in today's educational climate. GMS fosters a life-long love of learning and encourages students to excel by providing the guidance and the freedom to develop and discover.

Along with academic excellence, the management of the classroom at GMS promotes positive social skills and problem-solving abilities. Experience within our community proves that this educational environment has been worth far more in the prevention of problems, rather than trying to treat the effects of low self-esteem later in life. We have seen that children who early in life are motivated to learn, explore, question, and work cooperatively are those who make the most successful choices later on. Tracking our graduates, we have seen a high rate of success not only in avoiding the common problems of their peers, but also often see GMS graduates become leaders socially and academically in their high school and community. In a community where the high school drop-out rate has often hovered near 10%, former GMS students have an almost perfect record of high school graduation.