Amber Staff transparency
Leadership is fully named with bios. But most classroom teachers appear first-name-only, one lead has no bio, and at least one bio appears to describe a different person than it is attached to. Ask on a tour who would guide your child and what credentials they hold. Why this matters →
Read this first Permit expired June 2026 — renewal in process
The city’s live child-care register carries a record for “C'E MONTESSORI, LLC.” at 117 S 3rd St: a permit covering ages 2–5 (permit 104436, capacity 45) whose status is the Department’s own “In-Renewal” — the permit expired June 19, 2026, with renewal evidently in process. The program remains under active Department supervision: inspections on August 14 and August 21, 2026 both closed with the Department’s summary “no new violations observed.” What our dated checks (August 22, 2026) leave open: the renewal itself, and that C'E advertises care from 6 months while the record we located covers ages 2–5 only — infant/toddler care normally carries its own permit, and whether one exists under another name is not something public records let us rule out. If you are the school, tell us — corrections run the same day.
Snapshot
See the school
Williamsburg
The South Side of Williamsburg sits between the bridge and the waterfront — a mix of long-standing families, newer towers and a deep bench of cafés and playgrounds. Domino Park and the East River ferry are minutes away, with the J/M/Z at Marcy Ave and the L at Bedford within walking distance.
Overview
C'E Montessori opened in 2016 and has grown into one of the few New York City Montessori schools that runs from infancy all the way into middle school. The whole program is dual-language Spanish/English, and the middle school follows the International Baccalaureate MYP framework. The state's register (NYSED/SEDREF) lists it as an active independent nonpublic school in District 14. One honest caveat on size: the school describes about 166 students; its most recent published state enrollment filing (2024–25) reported 78 with none yet in grades 6–8. Growth between those two snapshots is plausible — treat the current figure as the school's own until the next state filing appears.
Programs & ages
Nido (from 6 months) and toddler programs run into a mixed-age preschool/kindergarten, then elementary, then the IB MYP middle school (grades 6–8) — across three neighboring sites at 117 and 119 S 3rd Street and 333 Bedford Avenue. Schedules run half day (8–12), full day (8–3:30) and extended (to 6pm). Spanish is woven through the day rather than taught as a subject, and parents consistently mention the in-house food program.
Tuition 2026–27
C'E publishes its full schedule — genuinely rare and worth crediting. For 2026–27: Nido runs $18,600 (two mornings) up to $43,125 (five extended days) by schedule; preschool/kindergarten and elementary are $33,925 full day / $40,250 extended; middle school is $41,400 / $48,000. The school offers indexed (need-adjusted) tuition through NAIS SSS and says it has awarded $2.4 million since 2020. The comparable full-day figure sits below the Manhattan median for the age band — compare on our tuition page.
Leadership & staff
The school's leadership page names its team in full — founder/director Fernando Camberos (the state's CEO of record) and Head of School Hanane Zayer, with named admissions and program leads. Classroom teachers are a different story: most appear first-name-only, without stated Montessori credential levels — though at least two hold substantial personal credentials (one an AMS teacher trainer, one holding both AMS Early Childhood and AMI Elementary diplomas). The school states all lead teachers are Montessori-trained; the roster as published doesn't let a parent check that claim, which is what our Amber rating measures.
Accreditation & authenticity
C'E's site describes the school as a founding member of the "American Montessori Association (AMA)" — a body we could not find among the recognized Montessori organizations (AMS, AMI/AMI-USA, MACTE, IMC), and the school appears in neither the AMS nor AMI school register on our dated August 2026 checks. That doesn't mean the classrooms aren't Montessori — individual staff credentials and parent descriptions point the other way — but the institutional claim as worded is unverifiable, which is why the flag above sits on this profile. How to read claims like this: is it real Montessori? and how accreditation claims drift.
What parents say
Formal reviews are consistently warm. Niche's parent reviews describe teachers who "really understand Montessori" and let children move at their own pace, calling them "warm, patient, and deeply committed" — with repeated praise for the community feel, the food program, and Spanish being "seamlessly woven into the day." (Review counts are modest; treat as genuine but a small sample. Retrieved August 2026.)
"Teachers really understand Montessori and let kids move at their own pace… encouraging independence and curiosity instead of rushing through lessons." — Parent review, Niche (retrieved August 2026)
Heard around town
Signals from public parent forums and neighborhood groups. Forum chatter is opinion — often anonymous — so take it with a grain of salt.
Admissions
Applications run through the school's site with published 2026–27 deadlines and live tour booking. For the youngest programs, inquire early — Nido and toddler places move on their own calendar; for preschool entry the citywide rhythm applies, so pair the school's dates with our admissions timeline and planner.