Our History

CELEBRATING 37 YEARS!

It all started IN the fall of 1985 when…

our founder, Tom Taylor, opened the doors of Blue Ridge Montessori School in an old building in Forest, Virginia. Originally, he was the owner, administrator and lead teacher. He believed strongly in the long-term impact of Montessori education on our community and the future. We later became a registered nonprofit in 1999 with a fully functioning Board of Directors made up of Montessorians, parent volunteers and local business leaders. 

In the summer of 2009, BRMS moved to its current location in Forest, Virginia, into a building that is specifically designed for the Montessori environment. The move provided the opportunity to expand our program to two Pre-Primary classrooms and two Primary classrooms. 

In the fall of 2020, we opened the doors to our Taylor Building, in honor of our founder. This building is an expansion of our main building on our 221 campus. It is currently home to Elementary. By that spring the Anita building was opened for our Nido and Pre-primary classrooms. The Anita building is named after our founder, Tom Taylor’s late wife Anita. Anita was a neonatal nurse and loved infants. It was only fitting to name it after her.

BRMS is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization allowing for donations to the school to be tax deductible to the full extent permissible by law.