Frequently Asked Questions

Montessori Core is a purpose-built school management platform designed exclusively for Montessori schools. It helps guides record classroom observations in under 30 seconds, tracks each child’s progress across the five curriculum areas, and generates narrative progress reports for parents — saving hours of administrative work per child each term.

Montessori Core serves three user types: Guides (teachers who log observations and track progress), Parents (who view their child’s development through the parent portal), and School Administrators (who manage billing, users, and school-wide settings).

Unlike generic education tools, Montessori Core is built natively around Montessori pedagogy. It uses Montessori terminology (observations, presentations, mastery levels, the five curriculum areas), supports mixed-age classrooms, and generates narrative-style progress reports rather than grades or scores.

Every new school gets a 14-day free trial with full access to all features. No credit card is required. At the end of the trial, choose a plan that fits your school size. If you decide not to continue, your access simply ends — no charges, no cancellation needed.

We process all payments through Paystack, which supports credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard), bank transfers, and mobile money across multiple African countries. All prices are in South African Rand (ZAR) by default.

Yes. You can cancel from your Admin Dashboard at any time. For monthly plans, cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. For annual plans, see our Refund Policy for details on the 14-day refund window.

Yes. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Each school’s data is isolated at the database level through row-level security. We are fully POPIA-compliant as a South African company. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Photos are only captured with explicit consent per child, managed by the school administrator. All media is stored securely in Cloudflare R2 with access controls. Location metadata (EXIF/GPS) is stripped from photos before storage. Parents control what is visible in their child’s profile.

Yes — AI assists guides by drafting narrative progress reports from observations. Child names are de-identified before any data reaches the AI model. Every AI-generated draft must be reviewed and approved by a human guide before it reaches parents. AI is a tool to help guides, never to replace their judgment.

We track the five core Montessori curriculum areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cultural (which includes Geography, History, Biology, and Science). Observations are tagged to specific areas and presentations for accurate progress tracking.

Each child has a developmental profile regardless of age, and guides can group children flexibly for observations and presentations. Progress is tracked per child, not per grade level — reflecting authentic Montessori practice.

The parent portal allows parents to view their child’s observations, progress reports, attendance, and photo gallery. Direct messaging between parents and guides is available, keeping all school communication in one place.

After cancellation, your data is retained for 90 days, during which you can export it from the Admin Dashboard. After 90 days, all personally identifiable data is permanently deleted in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Yes. New schools go through a guided onboarding wizard when they sign up. We also provide written documentation and can arrange live training sessions for your guides upon request. Contact us to discuss your school’s needs.

We are based in South Africa and serve Montessori schools across Africa. Our platform is designed with African schools in mind and is POPIA-compliant. As Paystack expands to more countries, we will support additional payment corridors.

Click “Start Free Trial” on our homepage. You’ll create a school account, add your first classroom, and be guided through setup. Most schools are up and running within 30 minutes.