Admissions

Kairos Montessori believes that the purpose of an education is more than the mere acquisition of facts. Indeed it is “an aid to life,” a much broader and richer pursuit. Further we firmly believe that parents are the primary educators of their children, no matter which school or educational pedagogy they choose.

As such we seek to partner with families, to bring to bear all the academic and developmental benefits of a Catholic Montessori education. Our admission process is designed to help families discover what that is, and whether it is for them.

Kairos admits children aged 3*-18 (*defined as children who will be 3 no later than August 31st in their starting year).

Fees 2025/26

There is a one-off registration fee of €2,200 for new students joining Kairos for the academic year 2025/26. There is an annual re-enrolment fee of €920 for existing students.

Whilst Kairos is committed to keeping fees low and accessible, it is reasonable to expect that fees will rise from year to year with inflation (fees are published in the summer term of the preceding academic year).

Fees 2024/25

Annual tuition fees for:

Children’s House (3-6) = €7,625

Elementary (6-12) = €7,625

Lower Adolescent Programme (12-15) = €9,975

Upper Adolescent Programme (15-18) = €12,600.

Fees are paid in advance of each quarter, with payment dates as follows:

Autumn - Q1/ Annual Fee Payment
May 31st of the prior School year
Winter - Q2
September 30th
Spring - Q3
December 31st
Summer - Q4
March 31st

Organic, locally-sourced food, cooked on site, is provided at a rate of €1,260 per annum. Fees include all stationary and work materials. Trips, planned to enrich curricular content, are provided at a rate of €150 per annum for Children’s House and Elementary and €1250 per annum for the Adolescent Programme.

Sibling discounts (applicable to annual tuition fees) are as follows: 15% discount for 2nd child, 25% for 3rd child, 40% for 4th child, and 50% for all other siblings.

Fees paid a full year in advance have a 2% discount (in addition to sibling discounts) applied to the annual tuition fee.

Kairos accepts digital Tickets from the following companies: Ticket Restaurant de Portugal, Edenred and Coverflex. Kairos is only able to accept the digital Tickets (paper versions are no longer accepted). In the event that parents use this form of payment, it is kindly requested that payment is made 15 days ahead of the above term deadline, so as to allow for the additional processing time.

Location

Kairos is located amongst the pine-woods of Quinta da Marinha. You can find the School address here:

Quinta da Marinha
Casa 25 - Eira
2750-004
Cascais

Kairos Office
+351 21 487 2076
office@kairosmontessori.com

Admissions Process

Our admissions process is outlined below:

Review School Handbook in detail.
Having reviewed the Handbook, if you wish to apply, please complete the Pre-Registration form.
Once you have completed the 2 steps above email admissions@kairosmontessori.com to arrange a visit. If possible, we encourage both parents to come, and without their child/children. The visit will take about 1 hour, in which you will be shown the School and meet School administration.
After your visit, parents who remain interested in applying, write a Letter of Application (noting why you would like your child to join Kairos) to admissions@kairosmontessori.com. The school considers the submission of an application to be an indication of the family’s willingness to embrace the Montessori philosophy and methodology that was witnessed and explained during the visit.
Class Experience with child - this consists of your child spending 2-3 days at School, so that we can understand if we are able to welcome your child in the class and, if so, how we can best support them. Our goal is to enable each child to develop as a well-integrated human being: intellectually, socially, spiritually, physically and emotionally and so we strive to assess all these during the class experience. No place should be assumed prior to a successful class experience as this is a critical milestone in our admissions process.
Final Answer - Applicants are notified of admissions decision on or before March 30th for applications received before March 15th deadline. We accept families on a rolling basis after the deadline if space is available and maintain a wait list when a program is full. All accepted families will be sent a Registration Form and then have 15 days to complete and sign the Registration Form, and pay the Registration Fee. A child is considered enrolled only when the above have been received by the school.
At Kairos we aim to forge a collaborative relationship between home and school. The work we do at school is built upon the foundation laid by parents at home. Children benefit the most when their home and school lives are complementary. To that end, we ask that parents read and sign the Home - School Partnership.

Note on Children’s House Admission: Owing to very high demand, Children’s House admissions are now grouped into 2 admission windows: 1) Early Admission - end September; 2) Final Admission - end March. In each case Kairos collects all admissions up to the window date, and then on the basis of places available, offers class experiences and places in the subsequent month. Kairos allocates places on the basis of class composition - mix of boys and girls, relationship with other families at School, location (proximity to School), involvement with the Local Parish, and expected length of stay in Portugal.

Financial Aid

Kairos seeks to build a community that will help students become their best selves. Scholarships can play a critical role in this by diversifying the student body and engendering a shared sense among families of commitment, generosity, fellowship and destiny.

We strive to make our unique education available to families who could not otherwise afford a private British and Montessori education by being a not-for-profit association and carefully controlling costs. We have no shareholders or competing interests other than the well-being of the school. Whatever profits we make get reinvested in staffing, the campus or the student body.

Compared to other British-curriculum international schools in the region, our tuition fees are highly competitive and we provide generous sibling discounts. We also offer financial aid to students from families that resonate with our mission and would deeply value a Kairos education.

Our St Joseph Bursary Scholarships are granted to students on a needs basis and are means tested. The process to become eligible for a scholarship is as follows:

1. Families of new students who have been accepted and those already enrolled can contact us at bursaries@kairosmontessori.com with their intent to apply for a scholarship

2. In order to ascertain each family’s economic reality, we will need to receive documentation of key sources of family incomes and primary areas of family outlays, including tax filings for Portuguese income tax for the last three fiscal years and a current payslip from each income-earning member of the family. Please note that all financial information is kept strictly confidential and will only be reviewed by the head of the scholarship committee.

3. A meeting with the head of the scholarship committee will follow that aims to foster a mutual understanding of the why and how of scholarships at Kairos, respective expectations and what is essential from both the school’s and family’s point of view.

Once completed, this process will grant the student a one-year scholarship. Although our commitment to scholarships families will extent the full academic life of the student, families will need to reapply annually as financial circumstances can change.

Click here for an estimate of total annual outlays at Kairos.