About Us
About Marin Mountain School
Marin Mountain School was founded on the belief that early childhood is a sacred time, one that deserves protection, beauty, and deep attentiveness. We are inspired by Waldorf education to create an environment where children can truly be children.
Located in Corte Madera, California, we serve children ages 2 years 9 months through 6 years in two lovingly tended classrooms: the Hummingbird Nest and the Chickadee Nest.
Our Philosophy
Our Approach to Early Childhood
We are inspired by Waldorf education, which understands that the first seven years of life are governed by the forces of imitation and imagination. Young children learn not through instruction, but through doing, through observing the adults around them and reenacting the world in play.
At Marin Mountain School, this means our classrooms are filled with purposeful work: baking bread, folding napkins, tending the garden, kneading beeswax, painting with watercolors. Children are invited to participate in real, meaningful activity alongside caring adults.
We protect the imaginative life of the child by limiting screens, keeping toys simple and open-ended, and filling the day with song, story, and time in nature.
What we believe
Imagination over information
We trust that a child who has been deeply nourished by story, beauty, and creative play will have all the capacity they need for later academic learning.
Nature as teacher
The natural world is our greatest curriculum. Seasons, weather, gardens, and outdoor play are woven into every day.
The whole child
We tend to head, heart, and hands, thinking, feeling, and doing, recognizing that children learn with their whole bodies and beings.
Community as classroom
Children thrive in genuine relationship. Our school is a village where families, teachers, and children grow together.
The Team
Faculty & Staff
Brenda Novick
Director
Brenda grew up in New Mexico, spending her childhood outdoors, fishing with her father, and making things with her hands. Her mother, a local artist and teacher, gave her a deep love of beauty, nature, and creative work. She holds a Liberal Arts degree, a Waldorf Teacher Training certificate, and a parenting coaching certificate, and has continued learning ever since, most recently studying mindfulness meditation and training as a postpartum doula. She lives in Larkspur with her two rescue cats, Timmy and Leo.
Celeste Payesko
Lead Teacher, Hummingbird Class
Celeste grew up in a large Midwestern family and went on to study Political Science at Indiana University before completing Waldorf teacher training at the San Francisco Extension of Rudolf Steiner College. She began her teaching career by opening a Waldorf-inspired preschool in her own home, and has been part of the Mountain School community since 2010. She has also taught at Marin Waldorf School, where her three children attended kindergarten through eighth grade. She believes deeply that children need kind, joyful adults to help them become who they were born to be.
Bronwen David
Lead Teacher, Chickadee Class
Bronwen was born and raised in San Francisco, coming from a large family with deep roots in education. She attended the San Francisco Waldorf High School and completed three years of Waldorf teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks. She spent twelve years teaching at the San Francisco Waldorf School, including seven years in the kindergarten and four in the nursery. She is also a certified postpartum doula, a proud aunt to fourteen children, and loves to travel, garden, and spend time with her family.
Aisling Cullen
Assistant Teacher, Chickadee Class
Aisling brings warmth, patience, and genuine care to the Chickadee classroom. She supports each child with attentiveness and joy, helping to create the kind of calm, nurturing environment where young children feel truly at home. Her presence in the classroom reflects the Mountain School’s commitment to meeting every child with kindness and intention throughout each part of the school day.
Doris Bognar
Assistant Teacher, Hummingbird Class
Doris began her career in early childhood education in her home country of Austria, working in city-sponsored after-school programs and family cooperative schools. After moving to the United States, she worked with children with autism, taught German at the German School of Marin, and completed her early childhood education units at Santa Rosa Junior College. In 2023, she completed the Lifeways Early Childhood Training and created a Waldorf-inspired classroom for children ages two and three. She lives in Petaluma and enjoys yoga, gardening, knitting, and handy crafts.
Tara Purdy
Aftercare Program Leader
Tara grew up on Hilton Head Island, surrounded by nature that shaped everything she went on to do. She studied Early Childhood Development at Fort Lewis College, completed her Waldorf teacher training at the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training in 2011, and spent five years as a kindergarten assistant at San Francisco Waldorf School. She joined the Mountain School in 2018 after spending a year abroad homeschooling her three children in Thailand. Her aftercare program is built around the simple idea that afternoons should feel like a breath of fresh air.
Karla Wood
Aftercare Assistant Teacher
Karla's journey in Waldorf and Waldorf-inspired education spans more than twenty-five years, beginning at the San Francisco Waldorf School and continuing at Olympia Waldorf School, Greenwood School in Mill Valley, and now the Mountain School. She grew up in Juneau, Alaska, where she developed a deep connection to the natural world through running, sailing, and exploring saltwater inlets. She is passionate about helping children build the skills and confidence they will carry with them long after their school years. At home, she enjoys kayaking, long walks, and telling ridiculous jokes with her daughter.
Christine “Bean” Pitnick
Aftercare Assistant Teacher
Bean grew up in Larkspur, where her mother's work as a preschool teacher gave her an early and lasting love of early childhood education. In 2016 she completed 500 hours of Hatha Yoga and Thai Massage training, and went on to found Magical Bean Yoga, bringing yoga into Marin preschool classrooms. She now lives in San Anselmo with her husband and young son, and brings that same spirit of warmth, play, and reverence into the Mountain School's aftercare program every afternoon. She believes that working with children is among the most meaningful things a person can do.
Come visit us
We would love to welcome you to Marin Mountain School and show you what we mean when we say childhood should be cherished.
Schedule a Visit