Marin Country Day SchoolCorte Madera, California · Est. 1956
We are an independent coed day school for kindergarten through eighth grade in Corte Madera, with a program centered on project-based, experiential education.
Our Mission at MCDS is to create an inclusive community of learning that inspires curiosity, empathy and action.
When Marin Country Day School was established in 1956, our founders were committed to creating a diverse community comprised of families from both Marin and San Francisco.
We remain committed to enrolling an equal number of students from Marin and SF in our kindergarten class each year.
Our Lower School covers kindergarten through fourth grade, with three homerooms at each grade level. Our Upper School covers grades 5 to 8, and sixth through eighth grades follow a departmental structure.
We provide a Lower School curriculum that allows children to learn important skills by exploring complex and engaging topics and issues, all while prioritizing their social-emotional growth.
We offer as broad and varied a program as possible to meet the needs of students with a variety of strengths and interests.
Our Upper School advisory provides academic, social and emotional support to students and is the student’s “home base” during the day. Advisories meet every morning and check out at the end of each day.
7:30-8:00am
Before the bell
Our Early Birds opens at 7:30am and closes at 8:00am, when outdoor playground supervision begins.
8:15 a.m.
Classes begin
School begins promptly at 8:15 a.m.
Lunch
A hot lunch and a salad/sandwich bar are provided for all students.
After school
Play More (PM) runs Monday through Friday after school until 6:00 p.m. on regular school days for students in grades K-4.
Tuesday
Every week
Our grades 5-8 Makers’ Lab Tech Challenge meets Tuesdays 3:30-4:45 pm after Thanksgiving break until April’s main event at The Tech Museum.
From kindergarten through eighth grade, our core program balances rigorous academics with the arts, athletics, outdoor education, social-emotional learning, and community engagement. Our curriculum emphasizes hands-on, project-based learning that fosters problem-solving and critical thinking skills, the ability of students to apply their learning in new ways, and collaboration. Nature serves as a second classroom for students. We believe MCDS’s co-educational environment provides an excellent foundation for academic growth and social-emotional development.
Our comprehensive core curriculum includes Mandarin and Spanish.
Nestled between the hills of Ring Mountain and the waters of the Bay, our campus acts as a second classroom, allowing students the freedom to learn, play, and explore in an environment closely linked to nature.
Our campus features walking trails and hillside cross country trails.
We have 40 classrooms, a science building and labs, a learning resource center with the library, technology and student support services, music and art rooms, a performing arts auditorium, a marine science dock, a gymnasium and PE pavilion, multi-purpose rooms, tutoring and practice rooms, athletic fields, and gardens and a greenhouse.
Our Upper School garden provides teachers and students with an outdoor extension of their science labs.
Parking is available in the lower lot.
We offer a diverse array of engaging after-school programs for students in grades K-8.
Our Upper School students (grades 5-8) have the opportunity to participate in after-school sports during the school year. All students who commit to a team at their grade level are on that team. There are no “tryouts” or “cuts.”
Our expectations for behavior are simple, clear, supported by our core values of respect, responsibility and compassion, and understood and embraced by all members of the community.
We hold ourselves to a standard of academic excellence, and each time we challenge ourselves to push our comfort zone, we learn more about capabilities, our world and ourselves.
Our learning requires us to be nimble and flexible in what we learn and the way we learn it.
Leveraging the outdoors as part of our classroom, we hold ourselves accountable to educate, inspire, and empower every member of our community to protect the earth.
Tuition 2026-27
Fees
Care and options
We utilize an Indexed Tuition model to increase socio-economic diversity, and 19% of MCDS families pay below the top of the index. We use Clarity to manage applications for indexed tuition. Tuition includes books, lunch, extended outdoor education trips, field trips, athletics and the Upper School Homework Café.
Welcome to Marin Country Day School!
Jan 7
Financial aid due
Mar 11
Decisions
Please note that the campus tour is a required application step for parents/guardians in the admission process. Campus tours are reserved for families that are applying for the 2027-28 academic school year.
To enter Kindergarten, children must turn 5 years old by August 31 of their enrollment year.
December 27, 2026: Applications due for Kindergarten applicants. January 7, 2027: Applications due for students applying to Grades 1 - 7.
Sibling acceptance is not guaranteed. Except for an early Kindergarten notification window, current families must complete the standard application procedure required of all applicants.
Our Student Support Services (SSS) team partners with students, parents/guardians and teachers in supporting individuals and groups within the classroom. A Learning Specialist is assigned to each grade and is available to meet with parents/guardians about academic concerns.
In eighth grade students and their families are deeply involved in the high school selection process. Our High School Counselor acts as a resource and support as families move through the steps of finding a high school that will be a good fit.
Starting in fourth grade, our extended outdoor education program allows students to deepen their learning and connection to nature in settings such as Yosemite, historic Gold Country, and Joshua Tree.
As an inclusive community of learning, we welcome others’ experiences, ideas, and viewpoints.
With an open heart, we approach each situation as an opportunity to embrace and understand our shared humanity.
We believe in fostering joy through play, learning, and community connection to nurture the child in all of us.
