PEARL CITY — The Children's House is giving a Christmas gift its families treasure: an hour of original pageant music sung by their own children in a breezy open-air setting surrounded by a cool forest.

Suffused with a sense of love and warmth, the pageant, written by music teacher Monty McComber III and presented by the preschoolers yesterday, included everything from winged angels and three wise men to stuffed fuzzy lambs and a bank of parents with video cameras recording each moment.

"Micah," came a stage whisper from Joseph to one of the wise men. "Look at your dad."

In the heights above Pearl City, Children's House on four tree-shaded acres has shunned publicity for its 40 years but is one of the most sought-after schools in the state, with parents signing their children up soon after birth. It's a Christian school based on Montessori principles, but affiliated with neither Montessori nor any church.

Instead, it's the outgrowth of founder and principal Mary Los Banos' vision that every child is perfect and does not need to be tested at entrance. The school has a 1-to-12 ratio of teachers to students in preschool that rises to 1 to 16 in the higher grades. It also has a wealth of resource teachers for art, music and physical education instruction, as well as special-needs educational assistants.

The school is nongraded, with first- and second-graders group-ed together, and third- and fourth-graders together so children move at their own pace toward fifth grade. It accepts only preschool applicants.

Many of the school's parents don't come from Christian backgrounds, and many are from Asian countries, says Los Banos. But they share the same concerns and values.

"They come here because they see the love and safety," Los Banos says. "We're like a safe haven in the world."

Christine Maiava, who attended the school as a child, has enrolled her 4-year-old daughter, Marisa.

"They just care a lot," says Maiava, who remembers taking ballet classes at the school. "They're really good teachers ... and I like the curriculum."

Jennifer Goldstein says her 4-year-old preschooler is already reading.

"This place is really well known for how they teach," says Goldstein. "It's accredited, but it also offers 'practical life,' where they learn to wash dishes and wipe tables." Goldstein says her son carries that lesson home, helping out there — "things mommies and daddies love," she says, laughing.

Along with math, reading, English and history, the curriculum includes Bible study, which focuses on stewardship and being "a good shepherd" in the broadest sense. School outreach efforts range from singing holiday carols at senior centers to gathering food for the River of Life Mission at Thanksgiving.

Los Banos' own commitment to stewardship takes her to poverty-stricken areas of Southeast Asia under the auspices of the Bangkok YMCA twice a year to train early-education teachers. Children's House is the model school environment for young children that's being expanded throughout that region.

"We believe in having clean bamboo," says Los Banos, sharing a Thai legend that the school uses as part of its vision of how to educate a child. "When you have nodules in your bamboo, the clean water can't run through. So we make sure we don't have any residue that will keep us from being who we really are."

What are you most proud of: "The compassion and caring of our students for others," says Los Banos.

Best-kept secret: "We don't have typical discipline problems. We work with the parents from preschool all the way through fifth grade. It's a family."

Everybody at our school knows: PE coach Brad Erber. "He even plays 'ukulele at the front gate to welcome everyone every morning at 6:30."

What we need: "We don't need anything," says Los Banos. "We have parents that are very helpful and supportive, and long-term staff, many of whom retire with us." For instance, admission to the Christmas program is a dozen cookies for the cookie party afterwards.

Projects: Special concerts for seniors at Christmas and Easter. "Servanthood" projects for fifth grade, such as reading to preschoolers and helping them tie their shoes, saving pennies to send to needy children in Asia.

Our biggest challenge: "We don't have financial needs. I don't see anything off the top of my head," says Los Banos.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.