The Montessori Philosophy

The Montessori approach to education is grounded in the belief that children have a dynamic inner desire to explore and learn about their environment.  All children carry within themselves the person they will become.  Developing the physical, intellectual, and spiritual potential to the fullest requires freedom - freedom achieved through order and self-discipline.  A prepared and stimulating classroom environment allows children to learn at their own speed, according to their own capabilities in a non-competitive atmosphere.

Maria Montessori School is named after Dr. Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori Philosophy and Method. 

Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952). Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to qualify as a physician. She developed an interest in the diseases of children and in the needs of those said to be 'uneducable'.  Maria Montessori developed a teaching program that enabled 'defective' children to read and write.  She sought to teach skills not by having children repeatedly try it, but by developing exercises that prepare them.  These exercises would then be repeated: Looking becomes reading; touching becomes writing.

The success of her method then caused her to ask questions of 'normal' education and the ways in which failed children.  Maria Montessori had the chance to test her program and ideas with the establishment of the first Casa dei Bambini (Children's house or household) in Rome in 1907.  This house had been built as part of a slum redevelopment.  This house and those that followed were designed to provide a good environment for children to live and learn.  An emphasis was placed on self-determination and self-realization.  This entailed developing a concern for others and discipline and to do this children engaged in the exercise of daily living.  These and other exercises were to function like a ladder allowing the child to pick up the challenge and to judge their progress.  'The essential thing is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages the child's whole personality' (Maria Montessori - The Absorbent Mind: 206).

This connected with a further element in the Montessori program - 'child centred learning' not teacher centred learning. The teacher was the 'keeper' of the environment.  While children got on with their activities the task was to observe and to intervene from the periphery.

The focus on self-realization through independent activity, the concern with attitude, and the focus on the educator as the keeper of the environment (and making use of their scientific powers of observation and reflection) - all have some echo in the work of informal educators. However, it is Maria Montessori's notion of the Children's House as a stimulating environment in which participants can learn to take responsibility that has a particular resonance.

People

We offer an excellent educational team with expertise in Montessori education methods and skilled at collaborating with families to meet each child's individual needs.  Our highly trained staff have individual specialties in French, Spanish, Music, the arts, psychology, early childhood education, mediation, and special education.  We have a very involved and enthusiastic school community.  And of course, the children are avid learners and natural supporters of the Montessori Method.

Quality Education

The combination of the Montessori Method and our own approach to working collaboratively and effectively with families ensures your child's education at MMS will be a full and rewarding experience.

Governance

Maria Montessori School is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of parents in the school. Click on the following link to view our current Board of Directors.

  Board of Directors

School Program Information

Click on the following link to download an information brochure on the Maria Montessori School.

  Maria Montessori