montessori schools

[thisisyesterday]

Hi
We've been offered a place for ds1 at a new "free school" that is opening here.
it's a montessori school and will only have an intake of 8 pupils per year so am amazed he got a place.

aaaanyway, I know a little bit about montessori from looking into it when he was starting nursery, but I don't know how it works in a primary school setting

if we accept the place we'll be removing him from his state school, where he is currently in year 1. He would start there in year 2 this september

so my questions are, do your children attend a montessori school and are you happy with it?
what is their day like? how do lessons work?
have you moved a child from state to montessori and how did your child find the transition?
also, if you have children old enough, how did they find the transition from a montessori primary school to a regular secondary school?

bump

Don't know about primary but DS1 went to a Montessori preschool and it didn't suit him at all, I withdrew him after a couple of months.

I would personally be very wary of sending my kids to a brand-new and untested school - Montessori or otherwise - unless they were unhappy at existing school. But others may feel differently (although if not many have applied for your one I guess it's for the same reasons?)

they were oversubscribed in every year, so it was random allocation of places.

the people running it used to run a montessori school in the area before, and are both experienced teachers in state schools so i don't really have any concerns from that perspective

why did your son not like the nursery?

It was very focused on learning - and very structured - they were not so great on the social/caring side. Eg they would complain that he didn't sit down and join in with circle time / activities (he was two!). They were obsessed with the 'Montessori materials' and having seen them make a 2yo sit down and spoon fecking rice for ten minutes I was far from convinced by their interpretation of the concept.

That's why I would be concerned about having no prior knowledge of the methods of this particular school. Do you know anyone whose DC went to their other school?

There is some confusion at the moment whether Montessori qualifications will be recognised

Have a little look at past threads on here. Lots of pros and cons - but mostly about nurseries/preschool age.
Criticisms on here have been that the Montessoris are very rigid and quite joyless? Quiet, with little free play or interaction between the children?
It's a shame it's not running already so you can visit. Are there any other Montessori primaries you could visit?
Also, if he's going in year 2, does that mean he's only there for the one year then? Do they go beyond age 7?

"Montessoris are very rigid and quite joyless?"

Its pretty much the opposite of our exp for my three year old hyper son has blossomed there. What you need to remember is that anyone can claim they are Montessori even when they arent so experiences differ.

The montessori my son goes to goes up to 11 with around a dozen kids between 5 and 11 our plan is he stays there until 11. The montessori got an outstanding ofsted and the school was praised for children achieving outstanding results. It looks laid back but there are firm structures to encourage independent learning.

I have a DD who is in Y6 in mainstream school and I really wish I had known about Montessori earlier for her. On top we have to pay for it and if I got it for free and it was a real montessori, I would grab it with both hands.

I'm sure there are good and bad Montessori schools, just like mainstream schools. (Re: Ofsted, DS1's Montessori preschool was rated outstanding. The mainstream preschool he went to after, where he flourished and which I am always recommending to people, was rated merely satisfactory!).

That is why I would be reluctant to let my DC be a guinea-pig at any brand-new school, esp one with an ethos as open to many interpretations as Montessori.

Rigid and joyless certainly doesn't sound like my experience of montessori preschool - DD absolutely loved it (age 4) and wanted to go every day.

I also have friends whose children have been through Montessori primary years in other countries and they have all been very happy - much less rigid than the UK national curriculum, lots of independent learning and learning through play etc.

But obviously read up on Montessori methods, look into the qualifications and experience of the teachers setting it up, and talk to other parents. But I have to say that small classes and Montessori methods sound like a pretty good bet to me - I would have leapt at it if there was one opening near me.

www.montessori.org.uk is a very good starting point on the philosophy etc.

But as others have said the ethos is open to interpretation. Can you organise a meeting with the head/teachers at all, to see if you can get a feel for how they plan to run the school, what they feel the most important part of montessori is, why they felt drawn to open a school etc? I expect you would get a lot more from that than anything else, really, considering you can't see the school in motion.

I echo those who've got good things to say about Montessori schools. Have had nothing but positive experience with DD's Montessori school.

wow, rigid and joyless is the absolute opposite of everything the headteacher spoke about when we met with her at the open evening on saturday

the school will cater for children up to year 6, but in the first year they will only have them up to year 3.

she spoke of basically setting up activities and "inviting" the children to join in, encouraging but not forcing or pushing, leaving children to finish things at their own pace, and not making them all learn the same thing at the same time in the same way

a lot of the other parents there were worried it would be too laid back and that their children wouldn't be encouraged enough to do things they were choosing not to do.

i dunno, you're right that it would be good to see it up and running, but the headteacher did seem really passionate about the montessori method and how well it works.
she also said that for the reception class they look at children on an individual basis. so no mornings only or afternoons only... she said they can come in for a couple of jhours, or all day. once a week or all week, all depends on the child. (until they're 5 obviously)

it's a really big decision to make thogh, and i really value everyone's input. the negatives (though i'd love to ignore them lol) are really as useful as the positives because i don't want to be blinkered and make a decision without thinking of all possibilities

oh in terms of qualifications i think she said that they would all have undergone regular teacher training AND montessori training.
any staff they take on who isn't montessori trained would then train on the job

I only have experience with the preschool side, but it has been really positive. The things I liked were about learning through all of the sensory-motor modalites, focusing on each child's interest in setting the learning goals, learning about all aspects of life including social, and also the sense of community and taking care of the classroom and other children, etc. I do agree with the prior posts that there probably can be big differences between particular schools so it is good you are checking things out carefully.

thanks. i've been watching some stuff on youtube of children using the montessori equipment, and i guess my main worry is how well ds1 will adapt to using it and the general classroom atmosophere having already got use to a regular state primary school...

it's a leap of faith!

My boy1 has been to a montessori nursery for over a year now & loves it. He will def attend the pre-school that is linked with it. Think that montessori is great, develops skills that a "normal nursery" never would but like all things it doesn't suit every child

A lot of pre schools call themselves Montessori when they are not truely. My DCs went to a montessori nursery and flourished, it wasn't rigid or boring and the kids learnt at their own pace, although they were all reading and writing by the time they started reception. The whole aim is to be un rigid in the speed the learn at and let the child dictate how they want to learn. I have been to many montessori schools and wished we had been able to put our DCs in them (they were all just slightly too far away from home) the one thing that struck me was how relaxed the kids were and how they were all doing there own thing but with a general connection throughout everything.

I think schools can be called Montessori if there is ONE member of staff who is trained by them. Doesn't matter about the others. It's worth checking everyone's qualifications and training if you want to be sure it won't be half-arsed.

I have experience of it at nursery level and without a shadow of a doubt, if there were a primary I'd go for it.

People have all sorts of preconceived notions (too rigid, no rules whatsoever, just what they do in other nurseries) and it's because like everything else you get good and not good.

The children don't dictate exactly what they are going to do and expect the staff to fit in (I have heard it described like this, mainly by ds's primary teacher, grr), rather the staff know exactly how to extend and develop the child's interests and how to incorporate serious learning of complex concepts (eg maths from a v early age). If the child isn't receptive, it's not pushed, but will be revisited and developed when they are receptive. I'm totally impressed by the teaching materials and I think basically that most children would thrive if it were possible to start them off so intensively and creatively.

There are rules with Montessori and they are about self-reliance (eg every child tidies up their activity before moving on to another/they wash up their own child-sized china and glassware) and about thinking of others and treating people and the world with respect.

I think with an intake of 8, the disadvantage might be that the school is too small, but they aren't taught in age-groups, rather biggish groups according to development (personal and academic).

I'd jump at the chance tbh!

I'm lurking here because I'm also considering a montessori school for my kids. This one's private though. Didn't know they did free schools too.

My son has attended a Montessori nursery since he was 13 months, and will now be attending a Montessori Primary. I cannot sing enough praises for this form of education as it allows children to become independant and learn at their own pace and encourage their own interests to develop. His school also teaches with the Montessori materials, and I have found that by learning in the way that they do, they absorb so many other things as they are not just told two plus two equals four, but actual feel the weight of why it would become more. Everything is very tactile and great for young minds. They do learn the national curriculum but in a way that engages the children to explore possibilties rather than simply passing tests.

I have to say I notice this difference more when I meet other children of the same age who are not Montessori educated, as he is more confident about trying new things, his behaviour and sense of responsibilty at the age of 4 is outstanding, and even his approach to play is different.

One thing I have to say though, there are a lot of schools that say they are Montessori but they way they use this approach is not in line with true Montessori, so you need to be careful they use the approach properly as a half hearted attempted would leave the children with the worst of both worlds.

thanks for the more recent replies.

i feel quite nervous about moving him still. I guess I'm worried mainly about how he'll cope with the transition to such a different way of teaching. he also seems to NEED quite a lot of structure to his day (poss ASD) but hopefully with such small classes the teacher will be able to meet his needs anyway

am looking forward to the open days they've said they'll be holding over the summer so we can get more of a feel of what it'll be like.

whomoved we are just lucky that under this "free school" thing the govt is doing at the moment these people decided to open one in our area. they used to run a private montessori school here but i don't think that it ever really "caught on" so to speak