Following your child at a Montessori school

What is a Montessori school, and would it suit my child?  

Wharfedale Montessori School, a small private pre-school and primary school, based at Bolton Abbey near Skipton, is offering the chance to parents to visit the school at any time during the spring and summer terms, and to find out for themselves.  

Principal, Jane Lord, writes:  

I am often asked what it is that we do here, and what makes us different from conventional state, or mainstream independent schools.  

Perhaps the main reason why Montessori education is different is because of its special emphasis on the learning styles and different needs and learning speeds of every child. We really do “follow the child”.

In a school like ours, which is true to Dr Montessori's philosophy, children are given the tools and guidance to follow their innate drive to learn with direction from properly qualified staff. Rather than being taught in age banded year groups, there will always be vertical banding with a three year age span - 3 to 6years, 6 to 9 years and 9 to 12 years.  Children work at their own pace, gaining confidence and developing strong independent function and high self-esteem.  They also develop a strong sense of community where they are taught that every action of theirs can impact on others and that respect and manners are of key importance. 

Whatever the children’s particular aptitudes and levels of intelligence, our approach fosters the development of positive character traits – persistence, determination and curiosity – which will benefit them all their lives, regardless of their later choice of schooling and occupation.

I know that people tend to have a lot of pre-conceptions about Montessori schools.  But when they come to visit us, people are often surprised by what they see.  They will typically see a roomful of children working busily on their own, or in pairs, or with a teacher, engaged on their own task, and concentrating on it themselves.  There will be an atmosphere of peaceful calm in the room, with maybe a quiet background hum of conversation, but everyone will be purposeful.  Our visitors then ask me, how on earth do you keep them so quiet and busy?  How do you get them to do work they might not want to do?

The answer is – they are quiet and busy because they are doing something important to them, work they have chosen to do. They get on with it because they feel they can, or will be able to do it, and because they want to discover new things and do them well.  

It is possible to present work from any subject area if you link the learning to a child's interests, and this is what we do in basing our teaching on the individual child, recording each and every new achievement and competency using a day-to-day progressive system.

It is a common misconception that children in Montessori schools can do whatever they like.  This is not true – they choose their daily work from a work schedule which is carefully tailored for their individual needs. As one of our children once said to a visiting child who asked the question, “Do you just do what you like,” “No,” he said, “Of course not, but we do like what we do!”

When children join our setting, we observe them very carefully to get to know them and their abilities.  After that, every new lesson or task the children are given, or shown how to achieve, will be chosen for each child through careful prior assessment of that particular child. This ensures that the child is given work which they are able to master, and this gives them satisfaction, self-esteem and a desire to do more.  This, in turn, leads to the development of habits of self-discipline and application.  The children start to be able to concentrate for longer and longer periods of time, and will, increasingly, be able to take on more challenging work. 
As children move through our setting, and into the primary years, they are encouraged and, if necessary, directed, to undertake and complete certain tasks on their individual work schedules, so that they will take on work and challenges across the whole of the curriculum.
Much of the children’s interest in learning comes from the appeal and efficacy of the special educational apparatus, designed by Dr Montessori, which covers sensory learning, literacy, numeracy, cultural studies, science, history, geography, music and creativity. At our school, we also teach sport and, lucky as we are with our wonderful location in Strid Wood, we can also provide extensive outdoor studies, including forest school.

Of course, eventually the children will leave us and will have to integrate into a more class-based system at secondary school.  

The life skills acquired by Montessori-educated children, especially their self-confidence and curiosity, will ensure they can adapt to any new environment.  

Although regular tests and homework are not part of the Montessori approach, we do prepare children for the transition to secondary school by introducing tests in the final primary year.  Our primary children are usually excited by this new challenge, and then generally succeed in going on to the secondary school of parental choice, many going to Ermysted’s Boys Grammar or Skipton Girls High school, others winning scholarships to Giggleswick and Bradford Grammar School, and some going into our local comprehensives. We get feedback from these schools, and they often comment on our children’s degree of self-organisation and their ability to show deep concentration for extended time periods.  Could it be this that has led to the phenomenal success in life of such people as Larry Page and Sergey Brin (founders of Google), Andrew Lloyd Webber, Hugh Grant, and many others, all Montessori-educated?

At Wharfedale Montessori we are offering parents the chance to visit on any day of the week throughout the spring and early summer.  Just telephone first so that we know you are coming and to check that we are here and not out on a school trip. We are doing this to give local parents, who will perhaps be deciding shortly on the kind of education they wish their child to have, to take a good look at the Montessori approach and to spend some time observing it in action with no obligation to go further.

All are welcome.