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Montessori Stand D12
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  PRESS RELEASE JUNE 2009
MONTESSORI GOES BACK TO ITS ROOTS IN THE STATE SECTOR
The schooling system was invented in the early 1900s by Maria Montessori to educate poor children in her native Italy. It rapidly became the World’s largest educational movement with more than 20,000 Montessori settings worldwide and over 600 schools in the UK.
Montessori is a way of life, as much as it is a way of education and it doesn’t just start when a child is old enough to go to school. The approach is about developing the whole child intellectually, socially, physically, emotionally, linguistically and spiritually while building on the child’s intrinsic desire to learn and their ability to absorb information from the environment. Montessori principles can also be applied to senior schooling and has produced some of the world’s most successful new media entrepreneurs, including Sergey Brin and Larry Page, joint founders of Google.
Montessori continues to reach out to the state sector with four Primary schools in various stages of introducing Montessori practices into their mainstream curriculum teaching in Manchester, Essex, Blackpool and Grantham with a number of new partnerships coming on stream in September.
· Montessori goes back to its roots – moves into mainstream education.
Traditional conception of Montessori: seen as a “middle class” alternative to mainstream education, mainly associated with the private pre-school nursery system. It is now gaining increasing acceptance and acknowledgement within the state system and in effect, has gone back to its roots (all be it in 21st century Britain) from Maria Montessori’s original conception (1907) and implementation of it as a nurturing form of education for impoverished children from Rome’s worst slums.
· Government’s increasing interest - DCSF and Montessori jointly published a document on Montessori and how it meets every requirement of the Foundation stage.
· Test result improvements
Gorton Mount, the first primary school to adopt Montessori was in special measures at one point. It has now been running for 4 years and has witnessed a marked improvement in children’s socialized behavior to cite just one example and improvement in test results.
· Montessori’s universal applicability
It’s worth noting that despite the 4 schools being quite different in terms of socio-demographic profile, all were attracted by Montessori’s universal applicability and unchanging ethos.
The Montessori approach has proved so successful that it has been adopted all over the world and it continues to influence mainstream educationalists thinking everywhere.
Barbara Isaacs, Academic director at MCI, London will be at the show and happy to answer further questions from the media and visitors.
Ends
For further information, photos or interview opportunities, contact Nicki Plaskow on: 020 7518 9788 or email: nicki@montessori.org.uk
Montessori Centre International
Stand Number D12
career@montessori.org.uk
www.montessori.org.uk
020 7493 8300 |
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