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  Meet the Team
   
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  About the Montessori St Nicholas Charity
   
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  Birts Scholarships from the Montessori St. Nicholas Charity
   
  • Past Winners
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  Corporate Partners
   

Each year the trustees of the charity together with the Chief Executive consider applications for scholarship awards towards the costs of training as a Montessori teacher. Between five and ten Birts Scholarship Awards are made annually and can range from £1,000 to £5,000. Occasionally the board will consider making small awards for other applications such as help with equipment needs where funds allow.

The charity acts to support and extend the Montessori method of education and provides financial support to those teachers and students engaged in training as Montessori staff. The current chairperson of the Awards Committee is Mrs Gillian Nester-Smith.

The Birts Scholarships

The Birts Scholarships are awarded annually in memory of Mrs Bridget Birts who was a student and later lecturer in English Language and Literature at the University of London. Mrs Birts carried out research into early Tudor comedy but gave up this work to become a nurse. After training at the Nightingale School at St. Thomas' Hospital she studied midwifery at Edinburgh leaving nursing when she married.

With two daughters, Mrs Birts decided to study the Montessori Method at the St. Nicholas College and was asked very quickly to contribute to evening classes and later went on to work in local primary, secondary and grammar schools. Eventually Mrs Birts concentrated on her work at St. Nicholas becoming a full time lecturer by 1978.

Mrs Birts found time to learn seven languages and played the piano, harmonium and organ as well as singing in her college choir. Mrs Birts' husband Kenneth became member of the Board of Trustees of the Montessori St. Nicholas Centre in 1981.

In 1983 Kenneth Birts passed away and Mrs Birts set up a bursary fund to provide for the training fees of a UK graduate from any discipline, who wanted to become a Montessori teacher. In 2000 the trustees joined forces with the bursary fund to create the Birts Scholarships. These were enlarged from one per annum to the current five to ten awards each year. The awards are now open to non-graduates too.

Award Meetings for 2010/11

Awards criteria

These are:

• Awards are available for applicants taking the MCI Certificate or Diploma Courses ONLY. Awards are not available for other courses.
• Applicants must be existing members of the Montessori Schools Association (membership is free and can be obtained via the MSA section of this website) — membership numbers need to be quoted on the Grants Application Form.
• Awards range between £1,000 and £5,000 per individual or project and are only available to UK residents and UK citizens in possession of a full British passport. Courses must be taken at a Montessori St Nicholas charity recognised UK teacher training college offering MCI Courses.
• Applicants must demonstrate that they have a strong commitment to Montessori education and show how the award, if received, would be used to the benefit of the Montessori movement.
• Applicants must also be supported by at least one referee who, if possible, is associated with the Montessori method — e.g. current or past Head of a Montessori school, Montessori trainer or other similar activity. This however is not essential.
• References from employers can be additional to this - * references from staff employed at the training college where the course is to be taken are not admissible.
• Awards are made on merit and with a geographical distribution of funds all across the UK.
• All awards must be taken up within one calendar year of the award date after which the award becomes null and void and the funds can be transferred to another candidate.
• No second applications can be considered

Applications process

Applicants should contact the offices of the Montessori St Nicholas Charity to receive an application form either by:

Completed applications together with Montessori reference, a passport photograph and current CV should be returned by the deadline dates (see above). If you have any questions at all please contact us. A letter acknowledging receipt of applications will not be sent out unless requested and all applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application within 10 days of the meeting date.

Payment procedure

Applicants who are successful in their application for a training grant from the charity will be informed in writing.  A letter to the training provider stating that a grant has been awarded will be enclosed. In all but the most exceptional of circumstances, grants will be paid to the training provider only and retrospectively on a termly basis on receipt of an invoice by the charity. Thus training providers can draw down the awarded fund on a termly basis confirming that the term has been successfully completed.