Montessori St Nicholas statement on Free Schools

Montessori St Nicholas Charity, the largest Charity in Europe supporting Montessori, has announced its position on the Free Schools initiative.

The charity’s board of trustees welcome the Free Schools venture to provide young people with the best possible chance to succeed. They endorse the view that there should be greater education choice and freedom for parents and children when selecting schools in their local area.

Fundamental to the Montessori approach is the belief that a child’s early years – from birth to six – are the period when they have the greatest capacity to learn. The current shortage of state provision for Montessori means that a flying start for children is limited to the private sector.

The charity wants to create an environment where the Montessori approach is available to all, regardless of social background. It supports individuals or groups who plan to create Montessori Free Schools. It offers school grants and subsidies for equipment, Montessori teacher training and advice on how to create “best practice” Montessori settings.

This offer is only available to those Montessori Free School individuals or groups who agree to undergo the Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board process within two years of opening.

The charity introduced the scheme in 2008 to help ensure that all schools using the Montessori name are genuine and promote best practice in their education and care for children. The MEAB scheme provides external verification for this process.

For further information contact the CEO, Philip Bujak at The Montessori St Nicholas Charity on philip.bujak@montessori.org.uk

Philip Bujak, CEO.