An OMS Montessori education will forever change the way your child approaches life
For 52 years, OMS Montessori has been providing a handson education to generations of children, helping build the foundations of productive, rewarding lives in a warm, encouraging environment that fosters curiosity and creativity.
Thousands of children, including three prime ministers to date, have passed through the doors of the school now located at the eastern edge of neighbourly Alta Vista.
“Children have an affinity to learn,” says Greg Dixon, OMS Montessori school director. “They are born learning. Children absorb new language and they love the acquisition of knowledge.
“What a Montessori education does is carefully perpetuate that, so that children continue to love learning, continue to love going to school, continue to be thirsty and curious, and to feel that they are successful in their learning.”
The first Montessori school was opened by Dr. Maria Montessori in 1907 to working-class children in the slum neighbourhood of San Lorenzo in Rome.
Montessori, Italy’s first female medical doctor, had given up her practice to develop her work in education, shaped by observations she made during studies of children’s problem-solving abilities.
Her approach was characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical and social development.
“We remove barriers and boundaries and help them problem-solve, so they feel they can succeed independently through the discovery method,” says Dixon, citing the founder’s emphasis on a student-centred rather than a teacher-centred education.
“The teacher is there as a guide or facilitator to really nurture education.”
Montessori’s philosophy and principles of respect, individuality and experiential learning remain at the core of the school curriculum.
And with teacher/student ratios of 1:5 among toddlers, 1:8 among three- to six-yearolds and 1:15 through elementary grades, OMS provides a safe environment where children learn at the rate that suits them best.
Maria Montessori’s conclusions about material-based learning have been reinforced by modern-day studies.
“Montessori education has changed very little,” says Dixon. “We maintain her philosophy with great attention and respect, but what we realize now is that current brain research is complementing and supporting it.
“Brain research is saying that students need to touch and feel as opposed to just listening to a lecture or a teacher explaining a lesson to a group of students.”
OMS Montessori is one of two accredited Montessori school with 245 students; its 45 staff have an average tenure of 18 years. Located on three acres, the school combines two former Catholic schools (one English and one French) into one 44,800-square-foot complex. It has an extensive library, along with flower and vegetable gardens, and an awardwinning playground.
It offers after-school music classes and multiple clubs, including swimming, horseback riding, yoga, judo, fencing, arts-and-crafts, social skills and etiquette, table-setting and meal-time manners, French language and a cordon-bleu trained chef teaching cooking classes.
“When children are picked up at the end of the day, they do not have to go elsewhere for lessons,” says Dixon. “They can have dinner with their family, talk about their day, and share that social time.”
For more information, visit www.omsmontessori.com