La Petite Fleur - Towards an outstanding quartercentury of commitment to education
A unique phenomenon: 24 years ago, the first La Petite Fleur school opened its doors in Ratmalana, Sri Lanka. Since then, La Petite Fleur schools have blossomed into a unique phenomenon in early childhood education. “La Petite Fleur” is French for “The Little Flower,” which is an affectionate name for St Thérèse of Lisieux, after whom the schools are eponymously named.
Today La Petite Fleur offers a flourishing bouquet of 8 Montessori Houses of Children, including a school in Vishakhapatnam, India, and the flagship LPF Academy. The original home of La Petite Fleur, in Ratmalana, as well as sister Houses in Dehiwala and Galle, are renowned for their Toddler and early education programs.
As La Petite Fleur grew, its mission expanded to include those who could not afford access to education outside the urban borders of Colombo. In service of that broader vision, La Petite Fleur formed a partnership with Bridge2Peace, a not-forprofit organization founded by Mrs. Anderson and her partners. Today, four Montessori Houses operate under the conjoined banner of La Petite FleurBridge2Peace, providing the highest standard of Montessori education to the underprivileged children of Lunugamwehera on the southern coast, Mullaitivu in the northeastern region, Diyatalawa in the central hill country, and Batticaloa on the northeastern coast.
Montessori and More from Toddlers to Teens: LPF Academy, the flagship school of the La Petite Fleur Group, opened on the 6th of January 2007. It represents the culmination of Bernadine Anderson’s decades of experience with children of all age groups in Sri Lanka and in the USA.
Offering holistic education from Primary to Advanced Level, the LPF Academy was the first school in the country to take the Montessori system of education into the primary levels and beyond. An important symposium organized by the LPF Schools in 2012 introduced the La Petite Fleur philosophy of secondary education to other educators in Sri Lanka. With the legacy of Dr. Maria Montessori as a firm foundation, the LPF group and their affiliated Bridge2Peace Montessori Houses have evolved a unique philosophy that integrates diverse schools of thought - including Piaget, Dewey, Malaguzzi and others. The La Petite Fleur philosophy can be adapted to the nuances of local culture while adhering to the core values of childcentred, age-appropriate inclusivity.
Other Perspectives to Education: The raison d’être of the LPF Academy runs counter-current to the prevalent system of herding students through the ever-narrowing pathways of cut-throat competitiveness to earn nominal qualifications solely aimed at obtaining specific employment. By contrast, the “holistic” approach to education embodied at the LPF Academy emphasizes subject-specific education as well as a broader notion of personal and civil enrichment, and cultivates the adaptivity needed to thrive in the ever-evolving modern world. Adhering to the smallschool concept (with only one class of 20 students per grade), the focus is on the “growing” of the whole person, based on the idea that education IS life rather than a mere preparation for life. The limited numbers ensure more intensive, personalized attention for each child.
The seeds that blossomed into the LPF Academy were 5 little La Petite Fleur Montessori graduates and their parents, who formed the first grade 1 class of the LPF Academy. Today, the LPF Academy has completed the whole cycle of secondary education and has sent one batch of students to the Advanced Level examinations. For its Advanced Level coursework, the Academy has partnered with the Cambridge programme, which offers some of the most prestigious international qualifications and espouses core values that tie in marvelously with the LPF philosophy. The Advanced Level programme is oriented towards preparation for higher education, making empowered professional choices, civic engagement, independent living, and lifelong learning.
Looking Back at 10 And Forward to 25: On the 6th of January, 2017, LPF will launch a year-long countdown to the 25th Anniversary of the first school at Ratmalana, and the ten year anniversary of the LPF Academy. The LPF Schools are delighted to have the Apostolic Nuncio in Sri Lanka, His Excellency the Most Reverend Dr. Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, as their distinguished guest to confer a special blessing on the schools as they give thanks for the last decades and gear up to continue their mission for many more decades to come.