Montessori-style school set to open in Brandon

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This article was published 07/11/2023 (686 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Parents of young children in Brandon will soon have another option for early child education and care when Smile Montessori opens next week.

Smile Montessori, which is located at 1150 19th St., is a private educational facility for ages two to six years and will be opening next Wednesday, Nov. 15. This is the first Montessori location in Brandon. Currently there are a number of Montessori-style education facilities in Winnipeg, Ontario and B.C.

Smile Montessori owner Christina Rose said she was drawn to the Montessori philosophy of education while shopping around Brandon for child care for her now five-year-old twins.

“We started to look for child care and, you know, came across the same obstacles that everybody else does, which is very limited (in selection) and it’s hard to get on a wait list. And maybe you don’t get to choose where you want to take your children. Maybe it’s just wherever there’s a spot or wherever you can find an opening the quickest,” Rose said.

It was then she said she was attracted to the student-led learning that happens at the Montessori school.

“What happened actually was Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, took a group of children in Italy and they were all from a low income and in poverty, and she created a free school,” Rose said. “It was called the Children’s House. So she invited all these children to come and work through this methodology that she had created. And at the end of the year, what she found was all of these children were performing much higher than all the children that were in these really expensive private schools. They were much calmer, they had much better temperaments. Their academia was much further ahead.”

Rose said the Montessori curriculum is delivered in a nurturing and exploratory environment, using handcrafted tools to engage children in math, science and reading at an earlier age, compared to traditional daycare or preschool. The school will have three early childhood educators, who received additional training from a Montessori specialty program. Rose said one teacher will join Smile Montessori from a similar Winnipeg facility and another two are coming from overseas, to deliver the enriched learning curriculum.

“While (children) are with us, they’re going to be in a Montessori environment, following a Montessori curriculum with a Montessori teacher. So even the little ones when they’re, you know, two or three years old, they’re in a classroom and they have a formal teacher. And that teacher guides them through a structured Montessori curriculum and supports them,” Rose said.

”So even though it’s a daycare, and it’s full-time care, in that sense, it’s just a little bit different with what they do with their time while they’re with us.”

The fee, or tuition per child, varies depending on a two, three or five-day schedule. Parents will pay $516 monthly for a two-day week, $774 per month for a three-day week and $1,290 per month for a five-day schedule. Rose said the cost is very competitive with the Winnipeg Montessori locations.

Rose said there are plans in the works to add children in Grades 1 to 4 in the fall of 2024. Smile Montessori is still accepting applications for children ages two to six. To find the application or to learn more, visit www.montessorismile.com

»khenderson@brandonsun.com