This week across the school, we are celebrating Dr Maria Montessori’s birthday. Did you know she would have been 153 years old this year? Did you know in 1909 Dr Montessori gave her first training course in her method to about 100 students in the Villa Montesca in Città di Castello in Italy? There, she wrote, in the space of a month, her first book, Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini. In the years to follow, this book was translated into over 20 languages. The English edition is titled The Montessori Method. Did you know that Montessori education is the largest educational method worldwide? Did you know the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) was first established by Dr. Montessori in order to train teachers in the Montessori method and that today, AMI has affiliates and training centres in the following countries;
Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo (Kinshasa), Costa Rica, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam and the Virgin Islands (U.S.).
What a phenomenal individual to have influenced so many children and educators worldwide. This makes me ponder what each one of us could do to make the world a better place.
This week we had a visit from the Brainy Bunch International Islamic Montessori School based in Malaysia but which also has campuses in Indonesia and the Philippines. Four years ago staff from these schools visited RMS as they were establishing new Primary Schools and now the team of teachers, Principal and administrative staff visited all of our sites, as they want to establish their first Adolescent Program. It was wonderful for our staff and students to be able to model best practise and our students understood the important role they can play in spreading the Montessori approach further.
Since the beginning of this term, we have been in the process of transferring our Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) program management to Our Place OSHC and Pre kindy service. RMS took this service over from Our Place in 2020 during the Covid period, unfortunately, RMS has had to outsource this service again due to the ongoing staffing shortages we have experienced. We understand our families greatly appreciate the OSHC service however the ever-increasing regulatory requirements requires a full-time administrator which would have significantly increased the cost of the service RMS could provide. We are grateful to Amy Short for working with the school again to provide the OSHC service at our two RMS primary school sites and we are eager for the imminent return of the RMS Rockingham site morning sessions. Please book in early for the school holiday program as there will be limited places at the RMS Rockingham site.
I would like to thank the parents who attended the recent Community Spirit meeting held at the Adolescent Program. It was decided to hold a new event for the school at the Adolescent Program that will be in a festival format. For this year it will take place in week two of Term 4 however going forward we would like to hold this event around the 31 August to align with Maria Montessori’s birthday celebrations. Our Carols on the Green event will be held at the Karnup campus with the children singing, all the stalls and other activities will now be moved to the festival event. The Adolescent Program students have formed a festival committee under the guidance of Lara Sclippa, one of our Penguin’s parents.
We need your help! Please contact us at reception@rms.wa.edu.au if you were unable to make the last meeting and would like to be involved in the coordination of either event. We will then put you in touch with the group arranging the events. Community Spirit plays such a vital role in our school by bringing our whole school community together, please put your hand up and be a part of this.
Vanessa Aikins.