REVIEW OF Head Start Montessori School BY parent, Alex Babut

(4.5) Student Experience

Our three girls grew up at Head Start Montessori, from the infant room to grade 3. They loved the calm, supportive environment created by the teachers. This allowed them to focus on the wide variety of activities and materials available, building their skills (and confidence) systematically. Each kid enjoyed a different aspect of the experience, from hands-on crafts and arts activities to reading and group activities. The teachers are uniformly skilled at creating customized learning plans and encouraging each child to pursue their curiosity, with gentle nudges into the various areas of the curriculum. Work products are sent home at the end of the day, and we have collected 8 bankers' boxes worth over the years - a testament to the creative output that the children are encouraged to produce. At the end, our girls graduated from Head Start Montessori feeling confident and competent, and with lots of fond memories of the friends, teachers and experiences there. They were very well prepared to enter a larger school, skipping a grade in the process without missing a beat. This is the ultimate testament to the preparation they built at Head Start Montessori.

Why Head Start Montessori School?

At the time (2016), I had visited many daycares, which were a combination of chaotic, dirty, and unavailable. Head Start Montessori struck me with its calm, clean, and purposeful environment. Ms. Shah explained the entry to the infant program and promised to work with us to transition my eldest daughter into the school environment. We were worried that her erratic nap schedule at the time would be completely upended. The teachers in the infant classroom welcomed Arianna, and she fit right in - no issues adjusting and quickly learning to walk, work with the materials, and develop her speech. We were convinced by her progress, and it was an easy choice to bring her younger sisters, when they came around, to Head Start Montessori to experience the same growth as their older sister.

Expectations vs. Reality

Head Start Montessori exceeded our expectations. It offers an environment that is very closely aligned with Montessori principles, from the uncluttered, clean decor to the wide variety of Montessori materials available in each classroom. The teachers are qualified and highly experienced. Mrs. Alvi and Ms. Shah are incredibly supportive of each family's circumstances, and they do their utmost to make the school accessible and welcoming.

Your Advice

Follow the Casa, or separately the Elementary, programs to the end. The curriculum is carefully structured to build foundational skills in the first two years of the respective level, and individual skills are brought together with complex work in the third year. The systematic approach pays huge dividends in feelings of mastery and confidence as topics come together, and I highly recommend committing to and following through the entirety of each program.

(4.5) School Leadership

Mrs. Alvi and Ms. Shah model the values of the school. They create an inclusive, accommodating and respectful environment. Communication is frequent, via weekly email newsletters. Additional clarifications are an email or phone call away. The school maintains a consistent schedule. Punctuality and discipline are emphasized. Curriculum information nights are organized about once per month, and parent-teacher interviews are once per term, or on demand for specific topics. The school maintains a handbook with policies that are enforced, which creates clear and fair expectations for parents.

(5) Teaching

Teachers at all levels are passionate, engaged, and highly qualified. They are attentive to the needs of individual children and are able to modulate their engagement based on the child's needs. I was pleasantly surprised after each interview by how many specific details they observed in our daughters' development. As parents, we gained a lot of insights from the teacher's observations of our daughters' learning styles and predispositions that we would have had a much more difficult time observing the home environment. The teachers maintain classroom discipline very calmly and effectively, creating an environment of purposeful learning. Many of the teachers have been with the school for more than a decade, which is a testament to the stability of the environment that they create through their presence.

(4.5) Academics

The academic program we experienced was Casa levels 1-3, and Elementary grades 1-3. The Casa program is focused on Montessori activities, thematically aligned to the Ontario curriculum for kindergarten. There's a strong emphasis on hands-on work, using Montessori materials - this means wood, paper, cloth and other physical material, and no screens. The children will produce a significant amount of work, so prepare your memory boxes! Everything from writing notebooks, various pieces of art, geography projects and crafts will come home regularly. The approach starts to shift from the physical to the abstract domains in grades 1 and 2. Children have access to Montessori materials, but are encouraged to work in their notebooks as they develop their math, language, geography, history and science skills. Project work is introduced, with a few larger projects that require planning and execution per year.

(3.5) Extracurriculars

There's a wide variety of extra-curricular activities offered on each day of the week, from music to yoga to martial arts. The activities are very nominally priced, making them an excellent chance to explore interests for the kids. The competitive side is not emphasized. Focus is on participation, exploration and discovery. The instructors are uniformly excellent, and parents can decide whether they want to pursue a particular activity in more competitive settings.

(4.5) Students

Class size is small (15-20 kids in Casa, 10-15 in Elementary), with good diversity. The kids are calm and friendly. My daughters made several lasting friends that we routinely meet with long after they each graduated from Head Start Montessori. Students get along well, and conflict is managed positively with the help of teachers. We did not observe instances of bad behaviour that were not addressed promptly.

(4.5) School Life

Our kids loved attending Head Start Montessori. They loved being in the peer groups of their friends at each grade level, and they developed a close relationship with the teachers. They felt appreciated and part of a wider family. We frequently heard fun stories of the school yard dynamics at recess, and all the creative games that kids came up with as they played and explored friendship dynamics.

(4) Community

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in school life. The parent council is actively looking for volunteers, and it's a dynamic group that plans fun and fundraising activities. They plan extracurricular school trips or community days to bring the families together outside of school. Ms. Alvi and Mrs. Shah are very receptive to suggestions on how to improve the classroom experience and work closely with the parent council to suggest fundraising targets that benefit the kids the most. All holidays are observed, fostering openness and a sense of community. There are celebrations at Christmas and the end of the school year, which bring parents, teachers and the children together to mingle and celebrate.

(4) School Location

The school is very conveniently located in the Atria complex. The building has underground parking, and the school is easily accessible from the street level. Students venture on supervised trips to nearby stores or libraries in the Elementary program.

(5) Admissions

Our advice to prospective parents is to be clear and decisive in your intention to attend Head Start Montessori. Ms. Alvi and Mrs. Shah are very accommodating and work very hard to find a spot for an interested family. There is an interview process to present the school and understand the needs of the prospective family. This enables both sides to evaluate the fit.