Barrenjoey Montessori School: The Family You Choose

by Melissa Chandler
Principal, Barrenjoey Montessori School

At BMS, a child doesn't move through a new set of teachers each year, before anyone's truly settled in. They stay with the same class and the same educators for a full three year cycle, from ages three to six, six to nine, nine to twelve.

Three years is long enough for a teacher to know how a child concentrates, what lights them up, and what they need when things aren't going so well. It's long enough to know you too, and to become a familiar, trusted part of your child's life. That kind of knowing doesn't happen in a term. It happens over years, the same way it does within a family.

Walk into one of our classrooms and you'll see something else that feels familiar; children of different ages working alongside one another. A six year old isn't separated from a nine year old because they're at different stages. They share the same space, and the younger children watch the older ones and learn from them. They see what is possible. They absorb how things are done.

The older children have a role too. They help. They explain. They show someone younger how something works. They learn to notice when someone needs support, and in helping others, they deepen their own understanding.

It's not simply a classroom management technique. It's one of the things that makes a Montessori classroom feel like a living community, a family where everyone has something to contribute. That's the heart of what we're doing at BMS, and it goes well beyond academics.

Alongside the academic knowledge and skills they are gaining, Montessori teaches how to care for themselves and their environment, how to work with others, how to persist when something is difficult, and how to become increasingly independent.

You see it in the smallest things. A three year old carefully pouring their own water, wiping up a spill without being asked. A child returning to a piece of work because they want to finish it properly. Children speaking to one another and to adults with quiet respect, because that is what they experience every day.

These aren't qualities we hope show up eventually. They're built slowly, in a community where children are trusted, supported and expected to contribute.

Our parents aren't visitors to this community either, they're part of it. You'll find them at working bees, at community gatherings, sharing a skill, or showing up simply because showing up is what families do for each other. By the time a child leaves us, it isn't just their teacher who knows them well. It's a whole community of people who have watched them grow.

We want every child who walks through our gates to feel, from the very first day, that they belong. That they are known. That they have something to contribute. Not a school they attend, but a family they're part of.

That's the family we've built here, one with a love of the beach on our doorstep, and more than 40 years of watching children grow into exactly who they were meant to be. We'd love for your family to be part of it too.

We have places available now for Preschool and Primary. Come and see for yourself. Join me for a personal tour so I can hear your story and all about your child.

Contact: principal@bms.nsw.edu.au

Playgroup, Preschool & Primary | 2 Tasman Road, Avalon 2107  | (02) 9973 1422 | info@bms.nsw.edu.au

‍