The school has both English speaking and French speaking teachers. Lessons are conducted in English in the morning & French in the afternoon. Scott & I settle in a corner of the classroom, flies on the wall, to observe for half an hour before leaving. I serruptiously take in my surroundings – shelves upon shelves of materials are neatly piled up against the wooden walls, the children seem full of purpose and quietly go about their business setting up mats on the floor and laying out materials, or gathering in a corner and discussing a project they’re working on. What strikes me is the calm atmosphere – no shouting or hullabuloo.
Pete pairs an older girl to each of mine. Bo, my 5 year old, and her partner are setting out a maths lesson. They pore over the floor carefully putting the materials in place – long wooden strips of differing lengths. Minnie, meanwhile, is also fully engrossed in a maths lesson. She’s bent over counting out beads, learning about volume. Everything I see is visual and creative. Little pods of activity hum with energy and there’s a palpable will to learn. Pete is not standing in front of the class teaching, but moves around the classroom guiding where necessary and offering advice. He is greeted with absolute respect and the buzz of the classroom is positively uplifting. The children are trusted to get on with it, and incredibly they do.
After a quick confer with Pete, the girl helping Bo selects the next lesson- a mash up of English, French and Biology. She starts by lifting Bo onto a stool to show her one of the two school horses happily munching on hay not 20 metres from the window. Next Bo’s handed ten or so laminated squares printed with a horse outline. Various parts of the horse have been coloured in red. The task is to match the body part with the French/ English word. Bo needs a bit of help with this as in the UK she’s still only learning to read, but she doesn’t seem to be out of her depth at all, and she’s fully connected to the activity. Activities are kept short to keep kids tuned in. As soon as they lose interest, they can switch to something else.
I try to absorb it all. It seems clear as day when seeing it in practice. After 10 minutes of observation – I totally get it. I love seeing my girls so engaged. So easy, so obvious – nurturing creativity, stimulating independent thinking, and allowing children to grow at their own rate. My lingering thought is how sad this kind of education comes with a price tag and not readily available to every child.It’s with a cacophony of excitement that Scott and I drive down to Chamonix for a coffee to discuss what we’ve just witnessed.
Something that doesn’t sit well with me in the UK is the consistent vigorous testing of children now from 4 years old. The new government regulations are crushing creativity in schools and are disabling teachers. Montessori differs from this hardcore testing approach by looking long term. Instead of testing every year, it’s done at the end of 6 years at 12 years old. This longevity approach translates into seemingly zero stress in the classroom. This is exactly the impression I get in Pete’s classroom – oodles of time – no anxiety – pas du stress. The children seem kind and respectful with a concrete self-belief, that at such a young age is enviable. Picking the girls up later, I leave with a sense of wonderment, an image detailed in my mind of the self assured young women my girls could become with such an education.Of course the skeptic still fires off questions such as “won’t there be holes in their education if the kids can simply ‘opt out’ of subjects they don’t want to study?”, “What happens at age 12 when the Montessori method simply stops?”, “Could I put faith in a system which wouldn’t actually test my child’s results until so far down the line?
” I’ve merely dipped my toe into Montessori so these questions are completely natural and Pete is more than approachable to discuss these and more. Overall, I’m seriously impressed and I can see my girls thriving here.Are we still interested in putting our girls into this school for the Winter? Definitely! With a philosophy of “to teach children to love to learn” what is not to love about this school? I am frankly blown away!
For more information visit:
http://montessori-montblanc.fr/
5 comments
Wow, this is giving me itchy feet and making me realise that dreams can come true. A season with the children and a good, fun education is really possible. Watch out Chamonix,the Burts maybe heading your way sometime soon…
Wow! I have just come across your blog as have been thinking about planning a ski season with my 6 year old twins in 2019. Did you find any other schooling options for children either in Chamonix or other resorts? I would like to discover what options are available…
Hi Alison
My girls spent the first season at the Montessori and then we moved them to mainstream French school. I think we were too scared to do this first off but in retrospect I wish we had. They didn’t learn much French at Montessori and after being in French school now for a year, their French is really really coming on and they are expected to be fluent within another 6 months.
So the options here in Chamonix are either the Montessori, getting a private tutor for Maths and English (I can recommend a good maths teacher) or putting them into mainstream French school. I know people that have done all of these options. For us, as we decided to stay longer in France then mainstream school has definitely been the best option. If you’re definitely only here to do a season, then it’s up to you. Montessori is a lovely environment and stress free (for both you and the twins) but very expensive. A private tutor would give them more time to ski and have more time as a family but might not work if you are working remotely from home etc as well. Or mainstream school. The main schools in Chamonix are Centre, Jacques Balmat, Argentiere, Les Houches, Les Bossons. It depends where you will be living as to which one you will be allocated to. It is free and easy to register – you will need their vaccination certificates and will have to get private school insurance but it is only around 15 euros each per child. I can give you details on how to apply if you wish. Mainstream school now has Weds off so only a 4 day week from 8.30 – 4.30pm so you get 3 days to ski with your kids 🙂
Hello Mags, interesting story.
It appears you moved your family to the region before Brexit. Do you live there (France) full time now? We are considering a move to the Haute Savoie/Haute Alpes region in late 2023 when I finish work here in the Middle East. We have two little ones, my wife is Russian (I am British).
I’d be interested to hear how easy it was to get your two into state school there, and what criteria had to be met. And how did they cope with playing and interacting with other children in a different language at such a young age? Ours will be 5 and 3 by the time we make the move. Thanks in advance.
Hi Lol great to hear from you. It’s easy to get the kids into school here, you just need an address so a bill with your name and address on and their vaccination certificate. It means its hard to register them into school until you actually get here but it’s done quite quickly and you will be allocated a place in a state school regardless. You will need to email the Marie (town hall) and they will give you all the information and the documents that need to be sent. Ours were 5 and 7 when they first came and it has taken quite a long time to learn the language even being fully immersed in school, more time than I thought. Yours will be younger when they arrive so the transition will be quicker. It was a big worry for me but I think it’s harder for the parents than for the children!