Important update on Primrose House

Here is the text of an email sent to our supporters today: 

Dear Friends and Supporters

I’m writing to update you on plans for Primrose House, the proposed Montessori Free School in Lewisham. We received encouraging feedback on our proposal from the Department for Education today. It praised in particular the school’s proposed ethos and curriculum and our group’s capacity to deliver them. It also noted the strong evidence of demand for a Montessori primary school in our local community.

However, we have agreed that it is unrealistic to proceed with opening the school by September this year given the very tight timeframe and the enormous amount that remains to be done, in particular finding and renovating the right permanent site.  So, we are pursuing the goal of opening in September 2012.  

Although this may be a disappointment to those who wanted to apply for their child to start this year (I include myself), we believe our group will be much better-placed to offer outstanding provision in permanent premises with the right school leader from 2012.

The DfE recognises the strength of our proposal and has encouraged us to continue to work towards opening a parent-led Free School. We will spend 12^th March with the New Schools Network at a workshop for proposers from all over the country who are planning to open the doors to their schools in September next year. In the meantime, the hunt continues for the right building and an inspirational school leader.

I would like to thank everyone who has given us such strong support along the way. We have worked extremely hard and come a long way in the four months since we embarked on this journey. It is not over, just taking a little longer than we would like. Please continue to support the campaign and register your interest for a place at the school. We will need help with fundraising in the coming months and I hope some of you may volunteer some fantastic ideas and efforts.

Keep up to date with news on our blog and our facebook page.  Our February newsletter is coming soon. Thanks again for your continued support.

Montessori on my mind

Working day and night on the Free School campaign, I’ve had Montessori on my mind. It’s been a crash course, I confess. Knowing I liked the way it looked, respected its results and admired its practitioners was different to being able to write knowledgeably about it or argue convincingly in defence of Montessori in a bid for government funding. This kind of immersion in the subject has got me thinking differently about the things I do with, and particularly for, my children.

Montessori 101. It’s all about the kids, their independence, self-confidence and self-discipline. I have begun to realise that even at the age of three (she would indignantly yell “three and three quarters actually”) there’s a lot my daughter can do for herself that, out of habit, I continue to do for her unquestioningly. Reminded by my growing awareness of Montessori philosophy, I am encouraging her to fend for herself more.

This may sound like neglectful or lazy parenting. Not the case. Her delight at being able to do more for herself and even her little brother, her pride in getting it right is evident. When I told her today that she can make a jug of juice, a flavour of her choice, each morning and help herself to it whenever she wants to, she was thrilled at how “grown up” she had become.

This is hardly lazy parenting. There’s the supervision and the gentle guidance and reminders to mop up. It’s all a big investment in time and patience that I can’t always make given the pressures of working full-time and being human with limited patience. How much easier it would be to pour the juice myself but small freedoms are at the heart of Montessori. They may be small to us, but they are huge, exciting achievements when you’re three (and three quarters).

When I read that Montessori classrooms have only child-sized furniture, I began to question why, for example when decorating the children’s room I put pictures on the wall level with my eye line and not theirs. What pleasure can she get from her favourite flower picture when it’s six feet off the ground? I am trying to be better at seeing the world as my children see it and acting accordingly. I have a long way to go.

I am lucky to have grown up close to a grandmother who, though she never made a comparative study of teaching methods (or anything else), was I now realise, a natural Montessorian. Some of my earliest memories are of ambling walks through featureless areas of suburban Kent that she managed to turn into fantastic adventures. We picked, smelled and ate wild blackberries and she let me create outlandish recipes, the results were often inedible, but I weighed, measured, mixed and learned along the way.

When it came to revising for ‘O’ levels, ‘A’ levels and even my degree, she invited me into her tiny, peaceful and orderly home where she surrounded me with everything I needed to learn. While I was conjugating Latin verbs, she was renting “I, Claudius” on video and borrowing library books about Roman civilization. She would tell me to abandon the grammar for an hour and ask me questions like: “So, how did they really speak?” and “What did Romans eat for lunch?” Again – time and patience.

Some might say her dedication to the cause of learning through discovery was extreme. When my eight-year-old cousin told her he wondered how it would feel to break an egg on someone’s head, without hesitation, she told him to try it on her. So strong was her belief that a child needs to experiment, she was willing to be the guinea pig.

Like Montessori teachers, she operated no system of rewards for good behaviour. She never seemed to need it. Materially, she had nothing to give but I see now from my venture into the world of Montessori where “grace and courtesy” prevail, the value of what she left me. She would be surprised to know that there is any debate over the merits of Montessori so obvious is its benefit, let alone whether teaching should be child-led. As far as she was concerned, everything in life was.  

Here are some of the questions that parents have asked us. It's already quite a long list but I'm sure there are many more. I hope you find it useful. Please get in touch and tell us what we've forgotten to tell you! 

Question:  When will the school open and where will it be?

Answer:  The school could open as soon as September 2011. We’re investigating sites around Lewisham and the council has offered us support in finding a suitable building. The government has relaxed some change of use planning laws to allow a wider range of buildings to be used as schools. The Department for Education is even offering facilities on its own sites to prospective free schools. 

Question: Would I have to pay to send my child there?

Answer:  No.  A “free” school is fully funded by the government just as an ordinary state school would be. The difference is that they fall outside the control of the local authority. Schools will receive more funding for a poorer child, that is one eligible for free school meals, creating a strong incentive for free schools to be inclusive and diverse. Read more about free schools here.

Question:  What do parents know about running a school?

Answer: Not much! Parents won't run the day-to-day life of the school. Some parents would sit on a governing body and be known as "trustees." We would hire in the services of an educational provider giving careful consideration to the choice and taking expert advice.

Question:  Will it have the same admissions criteria as other schools in Lewisham?

Answer: All free schools must abide by the Schools admissions code. It will prioritise the admission of cared for children, those with special needs and siblings. The over-subscriptions policy remains to be decided. We expect there to be strong links with Montessori pre-schools, in particular those that have been approved by the stringent Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board. This will help build a solid foundation for the new and growing school and ensure that the philosophy is properly applied.

Question: What does Montessori really mean? 
Answer: Maria Montessori was one of the most important early years educators of the 20th century. She believed children learn best by doing. She designed special resources to encourage independence and a love of learning. Her ideas have had a profound influence on the education of young children all over the world. More about Montessori. The approach is holistic and nurturing and based on the principle that the years from birth to six are when children have the greatest capacity to learn. A Montessori classroom has high quality materials and offers children freedom to choose their activities. Very informative website which makes it all real.

Question:  The Montessori thing sounds a bit ‘hippy.’ Will my child achieve anything academically?

Answer:  Children educated by well-trained, passionate Montessori teachers learn to read and write, add up and subtract just like children in other schools. The approach of the teacher is different however. She directs children to opportunities to learn that are appropriate to their developmental stage. Each child is encouraged to learn through exploration, to reach its full potential as an individual. Learning should be fun but based on a solid plan. Freedom to choose doesn't mean never choosing maths! Very informative website which makes it all real.

Question:  Will my child be able to cope and settle in at mainstream secondary school?

Answer:  Montessori education builds children’s self-confidence and desire for learning which will help them handle change and challenges. In other countries, Montessori is much more widely used with successful results. And anyway, who says we won't be campaigning for a secondary Montessori in Lewisham by then? 

Question:  How many children will it take?

Answer: Somewhere between 140 and 252 we expect. A lot will depend on the kind of building we find and on how great the demand for places turns out to be. The first intake will likely be reception, year one and possibly year two so it would start small and grow to ensure quality. The government has said that free schools will get extra help in the early days as they grow and before they reach full financial efficiency. Children in Montessori classrooms work in mixed age groups. We expect to group the children according to the following ages: 5-6 years, 7-9 years and 9-11 years. Children have so much to learn from each other, older and younger.

Question:  What does the application process involve?

Answer: The campaign is working towards completing the ‘free’ school proposal in the next couple of months. The New Schools Network, a charity helping groups trying to set up schools, will review the draft and help us plug any gaps and fix any mistakes. Our proposal will then go to the Department for Education for approval. If successful, we move on to the business planning stage and the real challenge starts. Eight proposed schools have had the business stage approved. 

Question:  How can I help?

• Sign the petition  and get others to sign
• Spread the word with posters and cards supplied by Primrose House
• Raise funds, offer raffle prizes
• Sponsor the campaign through your business
• Write for the newsletter newsletter which is available here
• Help keep local forums up to date
• Liaise with local nurseries
• Write to your Member of Parliament, Councillors
• Help build our database of contacts by suggesting possible supporters and sponsors

Our website is now LIVE!!

Finally after a bit of hard work we now have a website www.primroseprimary.com

Look out for our website

We will be launching our website very soon so watch this space.

Primrose House Information Day

On January 21st 2011 we are hosting a day of Information to parents and the public that are interested in supporting our campaign. It will be held in the room above Rose House at St. George's Church Vancouver Road SE23. We want to get as many people motivated and informed about our plans for a Primary school in Lewisham.

If you are interested and would like to find out more then please email us at freeschoolcampaign@gmail.com