OMS Montessori

From Maria Montessori’s brilliant education design, our school was founded in 1966. A project created and carried out by Kate Wells and her husband. The first Ottawa Montessori School was located in the New Edinburg/Rockliffe Park area and taught by Ms. Jeanne Van Dijk, who trained under Dr. Maria Montessori. Over a number of years, the school grew to four locations, including both English and Francophone Casa classes. In 1973, Beth Mackay opened the first Elementary class and several years later, the Upper Elementary class was opened by Pat McLaughlin. Our Francophone Lower Elementary program saw the light of day in the late seventies under the tutelage of Erna Handa.

In 1985, our current Alta Vista campus was established. It has undergone several renovations to create a beautiful Montessori community. In 1998, Monica Pecek opened the first Francophone Upper Elementary class while our Toddler community was established under the direction of Susan Jones.

The one of a kind, urban Montessori High School, The Element, was championed by Pat Gere and opened its doors in 2014. This second campus of OMS Montessori is located at Lansdowne Park, in the Glebe. In September 2019, the first Bilingual Casa class opened under the leadership of Carrie Whalen, Head of School. OMS Montessori is CCMA accredited and is recognized as a leading Montessori school in Canada.

OMS Montessori’s unique environment provides our students with the opportunity to excel academically, socially and athletically. For more than fifty years, we have offered a Montessori education in both official languages. We are the only school to offer a 100% Francophone authentic Montessori program in Ottawa. Within our English classes we offer an enriched French Second Language curriculum, facilitating the development of strong bilingual Montessori students. Throughout the school year, there are various events to encourage our Francophone students to be proud of their cultural heritage and to expose our English-speaking students to the distinct characteristics of the Francophone culture.

Our Toddlers blossom in a bilingual environment where a minimum of one adult speaks French. This enables the toddlers to clearly associate a specific language to one person and encourages them to develop strong oral skills in both languages. Meals and gathering times are an opportunity to share in both languages.

Our Casa environment offers parent three distinct options. Our Francophone Casa class was designed for children with at least one Francophone parent. These children are speaking fluent French upon entering the program.

Children who do not speak French may enrol in one of our three English Casa classes where they receive 30 minutes of French lessons four times a week at age 4, and 30 minutes of French lessons 5 times a week when they are 5. Each Casa class also has an assistant who only speaks French to the students.

Our bilingual Casa class is led by two Montessori Directresses (one who speaks French and one who speaks English). This class is the ideal environment for children who understand some French but not enough to qualify for the Francophone class. Ideally, the child has at least one parent who can encourage French at home and are considering enrolling their child in our Francophone Elementary program.

In our Francophone Elementary classes, the students are exposed to an enriched French program, which includes reading, writing and grammar activities. Additionally, the first and second year students also receive three hours of French Enrichment classes every week. English as a Second language classes begin in the third year. By the time our students reach the Upper Elementary level, they are bilingual and are capable of reading, writing and completing grammar activities at the same level as our Anglophone students. By the age of 12, our students have the skills to succeed at The Element, our High School program, or a Francophone high school of their choice.

Students in our English Elementary program receive French as a Second Language classes in small groups three times a week. Lower Elementary students receive 4.5 hours per week and Upper Elementary students receive 5 hours per week of French as a second language. Although our French and English Montessori programs are distinct, our students from both programs have the opportunity to interact daily during intramurals, recess and in our aftercare programs. We hold bilingual student assemblies and our Francophone staff chat with all students in French when they meet them in the hall or during their recess duties. Cultural diversity is a strength! Access to an authentic Montessori education in both official languages gives all our students an incredible advantage. OMS Montessori truly provides an education that is beyond the ordinary.

At OMS, the Toddlers are cared for by the same adults, in the same environment throughout the day; before and after ‘school’ care is incorporated into their program. The Toddler Community is truly their home away from home. Our Toddler environment is as home–like as possible but with Toddler-size sinks, toilets and shelves. Unlike other Montessori programs, there are only a small number of Toddlers together (up to 15) and a larger number of adults (a 5:1 ratio of children to adult) because Toddlers need more one-on-one assistance than older students. However, all activities in the community are designed to foster independence and self–reliance.

When Dr. Maria Montessori set up her first class for children ages 3 to 7, (which she called a Casa dei Bambini – a children’s home), she observed that some activities appealed to the children more than others. The activities that engaged the children fully (or put them in a state of ‘flow,’ to use the modern term coined by psychologist Mihály Csikszentmihályi) became the basis of the international Montessori Casa curriculum for 3 to 6 year olds that is found around the globe today.

In considering the types of materials that fully engaged the young child, Dr. Montessori realized that in addition to the human tendencies we all have for communication, exploration and order, children have periods of development when some tendencies or sensitivities are much more pronounced than others. For the young child, these sensitivities include what Montessori termed an absorbent mind; the ability of young children to absorb the culture and language in which they exist. For example, young children naturally mimic what the adults around them do and say. Young children are also very interested in exploring their world through their senses; this helps explain why they have such a strong desire to move and explore. These children also have a strong sense of order and a tendency to repeat things independently.

By respecting and responding to children’s natural tendencies Dr. Montessori was able to create a learning environment for young children that has stood the test of time. The ‘Casa’ classroom is a prepared environment that stimulates the development of motor skills, the senses, cognition, language, eye-hand coordination, and independence. A Montessori prepared environment encourages the full development of children physically, emotionally, socially and academically.

Students between 6 – 12 years of age are entering a new stage of development. The absorbent mind of the younger child is evolving into a conscious mind. Elementary students are interested in reasons, explanations, and the perspective of time; they love grand ideas and lofty concepts— the bigger, the better. They are eager to explore.

Students of elementary age have developed a sure sense of what is real and now enjoy using their imaginations to explore things that they cannot experience concretely, such as other cultures or big ideas. The concrete, manipulative work of the pre-school Casa program naturally gives way to more abstract, intellectual work. Elementary students are also more aware of their peers, community, and global issues. They are less focused on physical order and more interested in a moral sense of order. They have a strong sense of justice, fairness and rules.