Tuscany’s first Montessori school has just opened its doors. The school, in Siena, is called the Casa dei Bambini after the original Montessori school in Rome.
Owned by Siena city council, the school enrolled 35 children between the ages of four and six. Teachers have all undergone training at the Opera Nazionale Montessori. Using the education method she developed, Maria Montessori founded the first Montessori school in 1907. More than a century later, the educational method is globally acclaimed for fostering children’s self-reliance and nurturing their psychological, physical and social development. Although teachers are present and involved, classroom activities are child-centred and self-directed, in keeping with the focus on learning through trial and error, collaboration and autonomous problem solving that are the hallmarks of the Montessori method.
The new school in Siena brings the total number of Montessori schools in Italy to 117. Casa dei Bambini is opening at a critical moment for preschools and early childhood education in Tuscany. To combat overcrowding and accessibility issues, the Tuscan Region recently made a 17.5 million euro investment to establish new classrooms, along with an expanded list of resources, services and funds for parents.
