Now halfway through getting a Bachelors in archaeology, I can look back and see the ways that the Montessori method helped me get where I am today — especially as an autistic child who struggled with the rigidity of conventional schooling.

One of the main features of Montessori is self-directed learning. While I was there, I learnt how to research things I found interesting and present them to others, about nature through growing plants, raising butterflies, and examining rocks and fossils in the classroom, and about more abstract concepts like Mathematics by seeing them demonstrated with physical objects. There was also a focus on learning about other cultures. As an example, I had a penpal in India who I’m still in contact with even now via social media. Parents and past-pupils would also visit and teach us about some of their work — one I remember was a NASA researcher!

Another aspect of this is the independence that Montessori teaches. For example, instead of having a set time to have a snack in the mornings, we could choose when to have it ourselves, as well as cleaning up the snack area when we were done. When we put on Nativity plays at Christmas, it was a group of students who wrote the script, using previous years examples as reference and inspiration. And of course, when the RDS science fair came around, we’d brainstorm ideas for a project as a class and figure out how we’d approach it, looking at questions like ‘What Way is Up?’ and ‘H2O, Is That All It Is?’. In Montessori, children are trusted to do things themselves, which helps build confidence and competence in their abilities.

• support for thinking for one’s self
• developing a sense of wonder
• and encouragement to explore