Brisbane Montessori School

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About

Brisbane Montessori is a vibrant, passionate, and enthusiastic Montessori community; an inspirational working model of learning for life.

Story

We are fortunate to offer our children an education in a unique location along the banks of the Brisbane River. Approximately 12km from the city, our school nests in a beautiful nature reserve where our children enjoy an abundance of fresh air, shady trees and open space.

The Brisbane Montessori School was incorporated as a company in 1981 following the vision of a group of five dedicated parents who shared a dream of providing a Montessori Primary School education for their children.

In 1982 the Brisbane Montessori School commenced a primary programme with one voluntary teacher and five children whose first classroom was the verandah of an old Queenslander.

In November 1989 a milestone in the history of the school was achieved. After seven years in various temporary premises our school occupied the first stage of its own new and permanent home at Fig Tree Pocket. The school was formally opened by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and in 2012 celebrated our 30th Anniversary. Since these modest beginnings, our school has grown to be one of the largest Montessori schools in Australia.

We currently have the following Montessori programmes:

- Infant and Toddler Community (0 - 3 year olds)
- Montessori Independent Toddler Community (15 months - 3 year olds)
- Children's House (3 - 6 year olds)
- Lower Primary (6 - 9 year olds)
- Upper Primary (9 - 12 year olds)
- Middle School (12 - 15 year olds)

Our school delivers the Montessori National Curriculum as approved by ACARA, the national body that approved the Australian National Curriculum in 2012. The Montessori Curriculum has been mapped against the Australian National Curriculum so that parents can feel assured that children attending Brisbane Montessori School are covering approved content.

We conduct school tours on Wednesdays. All families are who interested in Montessori education are also invited to attend a 1 hour observation of the age group matching your children on either a Tuesday or Wednesday. You are welcome to attend any of the Montessori Parent Education programmes on our school calendar. Please phone the school on (07) 3327 0600 to book these appointments.

Mission

Learning for Life

Address: 12 Mactier St, Fig Tree Pocket QLD 4069, Australia

Phone: (07) 3327 0600

Website

ua.ude.dlq.smb@seiriuqne

State: Queensland

City: Fig Tree Pocket

Zip Code: 4069

Opening Hours

Monday: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Tuesday: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Wednesday: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Thursday: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: Closed

Update Info

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Reviews

I have had an association with this school for 5 years my niece, nephew and child attend.  Overall, BMS is focused on the children, the parents and the staff and that is a very, very complex balance to get right. The quality of teaching has only been getting better over the years, the facilities are often being upgraded but not in an opulent way and the community is so, so healthy I think a lot of us do not know what many other school communities are like. It is also and this is extremely important, 100% committed to the Montessori method. I can say this with confidence as I have had over 30 years experience in Montessori including having attended Montessori as a child. This school does Dr. Montessori's legacy proud and one must remember that no two classroom environments will look the same, but the central tenants are all being followed and training provided wherever gaps are identified.  So, if you are looking for a school which leads with the heart, has a wonderful parent teacher community and does its absolute best to train and implement Montessori education, then BMS fits the bill. The beautiful facilities and grounds are just a bonus.  If you have had a positive experience with this place, you should also leave a review!!

I had 2 children attend BMS for 3 years. There is a true Montessori spirit to the school and our family joined BMS after a combined 12yrs of Montessori schooling in another country and seeing many leading schools and teacher education increasingly moving towards Montessori concepts in their pedagogy speaks volumes. The school went through a lot of positive changes under the new principal with many new systems and policies introduced. It was not all perfect with one teacher sadly not bringing out the best in our child for a range of reasons but I will say that school management absolutely bent over backwards to try and improve the situation.   They were highly supportive rather than defensive so we still view our experience positively.  Also the school community was incredibly warm, welcoming and down to Earth.  The school setting is just beautiful with so much space and greenery.   A great place for children to learn and grow.  Finally also happy to report that my kids have transitioned very well into their new schools for high school and commuting reasons and I attribute this to their independence and strong sense of self so well nurtured at BMS.

Serious governance issues and a high proportion of problem kids/parents  The school is located in a beautiful and serene part of Brisbane. It has several caring, talented and dedicated teachers and teaching assistants. Unfortunately, its current management lets it down, leading an increasing number of families to vote with their feet and leave.  Before coming to BMS, we experienced another Montessori school IMCH where staff were amazing and where our child flourished. Our experience this time has been quite different. Today we regret having joined BMS.  A first concern is that the school attracts more than its fair share of problem kids who do not fit into more traditional settings. It is an issue for other children who, as a result, get less teaching time and attention. With problem kids often come problem parents, prone to blame their children's difficulties onto others.  Another important issue is that the school is run with the help of a handful of cronies backing management and retaining information. Input from other parents - particularly new comers - is not welcome, often not tolerated and sometimes punished through bullying tactics.  Too often, questions about school decisions are not honestly answered or dealt with. This causes a climate of constant strife as parents daring to ask are met with a brick wall.  Strange things happened and were never discussed by management despite parents raising questions. For instance, a teacher was suddenly asked to leave and was escorted by staff to the car park with instructions not to communicate with parents. Management refused to discuss the event. A hefty compensation paid by the school appeared in its financial report later on. Many other staff members have left since.  As with other private schools in QLD, there is little transparency about individual donations to the school. Individual and family donations should be publicly disclosed to ensure donors do not get privileged access or treatment. We are not saying that is what happens at BMS, just that transparency is most definitely needed.  Such a disappointment after our previous Montessori experience, and such a let down for Maria Montessori's legacy!

We joined the BMS community in 2011 and collectively my 3 children have spent 31 years at the school.  BMS is a wonderful school, with fantastic kids, passionate teachers and an engaged community.  An amazing environment to learn, make friends and discover yourself and the world around you.  Huge thanks to the current principal for his experienced approach, balanced leadership and positivity.  If you are considering a Montessori education for your family, I can highly recommend BMS.

Our four children have absolutely thrived at Brisbane Montessori School!  The two eldest moved from a main stream school at 7 and 9 years old and were significantly behind their Montessori peers academically when they arrived. Under the direction of highly qualified passionate educators and the guidance of their classmates they have leapt ahead and we were constantly in awe of their love of learning, their inquisitive minds, their willingness to work things out for themselves and the practical application of what they were learning at school. Everything is for a purpose at Brisbane Montessori School.  Our older children completed their primary education through to year six at BMS and have moved on to High School at Brisbane Boys College and Brisbane Girls Grammar where they have continued to thrive. Their Montessori education prepared them well for the practicalities of life at high school. They are both independent, resourceful, motivated, have remarkable executive functioning skills and initiative and easily met the challenges of life in a large formal structure.  As parents we are so grateful for the belief in themselves and love of learning fostered at BMS and strongly believe that this has set them up for success at High School where they continue to be passionate learners and manage their time and studies well. We are also delighted by their continued connection to BMS and the interest and mentoring their former educators and the Principal, Chris Peach, still provide.  Our two younger children joined the Children's House community and are now in Lower Primary and Upper Primary. They both love their school and every day they pack their own lunches and school bags and get themselves ready to leave home, they can';t wait to be at school. We are so grateful for the wholesome environment they learn in. Children play and learn together, boys, girls, different age groups. I love watching our daughters get themselves dressed for the day in 'good clothes' for climbing trees and playing soccer and it thrills me to see them reading in the car to and from school and talking about how they are going to finish their book so they can borrow the next one from the library that day. The library is the heart of the school and all of the children seem to have a passion for reading.  Our seven year old recently taught me long division without ever having any home work set, our reluctant nine year old reader spends her spare time writing books and all of this magic has happened without educators sending home sight words, arbitrary work sheets or even worse setting tasks on iPads!  This is real learning with real tangible results and it is a beautiful thing to be a part of. In over five years now none of my children have said they don't want to go to school, we all love it.

We enjoyed our time at Brisbane Montessori School. No school is perfect, and there are communication challenges and staff changes. The teachers our students had were absolutely fantastic and committed, creating wonderful learning environments and opportunities for our children. We learnt a great deal from our time at BMS and really appreciated the experience. Thank you to Debbie Waratah, Karen Bilby, and Muriel Dunnart.

I have been to Montessori schools and we were hoping to see successful alternative education but this school felt very average. The younger children who were crying were looked after by a staff member but she looked like she needed more help and the school had a neglected feeling about it. In particular, the secondary school felt uninspired, disorganised and greatly lacking in passion and the arts. The students were all on laptops, the garden that the students are responsible for was overgrown with weeds and the ducks were kept in a very small stinky enclosure. Very depressing.

I went here when I was little but left in 2015. I got my stuff taken by this one guy a lot in cycle 2 : But on the whole a better school experience than with main stream schools I've been to post 2015. I was like 8 and I'm nearly a decade older now so Idk if I can be reliably say how my experience was but it was pretty good. - the one guy stealing my stuff that wasnt fun.

Montessori in name but not in method  Whilst we acknowledge that many families have had positive experiences at BMS, ours was not and we would encourage those looking at the school to do their due diligence particularly about the school’s capacity to cope with kids with any degree of learning or developmental challenges.  Our 6 year old had some anxiety around attending school, the classroom team a teacher, teacher aide and part time learning support person seemed incapable of showing any sustained empathy to make him welcome – they would ignore him when entering the class in significant distress and were non-responsive when this concern was raised formally. His anxiety began to result in behavioural problems which led to us having him see a counsellor who provided resources for the school which the school provided no feedback about having been used.  After one term with no contact from anyone outside the classroom teacher and the learning support coordinator, we were called to a meeting with the principal first time we met him who told us to withdraw our son as he was ‘not suited to a Montessori environment’, he told us other parents had complained about our child’s behaviour which was clearly the motivation for them doing so – the Chair of the Board later directly referred to this in justifying their conduct.  That same week we spoke with the head of junior school who stated that if we kept our child at their school they would be treating the matter as a disciplinary issue and, essentially, would start excluding him from class. The same week we raised concerns about other children demonstrably ostracising ours and saying that their parents told them to do so and seeing other kids baiting ours into acting out – leading to disciplinary consequences for him; the teacher and school never responded to this.  We wrote to the principal setting out a number of concerns about their conduct and approach. The principal eventually invited us to a further meeting to discuss it, however when asked if he would respond to our concerns he said he would not be doing so.  We then withdrew our child and raised the matter with the chair of the school board, who essentially said that no policy had been breached and no remedial action would be taken.  We have heard from the school’s learning support team amongst others and read online of other families having similar experiences to ours with children who may have learning or developmental challenges, the expression ‘weeding them out’ is seen a bit and our experience was consistent with this.  The great irony of this for us is that Montessori schools were established to cater specifically for kids with learning/developmental challenges, we sent our child to BMS hoping they would provide a gentle and supportive environment for our child to commence his schooling with this in mind, sadly the school does not appear well equipped to provide this.  Note: posted under a pseudonym to provide anonymity for our child.  Edit - in response to school response: - With respect, your apologies' are insincere when you declined to provide one to us at any stage of the process we sought to engage in with you. - Your assertion that you 'do everything to cater to students of all abilities' was simply not true in the case of us and our child, a matter we expressly and repeatedly raised with you before and after your request for us to leave your school, you declined to respond to this. - If you were taking our claims seriously, we would be very keen to hear what action you have taken in response to them - I am very confident you know who we are and have our contact information. I undertake to update my review immediately should you be willing to provide us privately with any meaningful information to this effect.

After moving to Brisbane from overseas in 2017 our two children started school at BMS.  They immediately felt at home since they were previously in a Montessori school.  When they started here they were in the 15 months - 3 year old group and the 3-6 year old group.  The level of care they that the teachers and staff provide is excellent.  The school grounds are beautiful and the classroom materials all have a purpose and a place. You will not find this level of care, serenity, or attention to detail at a normal childcare facility, or primary school. My children have now both moved to the next age groups. We were so happy with the education our eldest child received in the 3-6 age group, we kept her here for prep and year 1. She is now in the 6-9 age group and her independence and critical thinking have really taken off.  BMS also has a wonderful community, parents are encouraged to get to know each other and be involved with school activities. We can’t wait to see where our children’s Montessori journeys take them.

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