In Montessori education, we emphasise community, not just as an abstract concept, but as a lived daily experience. From the very beginning of life, we emphasise carefully prepared environments that foster a deep sense of belonging and connection.
What Is Community?
The word community comes from the Latin communis, meaning “common, public, general, or shared by all or many.” In addition to shared space, in Montessori, we also think about community as a shared sense of meaning, values, and connection.
At its core, community begins with the most fundamental human group: the family. Families form children’s first social experience and the first place where values, culture, and expectations are passed down. This bond has helped humans survive and thrive throughout history.
Partnering with Families
In the Montessori approach, we honor and respect each family’s unique values, striving to foster strong home-school relationships. Our partnership with families is a mutual journey, one in which the adult caregivers at school and home come together with a shared purpose: to nurture children’s natural growth.
Building our Communities
We design our learning environments to meet each child where they are, providing just the right level of challenge, comfort, and beauty.
In creating school and preschool communities, we focus on essential elements like people, space, and materials. We also tend to intangible aspects that provide children with a profound sense of order.
This is how our communities come together:
The People
The teachers and teaching assistants in our classrooms focus on personal and professional preparation. Their role is not to direct the child but to support their natural development with presence, purpose, and peacefulness.
The Materials
Everything in the classroom is purposeful, developmentally appropriate, and in harmony with Montessori principles. We carefully select materials to support children’s movement, independence, concentration, and sense of order.
The Space
The physical environment must be appropriately sized, thoughtfully arranged, and aesthetically pleasing. If it’s too large, children can feel lost or overstimulated. If it’s too small, they may feel crowded and unsettled. We design every detail—from the furniture to the flow of the day—with intention.
Profound Order
A true Montessori community also relies on an invisible but essential structure: the order that underlies everything. Children have a fundamental need for order, especially during the first six years of life when they are in their sensitive period for order.
External order
This is seen in our school through routine, consistent expectations, and a well-organised space. External order helps children form inner order, which is the foundation of emotional regulation, concentration, and autonomy.
To assist the ease and flow of our toddler, preschool and primary communities, we need order in the physical environment and in the behaviour and presence of the trained adults too. A sense of predictability, order and familiarity enables young children to flourish in their school community.
The role of the adult in creating community
The prepared adult – Montessori teachers and teaching assistants- play a significant role in building a community where children feel safe, supported, and free to grow.
We work to create beautiful and functional learning environments but we recognise these spaces belong to the children for their growth and development. To ensure that we support this development, we strive to master the art of observation, which enables us to identify what children need to assist their growth.
With a deep understanding of the purpose of every material in the classroom, we can connect children to meaningful work through intentional and respectful lessons.
We practice humility, recognising that children are often more in tune with their needs than we are. Our work with children requires us to respect each child’s human potential, even when behavior is challenging, and to meet and accept children for who they are. We regularly reflect on our own work and strive to improve so we can better serve the children. This creates a partnership of mutual trust and respect between students and teachers, and contributes to the harmony, safety and belonging in our classroom communities.
A Living, Breathing Community
Creating a Montessori community is both an art and a science that requires intentional environments, well-prepared adults, and a deep respect for children’s developmental journey.
At its heart, the Forestville Montessori School is a safe space where children learn how to be in the world, together. It is a place for children to first experience what it means to belong, to contribute, and to grow with others.
Schedule a visit to see what an intentionally designed community looks like in action!
