Montessori high school to expand, relocate to Lansdowne Park
By Erin McCracken
Ottawa South News, May 22, 2015
Burgers sizzle and salads are made as teens prepare lunch for themselves and their classmates at The Element, a Montessori high school in Riverview Park.
In the same classroom, their peers one table over assemble pumpkin pies for a micro-economics class. On a couch nearby, four teens work on a variety of assignments – French poetry and science – or catch up on their reading.
The Element is not your typical high school.
And come September, the grades 7, 8 and 9 students – and, for the first time, Grade 10 students – will be relocated to Lansdowne Park, where their new school is currently under construction.
The expansion and relocation of The Element is meant to provide another option for Ottawa-area students and their parents who are seeking education outside the traditional high school model.
“There are a few specialized programs in the public system, but not a lot,” said Pat Gere, director of The Element and OMS Montessori, known as Ottawa Montessori School until two years ago. “So there seemed to be a real opening for an alternative high school experience for students.”
The idea for the private Montessori high school evolved in 2012 after Grade 7 and 8 junior high classes were added in 2003 to OMS Montessori. Grade 9 was first offered in September 2013.
The not-for-profit charitable corporation’s board of directors has been shopping for a new high school location for more than four years, and finally signed a lease in March, securing the second floor at 425 Marché Way, across from the Aberdeen Pavilion and beside the Horticulture Building in the Glebe.
Construction at the dedicated space began about two weeks ago, and once completed in mid-August will feature a commercial kitchen, design studio, science lab and a learning commons, rather than traditional classrooms.
As a vibrant central hub, one that is accessible by public transit, Lansdowne is expected to provide an ideal learning environment for the teens. The students will be able to access several nearby amenities and services, including an Ottawa Public Library branch, a skateboard park and ice rink, as well as basketball courts and baseball diamonds.
“We decided it was important for us to put the adolescent into contact with the adult world rather than taking them out and putting thousands of them in a high school subdivision,” Gere said. “One of the things that adolescents crave is interaction with the adult world.”
This is in keeping with the Montessori educational method based on the work of Italian doctor and educator Dr. Maria Montessori.
OMS Montessori, which offers a toddler program for children, ages 18 months to three years old, a preschool program for children three to six years old and grades 1 to 6, began in five different locations in the Rockcliffe community 49 years ago.
At the time, it was the only Montessori school in Ottawa. Today, there are almost 30 schools that follow the same educational principles in the Ottawa Valley.
OMS Montessori was consolidated and relocated to its current location in Riverview Park at 335 Lindsay St., about 25 years ago, and today boasts 280 students from as far away as Manotick, Orléans, south Ottawa and the west end.
“So we have a long, long history,” Gere said.
School-age children in three grade levels learn together in a very interactive activity-based environment in which they develop strong academic skills, she said, adding that students start doing research at six years old.
“So by the time they were finishing in Grade 8 they had written more papers for us than most high schools will ever ask them to write,” Gere said. “So they tend to walk into high school believing they can do anything.”
Teachers, known as directrices or directors, give short, directed lessons and kids are set free to work on the assignments.
“The students have a lot of independent work periods,” Gere said. “The majority of work is done outside the classroom structure.”
In keeping with the interactive learning experience, the Grade 7, 8 and 9 students cook a hot lunch three days a week, creating their own menus and do their own grocery shopping on a budget.
“They can cook for 35 people,” she said with a laugh.
The kids, however, won’t be the ones doing the cooking at the school’s inaugural gala fundraiser on May 28 at 6 p.m.
Proceeds raised from the event will offset the cost of new computers for elementary classrooms, an upgraded library computer and other IT infrastructure at OMS Montessori and The Element.
The school’s board of directors also dreams of purchasing a 3D printer for the high school.
“You’re never through purchasing technology,” said Gere.
The catered gala is an opportunity for the community to gather at the heritage Cereal Barn at the Central Experimental Farm for an evening of live jazz music by the London Gentleman Records Band, an appetizer supper, including a pasta station, and a silent auction.
The theme will be ‘Growing Together.’
“That’s sort of our theme for our year. It’s the theme for our year book. It’s sort of apropos in that we’re putting in The Element as well,” the school director said. “But it’s this idea that when we work together we can accomplish a lot.”
Tickets are $100 and will include a partial tax receipt and can be purchased by calling 613-521-5185. For more details, visit omsmontessori.com.
http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-...ol-to-expand-relocate-to-lansdowne-park/
Prev
Craft Beer
Stores
Retail Space in Lansdowne park
Linear Mode
