Montessori Primary at Huapai District School



About Montessori Primary at Huapai District School

Our Montessori primary class at Huapai District School, known as Room 17,  meets the needs of children from 6 - 12 years. The two main goals of Room 17 are for children to gain confidence and build their love of learning.  Our classroom is well-resourced with Montessori materials, has recently been refurbished and extended. Our children enjoy new reading, science and art areas in a pleasant, airy, spacious learning environment.  The children have created a garden and tend a worm farm, make compost and grow their own vegetables as part of their curriculum. 

Huapai District School is a full state primary in semi- rural West Auckland with a current roll of 330 students.  Our principal, Kevin Cronin, is committed to helping Room 17 become the stand-out Montessori primary class in New Zealand.  His own children attended a Montessori early childhood centre and he’s enthusiastic about the Montessori approach to primary education.  Of the nineteen full-time members of staff at our school, four have formal Montessori qualifications and the chair of the Huapai Board of Trustees is a Montessori parent. 

We have two full-time teachers in Room 17.  Fumiyo and Kristina are both Montessori-qualified and trained.  Fumiyo has been teaching in a Montessori primary setting since 2007 and Kristina has been a Montessori primary teacher in Canada since 1993. A Montessori consultant who is AMI-trained and a senior lecturer at AUT is responsible for assessing and evaluating our teachers.  The teachers’ appraisal is a combined approach led by the Montessori consultant and our principal. 

Our parent community is incredibly supportive and takes part in four fundraising events a year to raise extra funds for Room 17.  As a parent community we have created a vision which embodies how we operate: “The spirit of our parent community honours trusting and equitable relationships through honest and considerate communication.”  We hope, as parents, that the behaviour and interactions we model, leave an affirming, lasting impression with our children.

Enrolment Procedure

We have a sequential eight step process for enrolling a child in the class:

1. Parent makes an enquiry about entry to Room 17 by contacting Lorraine Farley at Huapai District School on (09) 412 5042.

2. Parent receives an Information Pack and an Enrolment Pack.

3. Parent contacts Claire Payn of West Auckland Montessori Trust on (09) 420 9007 to organise an hour-long observation of Room 17 in action.

4. If the child is under four, the parent sends in an application form (part of Enrolment Pack) and the child is placed on the waiting list.  If a child is 4.5 years the parent requests an interview with Claire Payn.  This interview will be attended by the parents and child and the Enrolment Committee.  The child is asked to bring his or her portfolio.

5. Two weeks after the interview parents receives advice on whether their child has been accepted.

6. A second interview takes place six months prior to entry at six years of age and is designed to review the progress of the child and the parents’ own commitment to a Montessori primary education.  A pre-school portfolio on the child should be brought along to that interview.  This interview will be attended by the parents and child, Enrolment Committee and include the Montessori teacher.  Parents are contacted by Claire Payn to organise a suitable date.

7. Three months in advance of the start date of your child you will be sent a Welcome Pack that will detail orientation information on Huapai District School and the Montessori classroom.

8.  The child begins a series of four full-day visits once a week before the child’s agreed start date.  The aim being to familiarise the child with class routine and school layout.  All children’s visits are conducted without parents remaining to watch. 

Who is Eligible?

When selecting children for places in Room 17 the school will enrol those children best prepared for the Montessori primary environment.  An eligible child will need to have completed a minimum of two years at a Montessori preschool.  It is recommended that by the age of five years children should be attending a minimum of four full days before entry to the primary school classroom at age six. 

Older children transferring in from Montessori primary classes located in New Zealand and overseas are welcome. Places will also be provided for brothers and sisters of pupils currently enrolled or attending the Montessori Primary at Huapai.  The sibling should nevertheless have the required two years minimum Montessori preschool experience.

Children with Montessori backgrounds who have attended mainstream schools since leaving Montessori preschool may apply if they attended their Montessori preschool until they were six.  An enrolment decision will depend on the eligibility and suitability of the child.  In the latter case the Trust requires the child to visit for a full week to give the teacher a chance to assess how well the child appears to cope with self-directed learning and the multi-age grouping.

The Enrolment Committee reserves the right to limit the number of children with special needs to ensure we can cater for the special needs of that child as well as the needs of all other children.  The current plan is for one child with special needs per full class (25 pupils).