Christchurch land wanted for Montessori School

Here’s a guest post from our friends at Nova Montessori School, Christchurch. Can you help?

Christchurch land wanted for Montessori School

Nova Montessori school in New Brighton, Christchurch operates both a preschool, and the South Island’s only primary school true to the brilliant principles that were developed by Maria Montessori.

You can read Montessori’s books to get an appreciation of the genius in her method - but as a parent the thing that sells you completely is to see with your own eyes a classroom in action, and over time the difference it makes in the  development of your child compared to others that attend mainstream schools.

Anybody can book a 1 hour observation session with Nova without obligation, and I would encourage anyone in the Christchurch area with children up to the age of 12 to contact them to arrange this. There are also other good options for Montessori preschools within Christchurch, but beware that anyone can call themselves “Montessori” whether they are true to the principles or not. Anyone interested in which are the ‘good ones’ within Christchurch are welcome to contact me personally.

That however is not the main purpose of this post. Despite the excellent job that Nova does and the quality of the education they offer, the school is in trouble because of its location. It is on land badly affected by the earthquake, sitting beside the Avon River on land that has sunk and now subject to regular flooding during high tides. It borders the residential red zone and has suffered a decline in role from about 100 to 60 because of the depopulation of the surrounding area, in addition to the reluctance of many parents to travel every day to this location through the flooding and desolation of the red zone.

It needs to quit its flood-prone site, reports THE PRESS.

And staff are taking pay cuts to keep the school afloat, reports NEWSTALK ZB.

The school is intending to relocate, and currently calling for tenders to supply the 2,500-5,000 m2 of land the school needs to survive and prosper -- within the Christchurch urban area but west of its current location; somewhere more central to the children that come from all over Christchurch.

I would ask that all readers of Not PC who may have a parcel of land they could sell, or know of someone who may have land available, to pass this on and get the word out. The future of Montessori education in the South Island depends on finding some viable options by 25^th July.

Here is the ad and contact details for tenders.

[Top pic by THE PRESS]