School celebrates dramatic change in teaching method

Teachers at the Stebbing Primary School, near Great Dunmow in Essex, removed brightly coloured wall displays and brought in natural wood furniture and equipment for the pupils as part of the reforms.

Already staff say children behave far more calmly in their new environment and can work effectively for three hours without a break.

The collaboration followed a successful project to introduce the Montessori method at a particularly tough primary in Manchester, which was backed by £40,000 of Government money.

It came as a major report to ministers last week recommended radical changes to state school teaching, with a far greater focus on individual pupils designing their own education.

Stebbing Primary's headteacher Janet Matthews said the school would evaluate the success of the move after a year.

"But what is overwhelmingly coming across is the calmness of the school," she said.

"Children are working for sustained periods of time on the activities they are choosing, and the maths and literacy levels seem pretty good.

"The classroom was a typical reception classroom, very bright displays, brightly coloured doors and floors.

"Over the summer holidays we calmed everything down, the displays were brought down."

With £20,000 from the Montessori St Nicholas Charity the 90-pupil school has invested in new equipment made from natural materials for the children and training for staff.

Montessori schools allow children to learn at their own pace and follow their own choice of activities to develop their enthusiasm for learning.

In 2005, the Department for Education decided to pump £40,000 into Gorton Mount Primary School in inner-city Manchester to adopt the Montessori method.

At the time, unlike Stebbing Primary, Gorton Mount had been in severe difficulties, with many pupils from poor backgrounds and the school judged to be failing by Ofsted.

Inspectors subsequently found the impact of the switch to the Montessori method had been "wholly positive" for Gorton Mount.

Inspectors praised the calm atmosphere at Gorton Mount and the high concentration levels even among very young children.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said ministers were "committed to widening diversity in education provision in the interests of raising standards and offering parents a choice of schools for their child".

She added: "The conditions attached to maintained schools apply to Montessori, such as providing the national curriculum and participating in national curriculum tests and assessment, as well as staff holding qualified teacher status."

The Stebbing Primary project emerged as the Montessori movement celebrated its 100th anniversary.

On January 6, 1907, Maria Montessori opened the first Casa dei Bambini (children's house) in Italy. Now there are more than 22,000 Montessori schools around the world.

Last week, a major report to ministers called for radical reforms to state school teaching, so leaning can be "personalised" for each child.

The report from Ofsted's chief inspector Christine Gilbert said youngsters must be encouraged to design their own education and schools should act on the feedback pupils give about their teachers.