Montessori Academy of London | London, Ontario

We are aware that some families have been wondering about the increase, at times, of homeless people walking through or spending time in Piccadilly Park while our students are also accessing the space. With the housing crisis that is happening in London, we have noticed more people wandering through the park, but it tends to be 2 or 3 of the same people we see regularly; they are regulars whom Rob, our Librarian and Yard Supervisor, has gotten to know, and they keep to themselves. As well, the yard staff and teaching staff are mindful of people unknown to the school in the park during playtime.

There are processes and protocols we have in place for playtime in the park: The yard staff sweep the park before playtime and if there is anything concerning, we do call police and have anything dealt with before the students head to the park; but this doesn’t happen very often. All the staff have walkie talkies and cell phones to keep in communication with each other and the school throughout playtime. But to be honest, the homeless people are rarely a concern to our staff (our teaching staff are also out at playtime along with the yard staff) as far as the safety of our students is concerned. As well, our students do not travel alone when moving between the park and the school, and if there is an individual in a certain area of the park, a staff member is stationed nearby.

Because it is a public park, there is not a lot we can do about who gathers in it, other than request an increase in visibility from the local police who patrol the area on a given day. We have also contacted a local outreach group to support relocation opportunities for those who would benefit from this service. As the colder weather arrives though, we often don’t see homeless people for months on end.

We completely understand where parents have concerns, however, we have used Piccadilly Park for over 40 years, and are committed to continuing to find ways for our students to enjoy the community use of the space while keeping everyone safe.

Junior High CHF is a committee of dedicated students, whose connection to the Children’s Health Foundation(CHF) is long-standing. Providing children with the care they deserve through rehabilitation and research programs is CHF’s mission and ours, too. At school, we separate our team into four committees: Communications, Promotions, Advertising, and Accounting. Each contributes to making special events, such as pyjama day, possible.

Every year the Junior High CHF Committee organizes a school-wide Pyjama Day and the proceeds go towards programs that will support youth. Last year with the monies raised, thanks to generous donors, sponsored Ollie the Therapeutic Clown and the Child Life Program!

On Friday, October 29, Junior High students participated in a student-led afternoon workshop on Islamic Heritage organized by a committee of eager individuals. The two main students, Layan and Sophia, who were leading this workshop, are Muslim.

To start off the workshop we watched the trailer of 14 and Muslim, a film about Muslim students, and their journey through middle school and how they were transitioning to high school and having to choose between the familiar Catholic or public high school options and the journey they were embarking on. The video also touched up on the discrimination and how our nation is handling Islamophobia. We wrote how we felt during the video on a piece of paper and after, held them up to show to the rest of the class. Some of the papers read “frustrated” and  “sad.”

A lesson of stereotypes followed where  we all answered different questions on poster boards around the classroom where we then stuck our answers to. They are still up for us to read on a daily basis! It is a reminder that racial inequality will continue to be confronted and discussed in Junior High.

While watching the full film, we wrote down quotes that stood out to us for a discussion the following week and will be used in a future journal activity. For example: “We are all bricks, we are all useless on our own. But if we start building each other up, instead of breaking each other down, we are literally indestructible, and nothing can hold us back. Nothing can stop us.”

The coordinators of the workshop continued to moderate our daily classroom morning meetings each day the following week keeping the same theme in mind, Islamic Heritage and Awareness. They acknowledged Muslim inventions and inventors, played songs by Muslim artists as well as informing the students about important elements of the Islamic culture.

We are so grateful to the committee and students participating in the workshop in the activities given and we are thankful to our community who helped us share valuable and insightful information. We hope to make this a yearly tradition in our community because Islamic heritage matters to us because at our school we like to be involved in the world around us and we care about our communities. (We are all connected).

Thank you for this opportunity!

This link leads to a picture slideshow of the workshop:

Emma in Casa 3 demonstrated great focus and attention to detail in completing the decanomial square! This is not only a beautiful piece of Montessori material, but an important one that carries the student further into Montessori math at the Elementary level. It is a hands-on representation of the math tables from 1 to 10. The colours of the decanomial material correspond with the Montessori bead sets! The decanomial is introduced in Casa and returns in early Elementary to help teach multiplication before moving into greater understanding of squaring and binomials. Well done, Emma!