Nursery World - Learning by design

A state primary school has adopted Montessori teaching methods, with retraining for the staff and new results for the pupils. Mary Evans reports A little boy's fascination with nature was the catalyst for a pioneering project to transform a primary school in one of the most deprived areas of England into the country's first state-funded Montessori school.

A little boy's fascination with nature was the catalyst for a pioneering project to transform a primary school in one of the most deprived areas of England into the country's first state-funded Montessori school.

Under the 80,000 initiative, provided by the Montessori St Nicholas Charity and the DfES, the 350-pupil Gorton Mount Primary School in inner-city Manchester began switching to Montessori teaching at the start of last autumn term.

Located in the nation's third poorest ward, it was struggling when headteacher Carol Powell took over three years ago. She was the seventh head in six years, it was under special measures, its pupils spoke 37 different languages and only 18 per cent of them could read at the expected level.

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