Mission Statement
Helping children and their families construct their learning, lives and communities.
Values Statement: A Foundation for Peace
Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School is a community of children and adults united by Dr. Maria
Montessori’s vision of peace through education. In an atmosphere of freedom and responsibility, we
work toward our human potential. We are dedicated to creating a sustainable future for the planet
and all who inhabit it. We strive to develop and support the following values:
Work
"A child can only develop by means of experience in his environment. We call such experience work."
Dr. Maria Montessori
- Inspire the joy of learning through discovery and exploration
- Invite curiosity, creativity, and imagination in all areas of work
- Nurture risk taking and initiative
- Experience reverence, awe, wonder, and respect for life
Independence
"Individual activity is the one factor that stimulates and produces development, and this is not more
true for the little ones of preschool age than it is for the junior, middle, and upper school children."
Dr. Maria Montessori
- Respect the right to persist in chosen work without interruption
- Respect the right to direct oneself and to act with ever greater sureness, ability, and self confidence
- Speak and write clearly and confidently
Interdependence
"The stars, Earth, stones, all kinds of life form a whole relation with each other, and so close is this
relation that we cannot understand a stone without some understanding of the great sun!"
Dr. Maria Montessori
- Be courteous, caring, and respectful of others
- Use peaceful and cooperative skills to resolve conflict
- Acknowledge and celebrate the different ways humans meet the same physical and spiritual needs
- Respect the cycles of the Earth and recognize our ecological and moral responsibility to the world
Diversity Statement
At Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School, we strive to reflect the larger world in our student body and our faculty and staff. Through our curriculum, cultural programs, and engagement with our community and other similar institutions, we seek for our students to engage with people whose life experiences are substantially different from their own. We recognize that building a diverse school requires an ongoing commitment of time, energy and resources on the parts of our board, our faculty and staff, and our families.
Diversity, like peace through education, is part of the fabric of the Montessori philosophy as Dr. Montessori’s teaching transcended borders and social barriers. Through our curriculum, we work to acknowledge and explore differences among us and in the world. We want our students to understand and value differences in culture and styles of learning and to be aware of and move past prejudices, creating an environment where each child and family feels safe and accepted.
We aim to create a diverse community which welcomes everyone regardless of differences of gender, race, religion, family structure, socioeconomic level, culture, age, sexual orientation, language and learning style. As an organization we work to provide our faculty, staff, students, and families with the tools and language to support this diverse community and to address conflict when issues arise around the differences the children see around them. In the end, we want the years our students spend at Stoneridge to help them emerge equipped to thrive in a rapidly changing world with open hearts, open minds, a sense of their own value, and a commitment to effect positive change.
