Montessori School

fitz0

As a college project Ive been given the task of designing a montessori school for children up to 4. Being unfamiliar with the system I was hoping some more experienced people could provide a few pointers as to the needs of such a school.

I understand that classrooms should have free access to a green space but to what extent do these spaces usually interact? Do more than one class share green areas? Are the kids free to wander in and out of the classroom?
What sort of spaces are generally preferred as classroom interiors in Montessori schools?
How big do class sizes tend to be on average?

Any help, any details no matter how trivial will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Blisterman

Well I went to a montessori school, and we only had free access to a green space during lunch break, so I don't think it's that nessasary.
Our school was a small one with two classrooms of 28 people each. One for 3-6 year olds, the other with 6-8 year olds, so you'd be educated alongside people in different years.
Within this, you were free to work on your own thing, within the classroom for most of the day, bar one lesson of about an hour, which was given to all the students in each class together.
You didn't really leave the classroom space much so there's not that much interaction between spaces in my old school. I assume this is an architecture project, in which case, you'll be expected to innovate, which shouldn't be too difficult. I wouldn't base my design too much on existing examples. I'd look into the philosophy of montessori education and use that a starting point.

fitz0

Thanks for the advice. I was looking into the teaching method a bit but was unsure about the set standards for a school.