1980s
1980s: Strength and Evolution
The School was coming of age in the 1980s! We celebrated our 21st year in 1983 with a huge cake and, for the children, this might have been the most important part!
Mrs Duyker-de-Vries successfully lobbied the local council to change the name of the street from Robertson Road to Montessori Place. Although the creation of the cul-de-sac and a bicycle path on Robertson Road removed some of our road frontage, it enabled the students to explore the bushland where they often spent the whole morning playing and enjoying the bush — building cubbies, finding treasures, and climbing trees.
The School was strong and well established but, since attention to the environment is a pillar of Montessori education, the physical environment changed and evolved continuously – rooms were completely reorientated or enlarged, a playing field was established, the bushland was weeded and protected, and new furniture was built.
On a visit to a strawberry farm, Mrs Duyker-de-Vries saw the white plastic containers and immediately saw their potential for the School. She bought 3,000 of these boxes, which are still in use today, as neat, stackable job trays.
Parents and staff worked together to build chairs, a sandpit, and firebreaks, and to care for the bushland. Mrs Duyker-de-Vries used every opportunity for the children to engage in real work, and they loved it.
Mrs Duyker also presented a paper about the benefits of Montessori education at a Criminology conference, invited to do so after a newspaper article about the School.