This academic year will be my 21st at MST. I’ve been around long enough to witness a lot of change, transition and growth in this place that has felt like a second home to me for almost half of my life (you do the math!).
The Last Twenty Years
When I arrived in the summer of 2004, there were 102 students across 6 classes, all of which were in the Forest campus. At that time, it didn't have a special name as it was the only building we had! Elementary students were housed on the ground floor (one Lower, one Upper) and the 2nd floor was home to two Sunshine classes and a couple of small Little People rooms. An additional Little People class was opened later that year too.
All the classrooms were named after compass points and our Upper Elementary class (Elementary North) was made up of only 9 students. A tiny, unofficial Middle School of just 3 students existed, made up of 2 faculty children and one of their best friends. It was basically a table in the Upper Elementary classroom, and didn’t even have a compass point to call its own.
The MST garden was still not even conceived of (this would follow around 7 years later), and the space out the back of our building was still a glum looking concrete parking lot. Even the MST library was a work in progress, with our parent community fundraising that year to make the library a reality for the following year.
There were 24 faculty and staff that year and I was initially hired as MST’s first “Sports and Activities Coordinator,” primarily tasked with establishing the PE and After School Activities programmes, while also teaching some group music classes and starting the MST School Choir.
A Hat Rack Full of Jobs
With it being a small school my supporting role soon included various other responsibilities in those early years, such as Sunshine assistant, part-time librarian, Summer Camp Coordinator, Little People recess chaperone, traffic monitor, school musical director, concert coordinator, parent events liaison, calendar and scheduling manager and more!
Such is the nature of smaller schools that many of us wear many hats. There was once even a serious conversation about me getting a bus license so I could be a back-up driver in case of illness or emergency. But alas that is one role I have never had the excitement of taking on!
A Flourishing Community
Our school has since flourished into a community of 230 children across 11 classes (welcome Banyan, our 11th class!) across 3 campuses, with 64 hardworking faculty and staff. Including parents and caretakers; that’s a community of around 600 people. An armful of seedlings have now grown into an interconnected Forest, a Grove and an Orchard.
I may be the Head of School now, but I’m still enjoying opening those car doors in the mornings and greeting our wonderful students, sharing my love of music with the school choir and working with our amazing parent community on special events and activities that enrich life for all members of the MST community. I also do drive the MST van sometimes when chaperoning camps and field trips, so you could say I kind of did tick that ‘driver’ box after all!
What Hasn’t Changed
Through the decades, what certainly hasn’t changed is the children and the dedication of the adults who care for and nurture them. Our students continue to be bright, curious and intrinsically motivated young people who are striving to explore and understand the wonderful world that surrounds them.
Our teachers continue to be experts in guiding children and adolescents on that journey of discovery and I know that our parent community continues to work in partnership with MST to offer your children something a bit different and very special – a Montessori education – that supports children to explore, develop independence, embrace their uniqueness and develop passions and a true love of learning in a way that only Montessori can deliver.
I can’t tell you exactly what the next 20 years will look like, but I can tell you that the foundations of MST have never felt stronger and I’m confident we have much to look forward to as a community, all 600 of us! I welcome all of you to be a part of that journey and I look forward to a wonderful year together.
In partnership,
James Moore
Head of School
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