Help us build our school and community centre

ABOUT US:

The Montessori Zimbabwe education centre is owned and administered by The Montessori Zimbabwe Trust, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation. This trust was founded by Nicki Pugh and has been established to further the development of Montessori schooling in Bulawayo and to ensure that the centre is held in trust for the “Children of Bulawayo”.

The purpose of the Montessori Zimbabwe school is very clear. We ensure that all students, regardless of background, or prior achievements, are given the opportunity to gain skills, experiences and qualifications necessary to achieve their full potential. We are a comprehensive, community-based centre open to students requiring a more flexible approach to academic work and skill acquisition.

Our program is for all children from 2-13 years in age, including those with special educational needs. We provide a small, nurturing environment with a focus on building supportive relationships among students and between students and staff. Classes, as in our younger sections, are fully interactive, interesting and fun.

We offer an affordable, comprehensive teacher training program to support adult education and employment in Zimbabwe, and ensure the children in our community receive the best education.

Surroundings have a great deal to do with the creation of an atmosphere of learning. We are currently in a beautiful old house with large rooms in Suburbs, Bulawayo. The site includes our 6 to 12 years classrooms (our 3-5 years classes are housed in a different location in Suburbs nearby) and allows space for outdoor activities including gardening and animal care.

The classrooms are fully resourced with Montessori materials and equipment, reading and literacy resources, maps, charts, fossils, historical artefacts and natural science displays. Our resources library is fully stocked with resources needed for teacher presentations and student research and exploration. Our classrooms are our students’ home away from home, and we make them as attractive and comfortable as possible. Our classrooms are carefully prepared to stimulate children’s independence and intellectual development.

WHY:

So why this GoFundMe? Our numbers have grown from 12 to 80 and we have now run out of space and cannot accommodate any more children.

We have bought 3,5 ha of land in the Suburbs area of Bulawayo and have had plans drawn up for our school. We are now ready to commence with development of the school buildings. Because we keep our school fees to a minimum in order to help as many children as possible, we have nothing extra for development of our planned infrastructure.

We are asking for CAD45 000 to kickstart the development and build our first classroom.

The first phase in the plan is a block of 2 classrooms, a borehole and the remainder of the perimeter fence to secure the property.

In the second phase, we plan to add a further 4 classroom blocks and construct our indoor sports centre which can host an array of sporting activities. The sports centre will be a community centre offering a venue for indoor sports leagues such as field hockey, netball and cricket. It will also include an indoor swimming pool, offering lessons to children and adults in the community.

The third phase – includes the admin block with sick bay, library, computer/ science/ cooking labs and specialists centre, a music centre with amphitheatre and a cultural centre.

Plans have been drawn up and approved by town planning for the first phase and we are ready to build. Plans for the indoor sports centre are ready for submission.