Unión Montessori Xalapa
Veracruz, Xalapa
Mail: cmontessorixalapa@gmail.com
Web: perfilmontessorixalapa
About
The Unión Montessori Xalapa school was founded as a private school in 1995 under the initiative of the founding partners (Mario Moreno +, Otilia Bautista) emerging 28 years ago, implementing the Montessori philosophy, this is an inclusive school where children in different physical, context and economic conditions, could have access to an education different from the conventional one. The idea comes from a group of parents who joined their wills and decided to take the road.
With the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, the economic situation changed completely, taking the decision of a new directive, being the current owners Reyes Martínez Romero and Laura de la Cruz Velz. With this, the school was changed to a new home of its own, which was ideal for the life of Montessori children, where we faced a new reality, socially, emotionally, in cultural contexts close to the school. We observe the abysmal need to redirect the course, making it more human, accessible to all children, attending to the social diversity of the present.
It is important to mention and describe this context, Xalapa is the capital of Edo. From Veracruz, but the belts of poverty that exist around the city, are of extreme poverty, this reality is of children who do not have with their families the most indispensable to get ahead, houses with cardboard roof, dirt floor, without water or electricity services and a variety of families, some who have migrated from communities to the city in search of better opportunities or medical care, but facing a precarious reality, varied types of families (nuclear, single-parent, extended etc.) in complex situations at the family level, children with siblings with cancer, children in the care of grandparents, with disabilities, autism, Down syndrome, ADHD; who were not given any type of attention, because they did not have public schools, neither the personnel nor the adequate materials for their development.
This is how the need arises to give the child back his dignity, that he has the opportunity to develop naturally and feels an important part of his world, in an environment where the process of autonomy is promoted, the love of work, and can have a different future to be able to contribute to the society that he will have to live. With this background Montessori union Xalapa, opened its doors to be a Montessori school for all, inclusive. We took on the task of looking for personnel with a great sense of empathy, humanism and professionalism who had the disposition and love to follow the child and thus continue training every day. Integrating 10 people among them, guide of Casa de los Niños, Workshop Guide, bilingual assistant, workshops: music, chess, sports, psychologist, speech therapist, administration and nutrition; this allows the staff, parents and school to follow the child in all its areas.
However, at the beginning we face a reality of hard poverty, not only in the economic sphere but psychosocial, one that goes hand in hand with a reality of having ingrained habits; A situation that we were completely unaware of, this has led us to constantly redirect in the search for different tools, which initially promoted love, parental responsibility, follow-up at home, remedial in each child. Having prepared environments, with the development material that Dr. Montessori founded, serving population from 3 to 6 years and from 6 to 12 (Children’s House and Workshop) implemented and redirecting without losing the Montessori principles, looking for the appropriate strategies to continue, to mention some that have supported us to maintain balance.
- Volunteering, the father supports the maintenance of the school
- Attention to the garden, tasks
- Scholarships
- Low fees
- Parenting workshops, open parenting styles.
- Follow-up and support interviews by psychology and therapy department
- Entrepreneurship workshop for families
- Week of giving, barter, support between families.
- Open attention to the community, vegetable market.
- Public lectures
- Montessori Cinema
- Support remote volunteering, workshop guides for staff training, for not having certified guides at this level in Xalapa.
Given the above, we can say that there are many needs, which are currently in our Veracruz childhood, but a primary factor is the lack of sufficient resources in publicizing the need for Montessori immersion, throughout our State of Veracruz, this is generating, forums, advertising, etc. Making known that Montessori exists for everyone; However, this cannot be achieved if strategic alliances are not generated with organizations that know and follow the principles of Dr. Montessori, that is why we consider this approach with Horme Mexico of very high importance, it is also necessary to have the advice and training of our staff in all areas, to strengthen work with children. You can not fail to mention the financial part, where this path has been complicated during and after the pandemic, although it is true that the need that exists is enormous, it is important to have adequate areas to be able to offer a quality service. This means adapting spaces to have a greater capacity of children, the challenge has been great, but we are convinced that like us there are organizations and different foundations worldwide that can make this need something valuable for these children that will undoubtedly be and represent the future in our society, of our State and therefore of humanity.
