The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.
—Maria Montessori
Newberry house smells like the Fontainebleau forest in spring. Let me explain: Professor Sumantra Ghoshal explains in a lecture video that revitalising people has a lot less to do with changing the individual and a lot more to do with changing the context created around them, in other words “the smell of the place” created around them. He explains that once a year he would visit his parents in Kolkata India. Kolkata in July the temperature is over 100°F with humidity of 99 percent, and he would find himself most of the time indoors and tired.
Professor Sumantra Ghoshal’s home on the other hand was in Fontainebleau, France, 40 miles south of Paris. He adds: “Go to the forest of Fontainebleau in the spring, Go with a firm desire to have a leisurely walk and you can’t. The moment you enter the forest, there is something about the crispness of the air, there is something in the smell of the trees in spring. You want to jump, you want to jog, catch a branch or run, and you want to do something.” In most schools out there today there seem to be a ‘Kolkata environment’, with a few exceptions.
Newberry House is one of those exceptions that creates an environment – “a smell” – of stretch, discipline, trust and support, where each learner can grow and develop in a positive energetic environment.
“But if for the physical life it is necessary to have the child exposed to the vivifying forces of nature, it is also necessary for his psychical life to place the soul of the child in contact with creation.” – Dr. Maria Montessori
**More information to follow soon on our AMI-endorsed Cruyff Sports Programme – watch this space.
When the child goes out, it is the world itself that offers itself to him. Let us take the child out to show him real things instead of making objects which represent ideas and closing them up in cupboards.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori