Red Wood Montessori opens new campus in city to nurture children into self-education

Children giggle and shout as they enter the new Redwood Montessori campus, tucked away amid the busy lanes of Cenotaph Road.

“This is our biggest campus yet. It’s very important for us to see the Montessori programme throughout. We were always on the lookout for accessible spaces for Elementary (6-12 age group). There are schools for children from birth to three and upwards but the current academic system does not lend itself to Montessori for the 12-18 years age group,” said Madhura Visweswaran, co-founder of Redwood Montessori.

Sprawled over five grounds, the new campus caters to three groups of children starting from the interim group for two-and-a-half-year-olds, the primary for children till six years old and elementary for children till 12 years. The campus will also soon establish a butterfly park in association with the World Wildlife Fund.

Following the Montessori philosophy, the classes are of mixed ages allowing children to learn from their peers.

“This allows them to learn without having to wait until a certain standard, learn about their self-expression and also gain independence,” said Aishwarya Janarthanan, academic director, Redwood Montessori, Teynampet. The school is tri-lingual and conducts discovery programmes apart from the academics for children in the elementary level. “From computer science to yoga and football, the children are exposed to a variety of things,” Aishwarya added.

As part of this, the children are also encouraged to have ‘Going Out’ programmes, where according to a lesson plan they plan an outing from picking the place to making reservations, the children lead it. Apart from this the school also has a Harbour programme for children with disabilities.