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Eco-Bloom Montessori International School

Montessori in the room, Cambridge on the record

A school of 210 children, ages three to eleven, on two acres.

  • Child-centred education
  • Inspiring curiosity
  • Character and confidence
  • A better world together
Miss Luwam Araya, Head of School
Miss Luwam ArayaHead of School

Our mission

To protect a child's own reason for starting, and to build a school patient enough to let them finish.

Eco-Bloom was founded in 2011 by Luwam Araya, after a search for a school that could say what her own daughter had been curious about that week.

Read the founder’s letter

I did not set out to open a school. I set out to find one. My eldest was four, and had already worked out that the safest thing to do in a classroom is nothing at all. Every school we visited was proud of something: the results, the uniform, the new building. Not one could tell me what she had been curious about that week.

So we began with fourteen children in two borrowed rooms, on a conviction that has not changed: curiosity is not the reward for finishing the work. It is the reason a child starts.

People are surprised that we teach Cambridge. They expect a Montessori school to be against examinations. We are only against a child sitting one they were never allowed to prepare for in their own way.

I hope to meet you soon.

Our vision

A school where the child's own curiosity does the work, and an international qualification is the evidence that it did.

A small child beside a painting she has just finished

What we are for

What your child leaves with

  • Reads for pleasure

  • Confident with numbers

  • Finishes work without being pushed

  • Kind without being told

How we teach

Montessori in the room, Cambridge on the record

Cambridge sets the destination for each stage. The classroom sets the route, the pace and the day. Checkpoints at the end of Primary are marked externally, and the qualification is recognised by ten thousand schools in a hundred and sixty countries.

  1. 3 – 5 yearsFoundation 1 and 2

    Cambridge Early Years

    Communication, early number and understanding the world. Nothing timed, nothing tested.

  2. 5 – 6 yearsReception

    Cambridge Early Years, final year

    The bridging year. Ends with graduation into Primary 1.

  3. 6 – 8 yearsPrimary 1 and 2

    Cambridge Primary, stages 1 and 2

    English, mathematics, science, global perspectives and digital literacy.

  4. 8 – 10 yearsPrimary 3 and 4

    Cambridge Primary, stages 3 and 4

    The same subjects, deeper, alongside long research projects and going out.

  5. 10 – 11 yearsPrimary 5

    Cambridge Primary, stage 5

    The final year, ending with the Cambridge Primary Checkpoint and a report that travels.

Beyond the work cycle

Three clubs, in term time and in the holidays

All three run inside the school day during term, so nothing is missed and no separate pick-up is needed. In the holidays they run longer, and are open to children from outside the school. Days and age bands.

  • Piano

    Foundation 2 upwards. Instruments provided.

  • Robotics

    Primary 1 upwards. Building and programming.

  • Karate

    Reception upwards. Graded, with belts.

Care and safety

Who is looking after your child

A small school's real advantage is not its ratio. It is that the adult beside your child in October is the same one who was there in September, and will be there next year.

  • A guide who has observed your child daily for three years, which is long enough to notice a change of mood before it becomes a problem.

  • A designated lead, a deputy, and annual training for every adult on site, including kitchen and grounds staff.

  • New children start gradually, with a parent nearby for as long as it takes. There is no fixed number of days.

In their own words

What parents say

It sold itself
They did not try to sell us anything. They just let us stand at the back of a classroom for an hour, and that did it.
Ifeoma ChukwuParent, Foundation 2
He reads standing up
My son was the child who would not sit still. Here nobody asked him to. He is nine now and he reads standing up.
Sarah WhitfieldParent, Primary 2
She was not behind
We moved from Mbarara mid-year. She joined Primary 3 on the Monday and was not behind on anything.
Chidi OkaforParent, Primary 3
Someone always knows
I can ring at four o'clock and speak to the person who taught my daughter that morning. That never happened at our last school.
Amaka BalogunParent, Reception
Checkpoint without the dread
He sat the Checkpoint in May and barely mentioned it. The report told us more about him than any exam I sat did about me.
Tunde BakareParent, Primary 5

Who runs the school

The people you will actually deal with

A small school, so the person who answers your email is usually the person who can decide the answer.

Miss Luwam Araya

Head of School

AMI trained, twenty years in Montessori classrooms, still teaches one morning a week.

Ruth Eze

Cambridge Coordinator

Prepares the Checkpoint entries. Ask her how your child is tracking.

Daniel Okonkwo

Head of Primary

Leads the Primary 1 to 5 teachers and runs the going-out programme.

Fatima Bello

Head of Early Years

Oversees Foundation 1 to Reception and the settling-in of every new child.

Grace Adeniyi

Designated Safeguarding Lead

First point of contact for any family whose circumstances have changed.

Tobi Adewale

Head of Outdoor Learning

Runs the garden, the forest and every holiday club that involves getting wet.

Accredited by and working with

  • AMI
  • CIS
  • Eco-Schools
  • KPTF
  • GFES
  • WAMN

Come and visit us

Tours are Tuesday and Thursday, 9am, while the children are working.

Book a school tourSee what is on