From the moment you walk into a Montessori school, you recognise the difference in the ethos applied: the respectful nature with which the children are handled, the warm environment, and the sense of the calm. My children have blossomed since attending Alpha Montessori.

They have a particularly strong affection for Mariana and Aisha - both individuals emanate sincere warmth and love for little people. It has always been my aspiration to raise respectful, strong individuals, and this environment is very well suited to engendering respect, a sense of identity, a good basis of manners, core skills, and a sense of independence.

I have never been a proponent of an environment that seeks to treat each child as part of the masses, and I truly feel that in the Montessori system they are allowed to come into their own. Before joining Alpha Montessori, my eldest daughter was quite introverted and I was concerned that she would be susceptible to bullying – she has certainly found her confidence, her voice, and friends who have remained with her even after they left the school.​

Mrs. R. Franken

My daughter was always a very busy little girl with quite a short attention span. She would get bored incredibly quickly. This was quite a challenge having her at home with me as she would always want me to entertain her. My daughter has been going to Alpha Montessori since she was 2 years old.

I have seen drastic positive changes in my daughter since then. Alpha Montessori opened up a new and fascinating world for her. There were so many different fields of work for her to learn and to keep her mind stimulated. This in turn helped her to calm down and to focus her energy.

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At Alpha Montessori they cared about my child as a whole and taught her many different things in a nurturing and caring environment. She also learned self respect and respect for nature and for others.

I would definitely recommend using the services of Mariana Simos and Alpha Montessori to any parent who wants their child to have the opportunity to learn and grow as capable, independent, caring and loving individuals. I strongly believe that Mariana Simos and Alpha Montessori have given my child the best start in her life long journey of education. Thank you Mariana Simos and thank you Alpha Montessori!​

Mrs. B Sardo

Before attending Alpha Montessori, my son was still very dependent on us as his parents for his every need, and his knowledge and interests were bound to that which was familiar and known to him.

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Since attending Alpha Montessori, he has become incredibly self confident and independent in many different ways. The way he poses questions on matters of life or aspects thereof - very much follows a thought trail of thinking out of the box. And It’s quite something when your toddler ventures off into the kitchen to make their own sandwich, or cut their own fruit which they select from the fruit bowl (knives used to cut under supervision of course). - Or when you are gathered around the dinner table and they are telling you about the lives of artists, or land marks, pointing out on a map where Asia is, and identifying shapes and numbers which they pick up all around them in everyday life etc.

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The principal and teachers of the school are great. They are very positive and their care for the kids shows. It is a warm and nurturing space for the kids to thrive in, and they will definitely flourish in preparation for their future education having a positive outlook on learning. If you want a child who can confidently look you in the eye, and build fantastic skills leading to mastering areas such as maths, geography and all the rest of it as their life of education progresses,  then this is definitely the place for your little one, - the perfect stepping stone. 

Also, you will not find such a small teacher, student ratio anywhere else and the extra Mural activities provide a wide range of interests for the kids to select from.​

Mrs. M Simos

Not too long after our twin boys turned two, we realised that they were not getting enough stimulation staying at home with their wonderful nanny, so we started the daunting task of finding a school for them to attend.  We decided that we wanted to go the Montessori route and so began our search.  

Alpha was the 4th school we looked at, and within minutes of meeting Mariana I knew that Alpha Montessori was the “home away from home” that we were hoping to find.  As it would turn out, this was one of the best decisions we have ever made.

The reality for many of us is that the caregivers we choose are with our children for long periods of time. These teachers are in essence co-parenting with us. The task of shaping little humans, in these formative years, is a huge responsibility.   Over the last three years we have watched our babies turn into confident, clever, funny, compassionate individuals and we must give much of the credit for this to Mariana and her team at Alpha.  

Mariana has the rare ability to develop a deep bond with the children in her care.  She somehow manages to find many seemingly impossible balances and at Alpha you will find a calm environment full of enthusiastic learners, disciplined little souls who are treated with respect and care.  Mariana has an unparalleled rapport with her children and her ability to connect with them on all levels is nothing short of incredible.  

Her passion for the Montessori way of teaching children coupled with her patience and unconditional enthusiasm makes learning exciting and effortless for the Alpha Montessori children.  She interprets both simple concepts as well as more advanced topics with ease and treats each child as the geniuses that they are.  

Mariana sets high standards for her charges, simply by believing in them, never talking down to them or underestimating their abilities, and we have seen the boys excel, both academically and emotionally , in ways that greatly surpass many of their peers of the same age. 

We feel incredibly fortunate that our boys have been lucky enough to have Mariana guiding and nurturing them for the last 3 years.  As we move off to “big school” we feel incredibly grateful for our time as Alpha parents, and incredibly sad that this special part of the boys’ life has come to an end.   

Should Maria Montessori have handpicked a custodian to follow in her footsteps, I have no doubt in my mind that she would pick Mariana, EVERY SINGLE TIME. ​

Mrs. S Gallagher

We walked into Alpha Montessori in September 2014 to have a look and see what it was about in the hopes of enrolling our son for the following year when he turned 3. There were a few kids still there for aftercare and he fell in love with the school and wouldn’t leave so we enrolled him immediately to start the new term in October.

I can honestly say that in the 3 and a half years that he has been there, our son has wanted to go to school every day and was very happy there.

When he was sick or on school holiday, he would count down the days to go back to school. Under the guidance of Mariana and Aisha we saw him grow from a shy child to the bright, clever, bubbly, enthusiastic, kind and confident child he is now.  We highly recommend Alpha Montessori as a starting block for your toddler.​

Mrs. C Matthews

My almost three-year son joined Alpha Montessori when he had just turned two. I was still breastfeeding at the time and wanted to stop. Mariana Simos was incredibly supportive in helping with this transition to more independence for both my son and I, an independence central to her school’s philosophy. She did the same in assisting me with day-time naps, and other very practical, and important, real-life experiences with a small child. 

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I have seen my son change in dramatic ways in the past year – particularly in how he uses language, how he reasons and uses logic, and particularly how his relationships with friends at school have shifted to respectful, caring, and mindful ones. He is a happy child at school, and I believe this is because of the space he is given to work independently and to explore what interests him as an autonomous little human. 

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Alpha is a very good school, and the teachers are committed to engaging the children in ways that allow them to express their individuality and unique creative talents. This is very important to me as a parent, and I believe that Mariana and her team work hard and consistently in creating a productive space in the classroom for small beings to forge their way into a big world, prepared.

Mrs. NS