Victoria Montessori

	Victoria Montessori Preschool and Child Care
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          The owner and a Directress, Ivana graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Sociology, and French & German. After many years of training in business, marketing, and public relations with Lufthansa German Airlines, she and her husband Pavel moved to the Okanagan, where she and her sister owned and operated a successful home décor business, called Beautiful Ideas.
            During a whale watching trip in Tofino, they were captivated by the intense beauty of the natural environment and they moved to Victoria shortly after. When their daughter Sofia was born, Ivana wanted to be actively involved in her education, in and outside the classroom. Ivana researched the best options for her daughter and realized that the Montessori Method was by far her favourite. She took the Montessori training and opened a school that would not only serve Sofia well, but would also enable other parents to share in the success of their own children.
            Ivana speaks 4 languages fluently (English, Czech, German, & French) and loves to travel, having extensively experienced Europe, North America, Australia, and Sofia’s favourite—Hawaii. When she is not at the school, Ivana can usually be found walking along the ocean with Pavel, Sofia, Isabella and Anika.

Angela has been with us since July 2006, and has been a Montessori Teacher since graduating in 1999. Originally from Ontario, she grew up spending hours in the pool training as a competitive swimmer. She started her work with children coaching the newest young prodigies in the Development Levels of the Newmarket Stingrays Swim Club. Children were always her passion, so after university she decided on a career in education. Being a Montessori child herself, spending time observing in a Montessori classroom as an adult felt like coming home. She had found her career.
She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario, an AMI Montessori Diploma from The Foundation for Montessori Education (FME) in Toronto, and is a British Columbia certified Early Childhood Educator. During her career as a Montessori Teacher, her love of travel has given her opportunities to work at schools in Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Vancouver and Victoria.
She has lived in Victoria since 2005, and loves the amazing outdoor recreation it has to offer. In her spare time she is very active, she is pretty much up for any adventure! She loves seeking out new goals, then challenging herself to reach them. Her most recent achievement was completing her first Triathlon in Sooke, where she lives.

Miss Jessica was born and raised in Victoria. She graduated from Camosun College in 2002 with a degree in Journalism. Since the age of 12, she has been heavily involved with the performing arts and upon graduation, she used her passion for entertaining to gain a position as an Arts and Entertainment Reporter for CHTV. After working in the media for 5 years, she got married, had a little boy and decided that it was time for a career change.
Miss Jessica has directed and choreographed children of all ages in numerous children's theatre productions so her love of working with children, plus the desire to learn more about her own son and his development, led her to Victoria Montessori.

Being the oldest of three children and 11 grandchildren, Kendi has been caring for young children her whole life. She was first introduced to the Montessori method while working as a nanny on Grand Cayman and was immediately drawn to the Montessori classroom. That was 13 years ago and she is still just as inspired by it today. Although originally from Saskatchewan, Kendi has been living in Victoria since 2004, and completed both her Montessori training and obtained her ECE from the Angela Martin Montessori Training Centre. She spent the last year living in Spain teaching English and is excited about her return to Montessori.

Mary Jane is an ECE assistant, acupressure practitioner, and yoga teacher. She enjoys working with children of all ages and has a clear appreciation of how much they have to teach her. She is inspired and delighted by their creativity, insight and wisdom. Mary Jane finds joy in her connection with her two daughters, nature, qi gong, dance, and art.

Sean is very pleased to join the Montessori preschool as music specialist to encourage the children in singing, movement to music and an appreciation for music as an important part of life and learning.
Sean began his musical training as a schoolboy attending St Michael’s Choir School in Toronto and singing in the renowned St Michael’s Choir. He attained a Bachelor of Music Degree in 1979 and a Bachelor of Education in 1997 from the University of Victoria. He has sung and played guitar, bass and occasionally keyboards in a host of musical groups from the 70s to the present including acoustic folk groups and rock, country, reggae, blues bands and showbands as well as guitar in several musical productions. Sean also spent four years playing a broad range of musical styles on cruise ships from Alaska to the South Seas.
He has three albums to his credit: a selection of cruise ship favourites, With No Reservations recorded in 2005 by Party of Four; a four-song solo CD, Shooting Stars, for which Sean composed the music, sang all vocal parts and played all the instruments, recorded as a supplement to the 2007 novel Shooting Stars by Laurie Samsel Olson who also penned the lyrics; and, Live at the Yale with The Soulshakers in 2009, a collection of rhythm and blues songs recorded during a performance at Vancouver’s well-known blues club “The Yale”.
Sean continues to play weekend engagements with The Soulshakers and as a solo performer.

         Stana graduated from George Brown College in Toronto with a diploma in Hotel Management. Starting out in Night Audit with the massive Toronto CP Hotel, over a few years, she worked her way up through the Accounting Department until she was the one in charge, the Head Controller. But after some time, she realized she wanted a more relaxing life and moved to the Okanagan, where she and her sister owned and operated a successful home décor business, called Beautiful Ideas.
                While living in Kelowna, her future husband Jeremy wandered into her life, setting into motion a series of global trips and lifestyle changes, from building a log cabin in the backwoods of the Kootenays, to backpacking through South America, South East Asia, and China, to vacationing in Europe and Hawaii.
                When her sister Ivana became pregnant, Stana and Jeremy sold their house to move to Victoria, a place they had loved for years. Here, she could help out with the school, taking charge of Administration, and the family, as she’s been doing ever since.
                Stana speaks 2 languages fluently (English & Czech) and gets by on her German. When she is not at Ivana’s house, she can be found renovating or gardening with her husband.