Iverna Gardens

Iverna Gardens Montessori is a little gem hidden behind the Armenian Church in Kensington. Owned and managed by Felicity Marrian, Iverna Gardens is a bright, light, busy but calm learning environment with a wealth of interesting experiential learning areas centred around one large main room with supporting rooms on the lower ground floor.

Every part of the main room was used for some learning activity and the carefully prepared wall displays were just enough to show what was being learnt but not so overpowering that you were blinded by colour. The children were immensely polite and focused on the tasks they were performing and the staff are all well qualified, many through Montessori Centre International in London, and entirely devoted to their work.

Outside, the school has a large play area and it was hard to believe that this oasis of learning and calm for such young people was within a few yards of the noise and frantic bustle of High Street Kensington in Central London.

(This article appeared in Montessori International, April 2008)