The Y Child Enrichment Center has been open for over 25 years, dedicated to creating a positive and enjoyable environment for children who attend. “We strive to give each child an early school experience which will lead to a love learning in his or her future,” Enrichment Site Coordinator Maddie Rideout said.

In September of 2014, this mission will continue with the morphing of the Child Enrichment Center into the Y Boothbay Region Montessori School (not its final name). This plan has been in the works for the past two years. In June of 2013 the first step in pursuing the goal was implemented, when a meeting was arranged between the Y’s Executive Director Andy Hamblett, Membership & Marketing Director Meagan Hamblett, Maddie Rideout and Alexandra Pinkham, who will be the head teacher at the Montessori school.

Pinkham is a Boothbay native who often used the Y in both her youth and in her adult life. She attended Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., earning her bachelor’s degree in Hispanic studies with a focus in psychology. She received her TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification, and lived in Costa Rica for six months.

Pinkham has taught in Portland at the Maplewood Montessori School for the past four years. She attended the Northeast Montessori Institute in Massachusetts for her training and certification in Montessori teaching methods.

“It was intensive training,” Pinkham said. “It was a lot of work but also very rewarding.”

Currently the Y Child Enrichment Center accepts children from 6 weeks to 5 years old. The new Y Montessori School will accept children from age three to six, however younger ages will continue to attend the center. Currently the various aged children are separated out into their respective age groups. That will change when the Montessori school opens.

“We are making a shift in our care programs,” Meagan Hamblett said. “We are creating a continuum of care, where all ages will be together.”

“In Montessori programs, we promote independence and responsibility in children at a young age,” Pinkham said. “Older students, who we often call ‘friends,’ become natural leaders when all ages are kept together.”

Important to the Montessori method is creating a strong sense of community within the school, special focus on each child so they can work at their own pace, and small group and individual self-directed learning. Montessori style of teaching focuses on the development of the child as a whole, including physical, social, emotional and cognitive growth, according to the American Montessori Society.

Rideout has spent the past several months visiting Montessori schools in the state, to better understand the Montessori methods she will be helping teach.

“The most noticeable thing for me was how calm and peaceful the classrooms are,” Rideout said. “Kids are polite, and there is a lack of arguing and disagreements.”

“It’s the Montessori methods of teaching that allow that,” Meagan Hamblett said. “When disagreements arise between students, they are encouraged to work out the problem themselves. When I was observing Alexandra at the Maplewood school, I saw her listen and then parrot back what a student was telling her, affirming the students’ feelings and helping them work out for themselves what the next step was.”

“It’s like adding a coach to a team,” Andy Hamblett said. “It’s a nurturing environment that provides a direction that everyone is working towards. Teachers, students, parents all work together to give kids what they need to succeed in life.”

The school is scheduled to open September 2. Child care will be offered the same hours as it is currently, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the entire year. The Montessori program will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m., with the younger students attending school only until 11:30 a.m. The current rates will be maintained through 2014 as the Y community adjusts to the changes.