When considering a program for the ‘founding’ families at our new Cantera Campus, the Montessori of Silicon Valley looked to the meaning of the word Cantera and were struck by the alignment with our core values, the CARING model.
All individuals – child, parent, staff – who join our incredibly diverse school community are treated with respect as individuals. Each is expected to take responsibility for their personal contribution to the group’s collective success.
Like each opal gemstone, every family who joins our Cantera Opal founding family community bring a set of unique characteristics which when combined with the other Opal families create a unique and dynamic environment.
At the core of accountability is reliability and personal responsibility. We value the ability of our staff and organization to honor our commitments and take ownership in results.
The Cantera Opal is born from an Igneous Rock called Rhyolite, it takes many steps along its long journey to produce its signature fire-like coloring. By partnering closely with the Montessori staff, Cantera Opal families will assist their student’s personal educational journey by embracing their responsibility in the collective success of the school.
Respect requires consideration and helpfulness as well as the ability to effectively listen, communicate, tolerate and treat others as they would like to be treated.
Respect requires consideration and helpfulness as well as the ability to effectively listen, communicate, tolerate, and treat others as they would like to be treated. Like describing the exact color of an opal, describing respect is always not an easy thing to do. Opals possess all the colors of a rainbow, but rarely in a neat pattern like a rainbow, more like an abstract painting using the brightest of colored paints, each requiring an appropriate level of acknowledgement.
Direct and honest, we make every effort to do the right thing every time. Our community exists to serve children. The integrity of our decisions is based on our motto “Children First, Always”
Direct and honest, we make every effort to do the right thing every time. Our community exists to serve children. The integrity of our decisions is based on our motto “Children First, Always”.
Our goal is to inspire and nurture the human spirit, one child at a time. We speak and act from the heart with true love for the child.
Like the Cantera Opal with its dazzling variety of shapes, colors and complexity, all children have characteristics unique to themselves while also sharing common characteristics with their peers. Our goal is to nurture the best qualities of all children to develop a life long love of learning and independence.
We help each other thrive. We boldly invest in each other’s growth. We focus on creating real value for the world, every day and in everything we do.
Our authentic Montessori Guides are in a class by themselves with their own pedagogy and vocabulary, as evidenced by the incredible environment and community they create. In everything they do and everyday that they do it, Guides approach each child as a unique gemstone who they work with individually to assist in the earliest stages of a young person’s development into an adult who can thrive and create real value for the world.
As the very first members of our new school community, Cantera Families will be those who:
In addition to being the founding class of this new location, Cantera Opal Families will have access to exclusive benefits. To ensure a great experience for our Cantera Opal Families, we are limiting enrollment to the students who join us for their first day of school with us in the month of August. The number of students enrolled in our classrooms will be limited to 10 or less in each classroom which will provide a great head start for participating students as they will be the leaders in the classroom when new students begin to arrive in September.