Name: The Terrace Montessori School, High Street, Leamington.
Type: Nursery and Primary.
Headteacher: Celia Lowe
Number of pupils: 20 nursery, 22 primary.
Number of teachers: two full-time, five part-time.
Governors: chairman Prof C Ruiz, Mrs F Chapman, Mrs C Hofstetter, Mr A Lowe.
From the moment you walk in, the Terrace Montessori School does not feel like a normal primary school.
Though it has all the hallmarks of education - work on the walls, glue, plastic chairs and uniforms, it feels more relaxed.
And walking over to some children digging in a flowerbed, it seemed more like watching animals in the wild.
"What about if it really is a gold mine under here?" One of them asked.
Headteacher Celia Lowe puts this down to the schools' method of using the child's own curiosity to find out about the world.
She said: "Montessori is all about fulfilling the child's potential. It encourages children to do things themselves, do things they want to do, and really make the most of their interests.
"We try to expose the children to different experiences through their senses, but we try to isolate the experiences so the child is not overwhelmed with too much information.
"We try to work with the parents very closely so they know what we are doing. It is very much a team."
On the walls are pictures of sea creatures, but beside each one is the name in Spanish as well as the English word, part of the school's philosophy of teaching languages to all ages.
Mrs Lowe said: "Working like this the children have a lot of self-confidence. They know themselves very well, and learn where to find things rather than expecting to have things given to them.
"They do maths and English every day, but it is up to them when they do it. Once the child has the self-discipline they are extremely focused and self motivated.
"It does mean that the staff have to be very well-informed as far as the national curriculum is concerned. The application is different from a state school. At the end of term the children have covered the curriculum, and very often in more depth.
"We try to get the children out as often as possible, for example we have been studying the respiratory system. The children contacted the local butcher and got hold of some pigs' lungs.
"It shows that they can have access to everything in the community. It is about finding there is a whole world out there and they can have access to that world."
