Skip to content

Reminds me of Yogi Berra

Prince George is lucky to attend a Montessori nursery – the long waiting lists mean no one else has a chance

“No one goes there any more, it’s too popular”

22 thoughts on “Reminds me of Yogi Berra”

  1. I’d suspect having a long waiting list is one of the features. Rather like an expensive woman, the trick is to be available – but not too available. So your obliged to her diary, not her to yours.

  2. Classic Montessori education has children in three year groupings i.e. 3-6 years preschool, 6-9, 9-12 junior school which does not mesh well with the rigid age structure of UK system. This structure defuses a lot of cutthroat top dogs as older children enjoy the esteem of helping younger and the younger ones aspire to the achievements of the older ones. Children work on independent tasks typically four a day with oversight by the teacher, as well as general knowledge group lessons. It gave both my daughters an ability to work alone under their own motivation and to think independently. They found the amount of bullying in English schools and the inability of teachers to listen to children a huge shock, also the one speed approach to subjects.

  3. BiS
    Montessorri is not a franchise, and no-one is centrally controlling the supply of Montessori nursery schools. The Montessori Institute only controls the training of teachers. So the long waiting lists are unlikely to be intended. As with anything to with kiddies today, over-regulation is almost certainly the problem – the risk assessments, the fire plans, the enhanced criminal record checks, the disabled access, the hygiene requirements, health & safety, the staff training (on ‘diversity’, professional boundaries, first aid, record-keeping, etc) and so on and on.

  4. I expect if the author had a Montessori place they would be shocked if you said they were privileged.

    Privilege is what people who have something you don’t are.

  5. @Theo
    Haute couture fashion houses & Saville Row tailors aren’t franchises or centrally controlled, either. But all seem to work to the same business model.
    There’s nothing wrong in engendering a sense of exclusivity. “Long waiting lists” imply early commitment. You’d hardly be signing your 3 y old up to a three year waiting list for pre-school. So you put the name down shortly after severing the umbilical.
    That’s what I’d call clever marketing

  6. I always assumed future Kings would have a private nanny and not go to some nursery with middle class riff raff. Is this a case of the Royals pandering to the public to be normal and then getting hammered for it anyway?

  7. Theophratus,

    > As with anything to with kiddies today, over-regulation is almost certainly the problem

    Yup. Childcare is fiendishly expensive, yet poorly-paid. The difference is pocketed by the state’s army of regulators.

  8. Montessori is a load of old woo. Yes good quality staff, facilities and good reputation locally are the things to look for and quite often its a Montessori nursery that will top that list. Like a good church school parents can tolerate any amount of wooey for the greater kiddie-good.

  9. “Is this a case of the Royals pandering to the public ..”

    I doubt it. My own feeling with Wills n Harry is that they’re both independent, and both genuine. That they’ll play their parts, and take the good and bad resulting, for as long as “we” want them to. Were we to become a republic, I think they’d bugger off without looking back.

    Everyone has to conform in some way as a result of the job they do, even Spinal Tap drummers. The Princes do it much better than most (certain politicians may want to take note).

  10. Why doesn’t his mum look after him rather than handing him over to a bunch of strangers?
    Serious question.

  11. @bumfluff: yes indeed, it is a good question. Especially as she doesn’t need to go out to earn the money to pay someone else to look after her children, as seems to be the aspiring middle-class model these days.

  12. We took our daughter to have a look around the local Montessori when it opened ( it’s now got a six month waiting list).

    We ultimately didn’t send the kid there, mainly because the traditional preschool in the village had a better arrangement for prepping the kids to go to the proper school, but partially because my wife wasn’t confident that the Montessori way would benefit our child.

    Her observation (I was working, so cannot confirm the sense of this) was that the Montessori way was mainly bullshit, the advantage of that school was that the facilities and staff were very nice and well funded, the parents seem to want to send there kids there because of that, and not the Woo.

    And parents send their kids to preschool for the social aspect, I think: you want them to be starting proper school with friendships established.

  13. re Royals and schools..

    Assuming the philosophy in the british royal family is roughly the same as most of northwestern european royal families:

    – Socialisation is important for *every* human being to develop the social skills necessary in life. This means regular interaction with other kids. A well-selected nursery/preschool does this job pretty well in an environment that can be just as controlled/secured as a private setting.

    – Given that the children are predestined to perform a public function, in the public eye, their suitability must be evident upon official confirmation on reaching adulthood.
    One of the most effective ways of doing this, is having their education take place in, more or less, the public eye, using the same system as everyone else. Especially in their later education, amongst the bulk of people who they can be expected to deal with during the period in which they perform their official function
    ( ymmv here depending on details of the official job description, and the way it practically pans out, but you definitely want your head of state to have a proven level of intelligence, and enough background in Stuff to detect Shenanigans.)
    If they can’t cope with that level, you have time to find a suitable relative who *can* . ( a definite dislike for the actual job, based on what it actually entails, is a great indicator of suitability here.)

    – it makes great PR. Especially if the kids are doing well.

  14. Telegraph journalist can’t get her kid into her local Montessori school. Shock horror. Or, to put it another way, yawn.

  15. Haute couture fashion houses & Saville Row tailors aren’t franchises or centrally controlled, either.

    But the number of tailors on Savile Row is limited by space and rents, while the supply of Montessori teachers is potentially unlimited. So there must be some other factor than ‘exclusivity marketing’ that is limiting supply – viz. over-regulation. There are waiting lists for the best care homes for the elderly, not because of ‘exclusivity marketing’ but because of a shortage of supply caused by over-regulation.

  16. Why doesn’t his mum look after him rather than handing him over to a bunch of strangers?
    Serious question.

    A journalist? In London? Writing for a national newspaper?!!

    HAVE YOU EVEN HEARD OF TWITTER?!!

    Anyway, yes, a serious question. One from which she would recoil in horror, I would think.

    I have been thinking for a while – what is the difference these days between the Telegraph and the Guardian? Two years ago I could tell which one Tim was linking to just by reading the brief spoiler, but now it is almost impossible. The Telegraph has gone downhill faster than an alcoholic who won the Lottery.

  17. So Much For Subtlety

    Just in passing, isn’t the waiting list an attempt to avoid the Berra effect? If everyone could get their snot-nosed little oik into a school, no one would send their children there. Look at any number of Comprehensives within easy driving distance of Ms Windsor. If they are popular enough, they will impose a waiting list to keep people out and so make sure there are so few children there, everyone will want to send their child there.

  18. I think parking your damned car is the bigger issue when you get to your destination. Traffic isn’t that bad compared to, say, my local town during the school run. There are endless traffic lights though.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *