Kamelini Montessori

Jenny Piriankov is the Director of Kamelini Montessori Centre.

Born and raised in Bulgaria, she received her Bachelor’s Engineering degree from the Technical University in Sofia. She also studied and completed a course of Professional Photography at the National academy for Theater and Film Arts in Sofia. Jenny lived 12 years in South Africa with her family – husband and three children. In 2002, they bought a house in Johannesburg, which was functioning for more than 35 years as a private kindergarten and converted it to a Montessori Pre-primary School. They named it “Kamelini”. She worked there as a Directress and Manager for almost 6 years.

Jenny discovered the Montessori philosophy when her first child, Kamen, was born and she signed up in 2001 as a student at The College of Modern Montessori, where she became a certified Montessori Directress. In 2007, the big Piriankov family moved back to Bulgaria with the intention to open a Montessori School in Sofia.

Jenny especially enjoys teaching math, English language, geography, art and cultural activities. While in Johannesburg, she ran a Bulgarian School on Saturdays where she was teaching the children of Bulgarian families  Bulgarian language, traditions, history and culture. Her Montessori classroom was an International mixture of English, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Greek, Swedish, Polish, Bulgarian, Serbian, African, Indian children. Jenny feels it is very important to bring the outside world into the classroom by making children aware of current affairs.

Jenny lives in Sofia with her family today.

She thinks, what mainly children gain from the Montessori program are independence, respect for others, culture and education. “From the Montessori method, they’ll be more independent workers and achievers, and more contented and patient.” She feels that through Montessori, they will be happier in their lives and have the courage to face the truth.

Kamelini Montessori

Private kindergarten

Address:

Sofia, Knyajevo, 8 Studen Kladenets Street

info@kamelini.com

+359 89 229 6595

+359 89 229 6596

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The telephone will not be answered until 13:00 h in order not to interrupt the education activities.

Emergency contact number: +359 88 6171394

Dr. Maria Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori, the first woman to graduate from the University of Tome Medical School, became interested in education as a doctor treating mentally handicapped children. After returning to the university for further study, she began her work with non – handicapped children in 1904.

In her research, Dr. Montessori noted the specific characteristics associated with the child’s interests and abilities at each plane of development. She argued that a school carefully designed to meet the needs and interests of the child would work more effectively because it would not fight human nature. Montessori taught teachers how to “follow the child” through careful observation, allowing each child to reveal his/her strengths, weaknesses, interests and anxieties; and strategies that work best to facilitate the development of the child’s human potential.

This focus on the “whole child” led Dr. Montessori to develop a very different sort of school from the traditional adult – centred classroom. To emphasise this difference, she named her first school the “Casa dei Bambini” (Children’s House). There is something profound in her choice of words, for the Montessori classroom is not the domain of the adults in charge, but rather it is a carefully prepared environment designed to facilitate the development of the children’s independence and sense of personal empowerment.