Dear parents, welcome to Alpha International Montessori School (AIMS)!

AIMS is named after my eldest daughter, Alpha, who greatly enjoyed and benefited from a Montessori education when she was young. It was her experience that sparked my interest in Montessori. In 2005, I completed the Montessori Teaching Diploma, and my interest has only grown. Opening a Montessori school and increasing access to this form of education in Laos is a dream come true.

Why is the Montessori Method special? Essentially, its success lies in the ‘wholeness’ of the Montessori approach. Education is sometimes narrowly conceived as the teaching of separate subjects, mathematics, language, sciences, and so on. This approach can overlook the most important life skills: how to take care of yourself and the environment, how to be happy, make choices, be responsible and respect others, how to love learning and how to concentrate and focus. All these skills are emphasized in the Montessori Method. At AIMS, we provide the opportunity for them to do this at their own pace, following their natural interests. The emphasis is placed on completing a task to your own satisfaction, rather than struggling to please someone else.

Montessori schools create a friendly environment for children. Specially designed materials stimulate children to explore, learn, and do things for themselves. We believe that children can learn a lot from each other, take care, and stimulate each other’s interests. Just as importantly, the teachers are also dedicated to encouraging the children in the same way.

Our mission is to nurture a life-long love for learning, the ability to make intelligent and responsible choices, and concentration and focus.

Our aim is to assist children to ‘learn how to learn’ and to give them the environment, tools and self-confidence to ‘do it by themselves’.

Sincerely,

Nalinthone Phonyaphanh

Founder and Managing Director

Alpha International Montessori School (AIMS) is a private school founded in 2009. We take pride in offering the unique teaching philosophies of Dr. Maria Montessori.

According to Montessori, "A child's work is to create the person she/he will become." Children are born with mental powers which aid the work of their own construction but they cannot accomplish this task without purposeful movement, exploration, and discovery of their environment-both the things and people within it. They must be given the freedom to use their inborn powers to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. 

Some of the core Montessori principles on how children learn include: 

1. Freedom to make choices is a necessity for true learning.

2. Learning occurs best within a meaningful context.

3. Learning occurs best when there is order in the environment.

4. Children learn through imitation, repetition, and trial and error.

5. Moving and learning are intertwined. Movement is critical to the child's learning experience.

6. Young children use all of their senses to learn...especially their hands. The hands are the instrument of the child's intelligence.

7. Children must be free (within the limits of safety) to explore and interactwith their environment.

8. Children pass through sensitive periods. Sensitive periods are segmentsof time when they are most motivated and capable of learning aparticular skill. 

Our AIMS philosophy is to give the children a chance to ‘do it by themselves’. Everything we do originates from the deepest respect for Montessori principles and for the child.

Montessori classrooms provide a prepared environment where children are free to respond to their natural drive to work and learn. Children's love of learning is nurtured through spontaneous, meaningful activities under the guidance of trained adults. Through their work, children develop concentration, motivation, persistence and discipline. Within this framework, they can progress at their own pace and rhythm during the crucial years of development.