The first bilingual school on a farm in Poland – Montessori Farm School

Montessori Farm School is located in eastern Poland, a 2-hour drive from Warsaw, in the Podlasie region. The School is run by the Warsaw Montessori Family – a group of schools that has been educating children in Warsaw for over 20 years, from infant to high school. Montessori Farm School has been launched in the school year 2022/2023.

Owner and founder of the School, Małgosia Tarnowska, about Montessori Farm School

How did you come up with the idea of creating a Montessori Farm School?

– It is Dr’s Montessori idea for Adolescents. She believed that giving the young people this beautiful opportunity of studying and working at the farm, will prepare them for entering real life…

“(…)Schools as they are today, are adapted neither to the needs of adolescence nor to the times in which we live. Society has not only developed into a state of utmost complication and extreme contrasts, but it has now come to the crisis in which the peace of the world and civilization itself are threatened (…)”

Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, 1948

What are the advantages of residential schools? What are the reasons why parents choose a boarding school for their children?

– The parents of Adolescents and Adolescents themselves often need a break from each other – what an amazing opportunity, having a teen at home is often challenging as they are in the most difficult time of their growth and development and very delicate.

Ready or not, you’ve got an adolescent!

For young people, this is a great opportunity for becoming independent, for socializing within a small community, for working and studying together, for gaining economic independence, for collaborating, cooperating and becoming a team player.

The farm school is also for those who do not trust the traditional schooling system and basically do not feel comfortable there.

Farm school is for these parents who want their children to enter adult life, ready to live it independently.

The school is located on a farm – what will the students do apart from traditional education? What activities will their day be filled with?

– The farm is a limitless field for scientific studies. At the farm, the students work and study (according to the Montessori plan for Work and Study). For the daily/weekly chores, they could choose (we give our students: Voice, Choice and Activity) from:

taking care of animals (sheep, chickens and bees, we also have a wild deer family that the students can observe and study),
woodworking,
gardening (organic vegetables),
cooking in our commercial kitchen and making preserves from our organic products,
taking care of the hotel and its guests – basically running the small business,
selling our products at the farmers market,
photography workshops,
art workshops,
swimming,
horse riding,
canoeing,
fishing,
cycling, roller skating and many more.

More about Montessori Farm School

Montessori Farm School “Folwark Białka” is located 150 kilometers east of Warsaw, in the Podlasie region (a 2-hour drive from Warsaw). Podlasie is a unique place on the map of Europe. It is characterized by clean air and proximity not only to nature but also to great culture and art.

It’s run by the Warsaw Montessori Family providing Montessori education in Warsaw at every stage of child development: from infant and toddlers through Casa level (kindergarten) and elementary to high school.

Montessori Farm School “Folwark Białka” includes accommodation, a farm with a garden, an apiary, animal husbandry facilities. It is located in the buffer zone of a historic park.