Sunflower Montessori celebrates twenty years since it was established in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in November 2001.
Currently it has eight creches across Luxembourg and has started to go international too.
According to Director Sam O'Dea, "This time 20 years ago Helen Clarke and I were busy mums and Montessori teachers juggling family life and work like many parents! We were, and still are, passionate about Montessori and wanted this amazing educational philosophy to be available to more children in Luxembourg. In November 2001 Sunflower Montessori was established. Since then, we have grown from one creche to 8 with a branch in Brussels. Our journey has been exciting, fulfilling and at times daunting. So many children have come through the Sunflower doors and now their children are coming too. We are proud and thankful that so many children have had such a great start to their early learning experience. Of course, we couldn’t do this alone; in the beginning Tom O’Dea worked in the evenings and weekends to keep the Sunflower ship afloat but, in 2014, he joined the team full time. We have had so many wonderful teachers and colleagues over the years, and it is a true testament to the Sunflower spirit and philosophy that many have stayed for long parts of our journey, and some have been by our side for the whole journey. We had dinner together to celebrate 10 year anniversary with Rosita Schmitz-Baladad, Elvira Scholler-De Leon, Marta Da Silva Vicente and a big congratulations to our 20 year anniversary ladies: Naomi Misiuk-Taylor, Dina Domingues Da Costa-Mendes Ruivo, Ferdana Mustafa-Bander and Janny Carter-Offringa who have supported us since 2001."
