We are pleased to partner with Gather Montessori to offer their 40-hour Caregiver-Child Class Facilitator Training Course to our Montessori community.

Caregiver-child classes offer Montessori schools and organizations an opportunity to begin relationships with families during the earliest years of a child's life. Designed for families with children approximately 2–20 months, these programs create a prepared environment where young children can explore while parents learn through observation, conversation, and connection with one another.

Gather Montessori developed this facilitator training from more than eight years of experience offering Caregiver-Child Classes at Dundas Valley Montessori School in Ontario, Canada. What began as programming for families with infants has grown into an important part of the school's wider community. Families develop relationships with one another and the school before their children formally enrol, while gaining practical experience bringing Montessori principles into everyday family life.

The 40-hour training prepares Montessori educators and others working with families to create and facilitate Caregiver-Child Classes within their own schools and communities. The course explores both the practical elements of developing a program and the role of the facilitator in creating an environment that supports children, parents, relationships, and community.

Gather Montessori is a Canadian Montessori education and consulting organization founded around the belief that Montessori can support children, seniors, families, educators, and communities far beyond the traditional classroom. Its work includes caregiver-child programming, facilitator and educator training, seniors and caregiver programming, community programming, and consultation with Montessori schools and organizations.

Through its caregiver-child work, Gather Montessori focuses particularly on the earliest relationship between families and Montessori, creating spaces where parents can observe their children, develop confidence in their own parenting, build relationships with other families, and experience Montessori as a way of life.

Learn more about Gather Montessori

Kristy Adams is AMI-trained (0-6), an Assistants to Infancy guide and the lead facilitator of the Caregiver-Child Classes at Dundas Valley Montessori School. Over the past eight years, Kristy has worked closely with infants, toddlers, and their families to develop a Caregiver-Child program centred on observation, independence, parent confidence, and community. Her practical experience facilitating these groups forms the foundation of much of the course.

Kate Millie is an AMI-trained Montessori educator, school leader, consultant, and founder of Gather Montessori with more than 20 years of experience in Montessori education. She holds AMI diplomas at the 0–3 and 3–6 levels and an M.Ed. in Montessori Education and is completing doctoral research focused on how Caregiver-Child Class facilitators foster community, connection, and belonging between parents and Montessori schools. Kate is also the School Director of Dundas Valley Montessori School and serves as Chair of AMI Canada.

Together, Kate and Kristy developed the Caregiver-Child Class Facilitator Training to translate their experience building and sustaining Caregiver-Child communities into a practical model that other Montessori schools and educators can adapt to their own contexts.