“As you may be aware, CMS is looking for a new home from 2020,” CMS said in an online statement.
“Over the last 27 years, CMS has provided formal and authentic Montessori preschool and kindergarten education for 3 to 6 year olds - one of the few dedicated preschools in the local area.
“We have loved operating out of our current premises; however the time has come for us to move on.
“As a not-for-profit, community preschool, finding new premises is a huge challenge.
“If we are unable to find a new site, we will face closure.”
School committee member Theresa Paredes said that CMS’s lease was cancelled – effective at the end of the year – due to a disagreement between the preschool and the church about the amount of religious education to be taught to preschoolers.
The school allegedly declined to include compulsory religious learning in the syllabus.
“We’re an all-inclusive school, regardless of faith,” Paredes told The Daily Telegraph.
“We tried to reach a compromise by offering optional faith based teaching that families could opt in to, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough.”
Church senior minister Tim Swan said that the site “was originally built so local children could know there is a God that loves them; we would love that ethos to continue”.
He added that due to struggling numbers, Montessori have “struggled to meet our below market facility fees”.
The Montessori method is an alternative teaching method developed by Italian educator Maria Montessori, which encourages more free activity and a child-centred approach that has “children learning and leading, not teachers teaching”.
The method is used in more than 22,000 schools around the world, including in kindergartens and preschools in Australia.
Montessori Australia, which does not run the country's 38 Montessori schools, but does provide resources, support for parents, curriculum assistance and student record-keeping services, ran into trouble last May when it was revealed it had run into serious debt, forcing it to make emergency changes to its corporate structure.
Montessori Australia said in a statement that the organisation was “taking responsible measures to ensure all debts are properly managed and that none of these administrative issues or transformational work impacts individual schools”.
Since commencing their search for new premises, CMS said that it has received a “huge outpouring of support”.
“We are positive that we will find a new home so that our highly experienced teachers can continue doing what they do best: providing an excellent level of authentic Montessori preschool and kindergarten education, setting up our kids for a lifelong love of learning,” the kindergarten concluded.
