Leonor March Juan
co-founder
Leonor is the co-founder of Madrid Montessori School and has been involved with short- and long-term strategic planning since the school’s inception. She is the school's owner and was a Guide in one of the Children’s House classrooms for six years before moving to an administrative role in 2016. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Sussex and completed her Children’s House training in Paris at the Institut Supérieur Maria Montessori, under the direction of Patricia Spinelli in 2010. She also completed the AMI Inclusive Education Certificate from the Montessori Institute of San Diego in 2015 and in 2019, she entered into the AMI Trainer of Trainers Programme for the 3-6 age group, which will enable her to train adults to become AMI Montessori guides.
Joanna Stewart
head of school
Joanna´s great passion is to foster the most beneficial environments, experiences, and relationships to aid in children’s development. To that end, she has worked over the past two decades to help children and families benefit from the Montessori approach to education. She came to Montessori through her interest in human development and Anthropology and has served in different roles over the course of her career: as a Children’s House Guide, an Elementary Guide, and most recently, serving as the Head of School. She is a mother and finds great satisfaction in integrating her work with her family life. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from The Colorado College in Colorado Springs, U.S.A., the Montessori 3-6 Certificate from the Maria Montessori School of the Golden Gate in San Francisco, U.S.A., and the AMI Elementary 6-12 Certificate from the Fondazione Centro Internazionale Studi Montessoriani in Bergamo, Italy.
Paola Gutiérrez
Business Manager
Paola received her undergraduate degree in Economics and Business from the University of Oviedo. She worked in finances for many years before turning to education. She completed her AMI Children’s House training under Guadalupe Borbolla and the Assistant to Infancy training under Silvia Dubovoy. After two years working in the Infant Community, she shifted to a full time administrative position as our Business Manager.
Giuliana Rando
School Life Coordinator
Giuliana (Jules) was born in Auckland and moved to Australia when she was five. After finishing high school in Wollongong, Australia she lived in Rome for several years and then returned to Australia to attend university. When she was studying for her undergraduate degree in Modern Languages at the University of Wollongong she did some observation at the local Montessori school and was mentored by a wonderful guide. While working towards a Master in Journalism, she began a long collaboration with Colors Magazine, living in Paris, Treviso and Orvieto. Between 1999 and 2003, she had three children and was drawn back to an interest in early childhood development and Montessori. In 2009 she gained her 0-3 and 3-6 Montessori diplomas in Perugia. She moved to Madrid with her family in 2010 and worked for 11 years as a guide and Early Years and Montessori Coordinator at TEMS in Aravaca. Jules is taking on the role of School Life Coordinator and is happy to help in any way possible.
Florencia Ugalde
School Staff Coach
Born in Mexico City, Florencia and her family have lived in 9 countries and 12 cities, bringing with her 22 years of teaching experience. She received her Children’s House qualification from the Montessori Training Center of New England as well as completed the AMI Inclusive Education Certificate from the Montessori Institute of San Diego. Previously she completed the undergraduate degree in Pedagogical Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education from UCLA. She was the Lead Guide at El Hayedo classroom for the last 8 years. She recently trained as an AMI Montessori Coach and a Nautilus Leader from Public Montessori in Action, and she is implementing the Coaching Program at all levels of the school.
Conchi González
Accountant
Conchi holds a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Specializing in Business Administration, she completed her training in Financial Accounting. She has worked almost her entire professional life in a multinational corporation in the area of finance. Now, she begins a new chapter at Madrid Montessori.
guides and assistants
Tatiana Pérez Capilla
infant community guide, el encinar
Tatiana has her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a doctorate in molecular biology from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Tatiana did her Assistants to Infancy training at the Montessori Institute of San Diego in California under the direction of Silvia Dubovoy.
Bianca Kowalska
infant community guide, el encinar
Bianca received her undergraduate degree in International Tourism from Lincoln University in the UK. She then worked in Madrid for five years as a teacher of three and four year olds in a British school, before deciding to devote herself to Montessori education. She was an assistant in a Children’s House classroom for three years before completing her AMI Assistants to Infancy course in Vancouver Canada.
Lucy González
children's house guide, el pinar
Lucy holds both British and Spanish nationalities and has been working with young children in a British school for many years. She worked as a Montessori Assistant at TEMS (The English Montessori School) until 2018 and then decided to take AMI Training at the 3-6 age level in London (Maria Montessori Institute). After earning her Diploma in June 2019, she returned to Madrid to work as a lead guide and has led the class for the past three years. She embodies our spirit of lifelong learning as she has just completed a postgraduate course on Montessori observation, the cornerstone of Montessori pedagogy. We are very happy she has decided to join our team of committed and experienced Montessorians.
Katya Rendón
children's house assistant, el pinar
Joanna Davies will be taking an extended maternity leave to look after her baby Lola and even though we miss her, we know she is doing the most important work there is: caring for her baby. We are thrilled that Katya Rendón will continue to work in the Pinar, for the sake of continuity for the children and the families. Katya is AMS trained (American Montessori Society) at the 3-6 age level and has been key to providing stability and a loving and nurturing environment for the children since December 2021. She has formed beautiful relationships with all the children and provides invaluable support to the day to day running of the classroom. We appreciate her commitment immensely.
Fernanda León-York
children's house guide, el hayedo
Growing up in Nicaragua, Fernanda attended American schools with English as the language of instruction during her K-12 years. She earned a degree in Clinical Psychology from an American University before moving to Spain, changing her career to Education, and training as an AMI guide. She will be graduating from her training program at the end of August. During my last year of college, I came to Spain for a semester abroad and was inspired through my experience to pursue a Grado de Magisterio Infantil (Early Years Education) at the University of Navarre to be able to work in education and ever since, have continued growing within the field (i.e.: a Master's in Education Leadership, and currently 3-6 AMI Guide Diploma).
Kelly Flowers
children's house assistant, el hayedo
Originally From Columbus, Ohio, Kelly studied Spanish with a concentration in Hispanic Studies at the University of Tennessee. She lived in Madrid in 2013 teaching English during a year-long sabbatical. Upon returning to Madrid in 2017, Kelly worked as an assistant in a public bilingual school. In 2020 she completed her AMI assistant teacher certification and since then has been working in a Montessori environment.
Raji Balaram
elementary guide, la alameda
Raji discovered Montessori first as a parent of a two-and-a-half year-old son in 2002. She completed the AMI training for primary level and worked for three years in Chennai, India. As her son moved to the elementary age, she too trained in the AMI elementary level and worked in the US for the next five years in the elementary classroom. After also spending some time working in a Montessori school in the Netherlands, Raji has accumulated more than ten years of experience teaching primary as well as elementary across three continents, both in English as well as bilingual environments (Tamil, Spanish and Dutch).
Inma Trigo
elementary assistant, la alameda
Inma received her Bachelor's Degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca in 2003. While working in advertising agencies for over 10 years she obtained a Master in Graphic Design and a Bachelor Degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology from Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. In 2015, she moved to The Philippines with her family where they lived for 6 years. While living there she discovered Montessori education through the experience of her two children in a Montessori school in Manila. Inma worked as a Spanish Teacher in Instituto Cervantes for 5 years and the Canadian American School before coming back to Madrid in 2020. She completed her training to become a Montessori Elementary Guide at the MIRTC in Girona in the Summer of 2022.
Belén Martínez
elementary guide, la dehesa
Belén Martínez is a loving mother of two children and is also a parent at the school. Belen was born in Madrid and has always considered Madrid her home. She trained as an elementary school teacher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and holds a Masters degree in Psychopedagogy from Universidad de Barcelona. Through her studies, Belen was exposed to a range of Pedagogies, with none resonating more than the power of Montessori. Belén became an AMI Montessori qualified Guide in Girona in 2017. She has more than two decades of direct teaching experience, with six of those years as a lead Montessori teacher in schools across the world from the UK to Costa Rica.
Subhagata Pal
elementary assistant, la dehesa
Subhagata brings 18 years of experience in education to her work at Madrid Montessori. After holding a Bachelor in Science from India she pursued Montessori education in Ireland and worked in three schools in Dublin. Following her move to India she continued her educational journey by joining an international school which follows Montessori methodology. There she worked as a guide for the 3-6 age group and later became the Early Years Coordinator. Simultaneously, she trained in workshops and obtained certifications in AMI (Assistant course), IB Professional Development and Cambridge Assessment International Education. She moved to Madrid in January 2022 and taught English online to young students in Asia and Europe. She worked as an English teacher in a bilingual school before joining Madrid Montessori.
Miren Agirreolea
elementary guide, el olivar
Having obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and after earning her Teacher’s degree in Elementary Education, Miren has worked as an Elementary Teacher since 2006. Her interest in Montessori Education was sparked in 2014 and she worked as an Assistant in AMI Montessori Schools in the U.K. for two years before joining our school. She will complete the training to become a Montessori Elementary Guide at the MIRTC in Girona in the Summer of 2018.
Sophia Caswell
elementary guide, el olivar
Sophia holds undergraduate degrees in Early Education and in Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University. After spending time as a reading teacher in Portland Public Schools, she decided to further her understanding of child development and became a Montessorian. She completed her Elementary training in Portland, Oregon in 2016 under the direction of Elise Huneke-Stone. Sophia subsequently became a lead Upper Elementary guide at a public Montessori.
Natalia González
spanish teacher, elementary
Natalia obtained her Undergraduate Degree as an Elementary Teacher in 2010. After working in several schools she decided to specialize in Emotional Education. In 2016 she finished her Master's Degree on classroom applied Multiple Intelligences and Innovative Didactics, under Mar Romera. Natalia finished her AMI 6-12 Assistant course in 2018.
Luis Sueza Arana
physical education teacher
Luis received his undergraduate degree in Physical Education and Sport Sciences from the European University of Madrid. He is a swimming instructor with specialty in High Intensity Training and is also trained as a Youth Activities Instructor by the Consejería de Empleo y Economía de la Comunidad de Castilla- La Mancha. From September 2018, Luis is in charge of physical education activities for the elementary children.
Sandra Millán
school psychologist
Sandra Millán is our school psychologist. She observes and helps the children in their emotional development and learning. She also supports the wellbeing of guides and families. Sandra earned her degree in Psychology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She is a Clinical Neuropsychologist with many years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in her private practice, specializing in the evaluation and diagnosis of cognitive and emotional difficulties. Sandra also has extensive experience working in private schools.
support staff
Cilda Córdova & Adriana Coromoto
kitchen
Cilda is our Cook and Adriana is our Kitchen Assistant.
Richard Martínez
cleaning and maintenance
Richard is instrumental in keeping our spaces functioning and clean and bright.
