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Warmth & Caring Guidance
Our children benefit from the talent, warmth & caring guidance
of five special teachers - Pat, Nathalie & Nina in Curzon and Pam
& Linda in Mini-Curzon - whose close and longstanding working
relationship enables them to present a very positive and fine-tuned
program. Each of our teachers is a qualified professional holding many
years experience working with children in a preschool environment. Our
music, gym, yoga, skating, science, and swimming teachers are also
qualified instructors in their specialties. The teachers work in
conjunction with the parents to ensure that we provide an enriched
program that responds to the needs of our 34 children.
Daily parent input and feedback is welcomed by our teachers and is
facilitated by the close relationship teachers share with parents.
Parents are encouraged to discuss issues, or provide suggestions at any
time during the course of the year. In addition, twice yearly formal
Parent-Teacher Meetings provide parents with personal teacher feedback
on their child's progress. This progress is broken down into various
categories including motor skills, cognitive skills, social and
personal skills.
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 Pat
Armand Schmidt
As
senior teacher at Curzon, Pat Armand Schmidt has 19 years of experience
teaching kindergarten and pre-kindergarten children. She is a warm and
nurturing educator who brings out the best in each child.
During
her undergraduate years at McGill, Pat studied liberal arts with a
minor in science. Post-graduation, she completed an education
certificate in the Montessori method, applicable to pre-school and
kindergarten, as well as a diploma in Early Childhood Education. Pat
taught a Montessori kindergarten class for five years and spent four
more in a public sector pre-school program before taking a break to
have her three children. She returned to her teaching career when her
youngest child was ready for school and has spent the last ten years in
her present position at Curzon.
Pat continues to seek opportunities
for professional development by attending education workshops regularly.
In
addition to Pat’s contribution to the Curzon classroom and curriculum
development, she also shares her musical passion and talent by
facilitating Curzon’s Music & Movement program. She has
attended
numerous music education workshops and, over the last eleven years, has
developed a very strong program that she has taught at Curzon and
elsewhere. Her music children enjoy singing, rhythm instruments,
movement and dance and song-writing. A creative songwriter in her own
right, Pat encourages this form of expression from her pre-school
children and even writes much of her own material. Pat and her guitar
are a happy part of life at Curzon.
Pat’s
love of nature and commitment to earth-friendly living influence the
Curzon classroom in a very positive way. Earth Day at Curzon is as
important a celebration – if not more so – as any other holiday.
Through music, stories and activities, Pat shares a fundamental
respect, appreciation and love for each other and the planet that we
share.
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 Nathalie
Maheux
Nathalie
is a dedicated and resourceful Early Childhood Educator. She
has
been a member of the Curzon teaching team for over five years!
Originally from Quebec City she received her Bachelors Degree from the
Universite de Montreal where she specialized in Child
Psychology. She has also started a Masters Degree in Social Work.
She
has worked extensively with children as a hands on researcher
throughout her ‘stages’ in university and has been employed in a number
of early childhood settings.
Nathalie is
the Curzon French specialist bringing her language and culture to the
school to create a natural French immersion environment for her
students. Her love of children is evident in the way she interacts so
tenderly with them and they in turn respond so well to her as they
begin to form their first words and sentences in French.
Nathalie
is invested in the virtues of a healthy lifestyle.
In fact,
she recently completed the two day walk for Breast Cancer
Research! She is an avid fitness enthusiast and as the Curzon
Gym
Specialist she serves as an excellent role model. She gives
weekly gym classes in French providing opportunities for phsyical
fitness and good sportsmanship!
Nathalie
has travelled extensively and brings her sense of adventure and love of
learning to the classroom. She is an asset to the team and a
well
loved member of the Curzon family!
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 Nina
Chepurniy
Nina
Chepurniy is very happy and excited to be joining the wonderful Curzon
community.
She
has worked with children throughout her life, starting with nannying
and working as a camp counselor when she was 15. Nina has a
degree in art education from Concordia University for which she
completed internships in elementary and high schools, and she also
worked as a substitute teacher for several years after her
studies. Soon after graduating she also began working at a
community centre for people with special needs, where she has continued
to work in various capacities for about 10 years. She has
also
worked in several day care centers in Montreal.
Nina
has had opportunities to travel to many far away places, teaching
English as a Second Language to students at a Waldorf school in St.
Petersburg, Russia, and teaching kindergarten in Taiwan. Upon
her
return to Canada in 2007, she began her Master’s degree in Child
Studies, completed in 2009. She developed an
intergenerational
reading and writing program for her final internship, a project that
received funding this summer and is now operating at the Westmount
YMCA.
Nina
is the Curzon yoga teacher, incorporating story telling with expressive
yoga poses, as well as helping the Curzon children learn breathing
techniques, focus, and stability.
She
loves traveling, creating art, biking, and all sorts of
adventures. She hopes to bring and share her love of poetry,
art,
yoga, and nature to the Curzon family.
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 Linda Jewers
Linda
is a mother of three children who have all enjoyed time in preschool at
Curzon. She began teaching children in London, Ontario at the age
of fourteen, where she gave children’s ballet, jazz and drama
classes. Her participation in musical theatre and dance led her
to Montreal in 1991 to further pursue the study of fine arts. At
that time, she volunteered creative movement classes for children ages
three and up at Tyndale-St. Georges Community Centre in Little
Burgundy. Working with new immigrants provided Linda with the
opportunity to learn new and creative ways of teaching and
communicating and was an enriching experience. Over the years,
Linda has also acted as caregiver to numerous families.
She
currently holds children’s workshops in creative movement, drama and
arts & crafts and recently formed a performance group called
“Flashmob Kids”. Linda is a graduate of Concordia University's
Contemporary Dance Department (BFA '95) and became a certified Yoga
Meets Dance ™ instructor in 2006. She loves being a member of the
Curzon team and working with the Piggy-Wigs.
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 Pam Montgomery
Pam
has always loved taking care of children, and has worked with them for
several years. After having received her Red Cross certification, she
began babysitting at the age of 12. Throughout high school she babysat
four or five days a week after school, often helping children with
homework and school projects.
Her
first experience working with children in an official capacity was in
the fall of 2004 when she helped run an after-school drama program at
Elizabeth Ballantyne School. She began working at the Montreal West
Children's Library as a summer employee in 2005, where she has run a
reading program that usually attracts more than 100 eager readers for
the past five summers. Running this program has helped nurture the love
of reading in children, and has given Pam lots of experience in helping
children of all ages improve their reading skills. In the fall of 2009
she volunteered 2 mornings a week at Mackay school, where she gained
experience both in front of a classroom of children as well as on a
one-on-one basis with children with special needs. Pam graduated from
Royal West Academy in 2005, then studied Social Science at Dawson
College.
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