“Help me to do it myself.”
The Sunflower team are highly qualified and motivated. They understand the responsibility and privilege of helping your child realise her full potential. Our staff are drawn from many nationalities.
Monica BRANCO
Monica BRANCO is the manager of Sunflower Montessori, Brussels. Monica is an experienced psychologist, who worked for several years in Portugal with children and teenagers who have development and behavioural problems. In search of new horizons she joined the Sunflower team in Luxembourg in 2010. Initially Monica worked with special needs children at Sunflower.
In November 2012 Monica was selected to head up the new Sunflower “Galileo” crèche. She embraced the opportunity to create from the very start the right environment, select the team and most of all create the best crèche possible for the children. Monica found the experience very rewarding and enjoyed seeing the crèche grow and flourish.
Recently she moved to Brussels with her husband, and she felt that Brussels would also benefit from a place “where care and education go hand in hand”
Combining management and teaching is the perfect situation for her, as she is able to create learning experiences for the children, for the staff and for herself. “I couldn’t feel fulfilled without being able to share privileged moments with the children, to observe and guide their pursuit of knowledge and their growing path”
Montessori training
Sunflower believes that Montessori education is a great way to help your child realise his full potential. The role of the Montessori teacher is key and Sunflower continuously trains all our staff in the Montessori method. Naomi Misiuk is a qualified child-care educator and holds a Montessori diploma from Saint Nicholas Montessori College in London. Naomi’s role is to continuously train our classroom staff. She rotates between the various classrooms ensuring that the Montessori environment is properly prepared and working with the staff to ensure best Montessori practice in the classroom. In addition Sunflower holds regular dedicated Montessori workshops for our staff. Once a year we invite a leading Montessori trainer to Brussels for an intensive weekend and we also invite our parents to an evening session.
The Management
Sunflower was founded by Helen Clarke and Samantha O’Dea. Friends for many years they both studied at St. Nicholas Montessori College, London and then went on to teach at Rainbow Montessori School in London. Helen and Sam are mothers themselves and have also faced the challenges of balancing work-life with bringing up young children.
Tom O’Dea is the third Director of Sunflower. As a co-owner he has been involved in the administration since 2001. He is responsible for all the back office tasks and the general business administration. Tom is a qualified engineer with many years of management experience in the telecommunications sector. Tom holds a BSc and MBA. He joined Sunflower full-time in 2014.
