Scuola Montessori Internazionale Oxford in Lecce is a private bilingual Montessori school attached to the Oxford Group education centre, from nido to scuola media. The primary and middle schools are paritaria and follow the Italian state curriculum, enriched with the Montessori method. The school calls itself the first and only primary school in Apulia authorised to teach Cambridge International programmes: English as a first language, Mathematics and Geometry, Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, ICT, Global Perspectives and Drama are taught in English by native-speaker teachers, 18 hours of English a week in total. At the end of year 5 pupils sit Cambridge Primary Checkpoint; in the scuola media the Cambridge programme continues, a native speaker co-teaches Mathematics and Science, and some PE lessons are in English. In the «Casa dei Bambini» nursery school English is taught daily by native speakers, and the final year already starts the Cambridge programme. The school names no foreign languages other than English as school subjects.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary · Montessori · National programme
Admits from
1 year · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Admissions The nido takes children from 12 to 36 months. Enrolment in the nursery school starts with a no-obligation meeting between parents and the coordinator. Year 1 admits children who turn six by 31 December, and at the family's request those who turn six by 30 April. The scuola media admits everyone who has completed primary school; applications go through the previous school within the ministry deadlines. Enrolment is open at all stages.
Stages and year groups Grades asilo nido, scuola dell'infanzia, scuola primaria 1-5, scuola media 1-3. Italian paritaria curriculum with the Montessori method: nido (ages 1-3), «Casa dei Bambini» nursery school (ages 3-6), primary school (ages 6-11), scuola media (ages 11-14, esame di Stato del primo ciclo). Cambridge International: Cambridge Primary in primary school and Cambridge Lower Secondary in the scuola media - English (as a first language), Mathematics and Geometry, Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, ICT and Global Perspectives taught in English, plus Drama in primary; Cambridge Primary Checkpoint at the end of year 5. The final nursery year starts the first year of the Cambridge programme. Language exams: Trinity Stars in the nursery school, Cambridge Young Learners in primary and Cambridge English in middle school.
Address Via Adriatica 12, 73100 Lecce
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge Primary, Cambridge Lower Secondary. All classes study English, Mathematics, Science, ICT and Global Perspectives in English with native teachers under Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary, with Primary Checkpoint at the end of grade 5.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: Primary (ages 5-11), Lower Secondary (ages 11-14). Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge. Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school operates in the education centre's building on Via Adriatica in Lecce. Classrooms are furnished according to the Montessori method: light child-sized furniture and developmental materials within reach. The nido has its own catering, with menus drawn up by a paediatrician and nutritionist. All subjects use multimedia equipment. It is a day school.
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
In summer the education centre takes children and teenagers on language trips abroad: Canterbury, London, Dublin, Stirling, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dubai, Tokyo and Osaka; groups stay at universities.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: Montessori training; lessons in English are taught by native speakers.
Lessons in English are taught by native speakers; in the scuola media a native speaker co-teaches Mathematics and Science with the subject teacher. The education centre is associated with the Opera Nazionale Montessori and runs its own Montessori teacher training courses. The site does not name teachers.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country
Lecce, Italy · Private