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for children between the ages of 3 and 6

History of the School

A brief chronology of the history of the Montessori School Zurich and the early days of Montessori education in the Canton of Zurich.

Claudine Baumann-Closuit

From 1960 to 1962, Claudine Baumann-Closuit (*1943) trained at the first Montessori kindergarten in Bern, founded in 1950 by Hildegund von  Wurstemberger (1913–2003). In the summer of 1961, she visited the ‘Corso Nazionale Metodo Montessori’ in Rimini, under the direction of Giuliana Sorge (1903–1987), and gained a diploma from the ‘Opera Nazionale  Montessori’. Giuliana Sorge was a close aide to Maria Montessori  (1870–1952) from 1924 until Montessori’s death.

1976: Founded in Zurich

On 3 May 1976, Claudine Baumann-Closuit opened the Montessori School  Zurich on Scheuchzerstrasse in Zurich, the first private**) Montessori  kindergarten in the Canton of Zurich. At the time, the Montessori system of education was virtually unknown to the general public in Zurich.  Only seven children attended the school when it first opened. By the end of the summer holidays, that number had increased to fourteen and, by  the spring of 1977, the target number of 25 children were receiving a  Montessori education.

**Note

Even before World War II, some classes in public schools were based on the Montessori educational philosophy.

Regula Horner

Takeover Regula Horner

In summer 2002, Regula Horner (*1962) took over the school. She trained  with the Association Montessori (Switzerland) or AM(S) section of German and Romansch-speaking Switzerland in Bern, Zurich and Düsseldorf in  1987/88 and obtained a diploma from the German Montessori Association  (DMV). Regula Horner was the Course Secretary and Assistant at the first Swiss Montessori training course in Bern (19/07–15/10/1993), and Course Secretary at the second in Zurich (20/07–16/10/1998). From 1988 to 1990 and 2002 to 2004, Regula Horner also sat on the committee of the AM(S), and was its Secretary from 1990 to 2002 and Vice President of the Board of AM(S) from 2004 to 2005.

Justine Duhamel

Justine Duhamel

Justine Duhamel has been the director of the Montessori School Zurich since 2026. After initially working as a campaign manager at a major French cosmetics company, she decided to pursue a new career path in 2016 and completed the AMI course for 3- to 6-year-olds in Munich. During her subsequent three-month internship at the Montessori School Zurich, she quickly realized that she had found her calling. When Ms. Horner stepped down, she took over the school with great enthusiasm.